Court Opinion

ID: 9459478
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:21:39.654159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:10.801915
License: Public Domain

DYER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
The trial court’s determination that the Singleton principle is inapplicable to this case is the only contested issue in this appeal. In Singleton, we held that the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment required that if there was to be an absolute reduction in the number of principals, teachers, or professional staff employed by a school district as a result of court-ordered desegregation consolidation, then the staff member or teacher to be dismissed or demoted as a result must be selected on the basis of a comparative evaluation of all the employees of the district at the same level on the basis of objective and reasonable nondiscriminatory standards to be developed and promulgated by the Board prior to the evaluation. Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir. 1969, 419 F.2d 1211, 1218 (en banc), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1032, 90 S.Ct. 612, 24 L.Ed.2d 530.
Singleton is inapplicable because the court-spawned faculty reduction at the heart of that case is not present here. While there was reduction in number of six teacher stations in the school system between the 1969-70 and 1970-71 school terms, it is perfectly clear that the reduction cannot be traced to court-ordered school consolidation in furtherance of desegregation. At the time the Board failed to renew appellants’ contracts there had been no instructions or suggestions to the principals or superintendent to reduce the size of the faculty. Furthermore, it is undisputed that new personnel had to be employed for the 1970-71 term in the fields of those not rehired and thus there was no need for reduction by discharge. In short, I must conclude, as did the trial court, that the non-renewal of appellants’ contracts was not required because of a decrease in enrollment or reduction in personnel.
With Singleton inapplicable, nothing exists here to condition the discretionary right of local school authorities in Mississippi to supervise the conduct of their teachers and refuse to renew their contracts. The trial court found and the record is replete with illustrations of unfitness to teach and professional incompetency which the Trustees relied upon in making their evaluations. Under section 6282-26 of the Mississippi Code of 1942, as amended, the superintendents of county and municipal school districts in the state are authorized to remove or suspend teachers, upon proper notice and hearing, for incompetence, neglect of duty, immoral conduct, intemperance, brutal treatment, or other reasons determined to be good cause.
As did the district court, I find substantial evidence that the conduct of these teacher-appellants created disciplinary problems and discord among their fellow teachers, reflected in some instances intemperance, indicated fiscal irresponsibility with respect to public funds, and disrupted the orderly admin*357istration of the school system. Under these circumstances the district court’s finding of good cause for the dismissals was not clearly erroneous. See Jennings v. Meridian Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir. 1971, 453 F.2d 413; Moore v. Winfield City Board of Education, 5 Cir., 1971, 452 F.2d 726.
Assuming arguendo that Singleton is applicable I would have to disagree with the majority that appellants Johnson and Reddix are entitled to relief.
It is not suggested, nor could it be, that the district court’s findings that Johnson, who was teaching driver education, had an alcohol problem, and that Reddix, an instructor for educable mentally retarded children, struck a girl across the hand with a board with such force that it drew blood, are clearly erroneous.
In my view, no pre-established objective criteria were necessary to justify the non-renewal of these two teachers. See Thompson v. Madison County Board of Education, 5 Cir., 1973, 476 F.2d 676.
I respectfully dissent.