Adams v. Campbell County School Dist., Campbell County, Wyoming
| Decision Date | 28 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 74--1478,74--1478 |
| Parties | Yvonne A. ADAMS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CAMPBELL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, CAMPBELL COUNTY, WYOMING, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Jerry D. Anker, of Lichtman, Abeles, Anker & Nagle, P.C., Washington, D.C. (Lawrence J. Sherman, of Lichtman, Abeles, Anker & Nagle, P.C., Washington, D.C., and Ronald W. Hofer, of Leimbeck, Aspinwall & Hofer, Casper, Wyo., on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellants.
R. R. Bostwick of Murane, Bostwick, McDaniel, Scott, Greenlee & Owens, Casper, Wyo. (Wade Brorby, of Morgan & Brorby, Gillette, Wyo., on the brief), for defendants-appellees.
Before BREITENSTEIN, BARRETT and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
This is a civil rights action which arises under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. It results from the non-renewal by the Campbell County, Wyoming School Board of the contracts of appellants as teachers in the high school at Gillette, Wyoming. The Complaint alleges that there existed a connection between the non-renewal of appellants' employment and activities of plaintiffs which were constitutionally protected. Appellees denied this. They asserted that there were other reasons. The district court, after an extensive and full trial, made specific findings that the activities which the plaintiffs had relied on were not the causes of the School Board's action in not renewing the contracts. In addition, the court made positive findings as to the causes and determined that these pertained to the manner of carrying out course work. The trial court's findings are supported by the evidence, are not clearly erroneous and hence we affirm.
The activities which are in issue in this case took place during the academic year 1969--70.
The three appellants were first year contract, non-tenured teachers. Only appellant Brooks who had taught for one year at Northeastern Shelby County Consolidated School District in Indiana had had previous teaching experience. Appellant Adams had in the spring of 1969 graduated from the University of Wyoming. Appellant Wiseman had graduated the previous spring from Colorado State College at Greeley, Colorado.
The decisions not to renew the contracts took place after the principal of Gillette High School, Mr. MacDonald, recommended that the appellants not be rehired for the school year 1970--71. It was the School Board's final decision as to whether they should be rehired and that body approved the recommendation of Mr. MacDonald.
Reasons given by MacDonald for not rehiring:
The evidence of actions of plaintiffs which allegedly were constitutionally protected was presented by the plaintiffs. At trial they called the principal, Mr. MacDonald, as an adverse witness and questioned him as to the reasons for his recommendation of non-renewal. His testimony as to plaintiff Adams was that he could obtain better teachers; that her seating arrangements in class were too informal and that there was a lack of discipline in the classroom; that she engaged on one occasion in a loud argument with another teacher in an area where students could overhear what was being said; that she, together with Mr. Wiseman and a Miss Armel who, although terminated did not join the action, tended to have a clique and to cause disharmony among the remaining members of the faculty. He also said that she discussed current events in class and did not devote full attention to English, the course she was assigned to teach.
As to Wiseman, according to MacDonald, he played records including 'Alice's Restaurant' and 'Hair' in class and in doing so disturbed other classes. He did not cover the material; he also was part of the exclusive clique; and the students complained that they were not learning anything.
As to Brooks, Mr. MacDonald said that he was often late to work on Mondays; that he had trouble getting along with the staff; that on one occasion he had an altercation with one of the coaches; and that in another instance he was guilty of insubordination toward MacDonald in that he refused to allow his students to go to a general assembly until after an embarrassing confrontation with MacDonald.
There is no controversy as to the existence of differences between MacDonald, Wiseman and Adams as to teaching methods and course content, nor is there any dispute concerning the general assembly incident between Brooks and MacDonald. Appellants' positions are that their many and varied activities, all of which were forms of expression (First Amendment), were the actual reasons and that appellees' assigned reasons were in effect pretexts.
Appellants' versions as to the terminations:
An underground newspaper was published by some of the students, and Adams and Wiseman say that they were blamed for having published it. MacDonald testified, however, that he accepted Adams' and Wiseman's statements that they had nothing to do with this paper and that this was not a causal factor.
Adams and Wiseman had a book club for students which was conducted once every two weeks from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at one of their homes. They testified that MacDonald questioned them about the club and expressed his opinion that it was unnecessary to have it in the evening and away from the school. MacDonald agreed that he had asked about it and that he could not understand why the club was conducted outside the school. The appellants, however, said that MacDonald asked them if they were pushing Communist propaganda, dabbling in drugs and serving alcohol. They also said that MacDonald mentioned the book club as a reason for their non-renewal. It is to be noted, however, that the book club continued throughout the academic year 1969--70.
Brooks wore an arm band for a short time in the fall as a symbol of mourning for the soldiers killed in Viet Nam. It does not appear that any big issue existed on this account. MacDonald did speak to Brooks about it, and it seems doubtful, since it was not a continuing incident, that it could have played any part in the failure to renew.
MacDonald admitted that he did not favor Adams and Wiseman discussing issues such as the war and flag burning in their English classes. Both Adams and Wiseman admitted that they spent a portion of their class time discussing political matters. Wiseman said that he had discussions on the war, long hair, hippies and drugs.
There was a dispute as to how frequently the mentioned records were played. Wiseman, according to MacDonald, played them so frequently that it disturbed other teachers. Wiseman denied this.
The incident between Brooks and MacDonald regarding the assembly occurred around noon on February 18, 1970. Brooks had full notice that an assembly was to be held. He had scheduled tests for the whole day and he tried to get in touch with MacDonald to persuade him that the pep rally should be held at another time. He said that when he was unable to reach MacDonald he merely decided to keep the class in the room. When the class did not show up at the assembly MacDonald came to the room and ordered Brooks to send the children to the pep rally (or assembly) and Brooks, in the presence of the children, refused to do so. The resulting confrontation in the presence of the students proved embarrassing to MacDonald and led to a complaint being made to the superintendent plus a meeting between Brooks, MacDonald and the assistant superintendent.
It was on March 10 that the Board held its personnel meeting and gave its approval for the termination or non-renewal
of the employment of Brooks, Adams and Wiseman.
The trial court found in favor of the defendants. From the evidence, the court determined that the non-renewal of appellant Adams was not occasioned by the publication of the underground newspaper; by alleged membership in Students for a Democratic Society; by Adams' possible threat to authority; or by suspicions that she was communistically inspired and a radical agitator, that she engaged in subversive tactics, that she was too liberal and too advanced, and that she might jeopardize a bond issue in the school district. The court's findings as to cause were: she failed to maintain ordinary seating arrangements for the students; she failed to maintain the student discipline as requested by her principal; she failed to devote sufficient time to grammar as requested by the principal. The court said that the allegations of the complaint that her contract was not renewed because of conduct which was protected by the Constitution of the United States were not established by a preponderance of the evidence.
As to Wiseman, the court found that the non-renewal was because of poor teaching practices and because there were better English teachers available. The court went on to find that non-renewal was not, as he alleged, a result of his hair being too long; telling students in class that long hair was okay; the playing of the two records mentioned above; saying that the flag was merely a symbol and not the country; publication of an underground newspaper; the discussions regarding rights of free speech in the class and in the community; his being a subversive threat to the bond issue; or his refusal to teach that the war in Viet Nam was a good war. As to Wiseman, the court also found that the non-renewal was not on account of conduct protected by the Constitution of the United States.
Similarly, as to Brooks, the court found that none of the grounds which he had alleged as reasons for his dismissal or non-renewal had been proven to be such by a preponderance of the evidence, including the fact that his hair was too long; that he was sympathetic with young revolutionaries; that he was a subversive threat; that he participated in a peace march; that he was too liberal and a threat to the bond...
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