Court Opinion

ID: 9683023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:21:05.838318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:44.191718
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION
NORTHCUTT, Justice.
I respectfully dissent. I regret very much the position this young lady has brought upon herself, but as I view this case the sole question to be determined is whether the rule here involved is unreasonable and arbitrary. The trial court agreed in the hearing of this case that he would consider the testimony of Mr. Huelyn Laycock, Mr. Easton Wall and Mr. Hobart McDonald as being substantially the same as the testimony offered by the school officials in State ex rel. Thompson v. Marion County Board of Education, 202 Tenn. 29, 302 S.W.2d 57 (Tenn.1957). Mr. Wall is principal of Canyon Junior High School. Mr. Laycock is superintendent of schools at Canyon Independent School District, but I do not find in this record just what Mr. McDonald’s business is. Mr. Laycock had been in the school business for thirty-five years as a teacher, principal and superintendent. The record does not show Mr. Wall’s school teaching experience.
The substance of the testimony given in the Tennessee case above mentioned was that for a period of years previous to the adoption of the resolution there had been a deterioration of discipline and decorum in the schools due to student marriages and that the situation had become such that each of the principals requested the board to adopt the resolution in question. It was further represented to the board by these principals that confusion, disorder, etc. caused by student marriages mostly occurred immediately after the marriage and during the period of readjustment and the influence of married students on the other students is also greatest at that time.
Marriage is an institution in which the public has an interest. For the purpose of protecting children as a whole, the requirement as provided by statute that a child under a certain age must secure the paren s’ consent, was the reason the law was passed. We do not believe the question here involved is based solely upon the rights of one student to go to school but that we must consider also the effect the action of one child might have upon the other hundreds of children in that school system. We do not believe that Article 2892, V.T.C.S., has any application to the matter here involved. Surely it cannot be contended that a child could not be removed from a certain school if his conduct was such as to disrupt the best interest of the entire school. There is no contention, and I do not even intimate, that this young lady has done anything wrong, but what I am saying is that I believe the rights and interest of the entire student body is to be considered paramount to the rights and interest of one student.
Article 2780, V.T.C.S., provides in part as follows: “Said trustees shall adopt such rules, regulations and by-laws as they may deem proper; and the public free schools of such independent district shall be under their control; and that they shall have the *392exclusive power to manage and govern said schools * * If the regulation passed was not arbitrary and unreasonable, then it may be enforced. Personally, I believe that the school principals, superintendents, and school officials who deal with the pupils daily and plan for their different courses and general welfare are more competent to say what is reasonable, proper and to the best interest of the whole student body than I am when there is no showing that this rule was passed without due discussion and consideration. If due consideration was given as to why such a rule should be adopted for the best interest of the entire student body, then such action would not be arbitrary. It is stated in the Tennessee case above referred to as follows:
“We are accustomed to accept the testimony of experts in the various fields of human activity as to what is reasonably necessary for the welfare of the particular activity as to which this expert therein is testifying. No reason is suggested as to why this practice should not be followed when the witness is an expert in the field of operating public high schools. Certainly the principals of the high schools in question should be regarded by reason of training, experience and observation as possessing particular knowledge as to the problem which they say is made by the marriage and uninterrupted attendance of students in their respective schools.”
I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.