Sullivan v. Meade Independent School Dist. No. 101
| Decision Date | 24 March 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75--1315,75--1315 |
| Citation | 530 F.2d 799 |
| Parties | Kathleen SULLIVAN, Appellant, v. MEADE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 101 et al., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Steven W. Sanford, Sioux Falls, S.D., Ina A. Litke, Vermillion, S.D., Marilyn G. Haft, American Civil Liberties Union, New York City, and Michael B. Crew, Vermillion, S.D., for appellant.
David E. Morrill, Morrill & Hansen, Sturgis, S.D., for appellees.
Before HEANEY, BRIGHT and WEBSTER, Circuit Judges.
This appeal presents the primary question of whether the school board of a small rural community violated the constitutional rights of a single young woman elementary teacher by discharging her in midterm as incompetent to continue teaching because she insisted upon sharing her dwelling located within the school community with a single man. 1
Following her discharge, the teacher, Kathleen Sullivan, brought an action in federal district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Meade County (South Dakota) School District No. 101, members of the school board, and school administrators seeking reinstatement, damages, and other relief. 2 She claimed that the dismissal violated her rights to privacy and freedom of association as well as her fourteenth amendment rights to substantive due process and equal protection of the laws. The district court dismissed the complaint against the Board, as an entity, ruling that it was not a 'person' within the meaning of § 1983. 3 Following a plenary trial, the district court determined that the defendants in dismissing Ms. Sullivan had not violated her constitutional rights and had acted within a proper sphere of authority in conformity with South Dakota state law, which, among other things, grants a school board power to dismiss a teacher at any time for gross immorality or incompetency. See S.D. Compiled Laws Ann. § 13--43--15.
No dispute exists as to the essential facts. The Meade County School Board employed Ms. Sullivan for the 1974--1975 school year to teach the nine students enrolled in grades one through four of the Union Center Elementary School. The Union Center schoolhouse serves students from Union Center and outlying areas in grades one through eight. Another teacher instructed grades five through eight.
The school district is predominantly rural, containing only two organized municipalities--Sturgis, population about 5,000, and Whitewood, population 600. Union Center lies approximately 60 miles east of Sturgis. Union Center, within this school district, is an unincorporated community of approximately 100 persons and contains approximately 17 dwellings including units located in a mobile home park which is about one-eighth mile from the Union Center Elementary School. Ms. Sullivan lived in the mobile home park in a mobile home furnished by the school board.
Ms. Sullivan began her teaching duties on August 27, 1974. In October, a male friend, Donald Dragon, also from New York, came to visit her. Thereafter and until her dismissal on November 29, 1974, Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Dragon lived together in the trailer home without any attempt to conceal their living arrangements. 4 Ms. Sullivan's students and their parents soon became aware that she and Mr. Dragon were living in the same trailer, and the community recognized that the couple were not married.
This lifestyle offended the traditional mores followed by residents of this rural South Dakota community and provoked protests from some parents of children attending the school and others in the school community. An initial protest by parents of a student attending Ms. Sullivan's class came to the attention of the school board, the school principal, and the school superintendent. School officials first sought to resolve the complaint informally with Ms. Sullivan. This effort failed when Ms. Sullivan, on October 29, 1974, advised the school principal that her living arrangement with Mr. Dragon was private, not subject to the scrutiny of the school authorities. The principal advised Ms. Sullivan that the continuance of her living arrangement could jeopardize her job.
In early November, the Board caused a notice to be delivered to Ms. Sullivan advising her of a hearing on the school superintendent's recommendation that she be dismissed on grounds of 'gross immorality and incompetency as the alleged immoral conduct affects the teacher's competency to teach.' The notice advised her of her right to appear with an attorney and to present evidence to the Board. It further stated:
The information which will be presented to the board is that that (sic) you have voluntarily furnished your supervisor information wherein you have admitted that you are living with a man to whom you are not married.
I further advise that this letter and all matter relative to it that have come to the attention of the school district is being kept in strictest confidence and that the hearing to be held before the school board will not be open to the public but will be restricted to members of the school board, business manager, superintendent, principal, and the school district's attorney and yourself, whatever witnesses or representatives you wish to bring to the hearing, and witnesses called by the school district.
During the hearing, the Board asked Ms. Sullivan on several occasions whether she would be willing to have Dragon live elsewhere but she responded negatively. 5 Finally, the Board adopted its decision to dismiss after giving Ms. Sullivan the opportunity to cease living with a man to whom she was not married during the balance of the school year. When Ms. Sullivan rejected this option, the Board's decision became effective. 6
The appellant's brief indicates some misconstruction of the language employed in the Board's findings. Ms. Sullivan is understandably concerned that she not be branded 'grossly immoral' and 'incompetent.' However, those are 'terms of art.' They derive from the South Dakota statute which authorizes dismissal for a 'plain violation of contract, gross immorality, incompetency, or (a) flagrant neglect of duty.' S.D.Compiled Laws Ann. § 13--43--15.
The Board was apparently disturbed by the term 'gross immorality.' For that reason, Ms. Sullivan's original notice was amended to include the ground of incompetence. At the hearing Dr. Hague, the superintendent of the school district, emphasized that 'maybe the word gross is somewhat of an exaggeration' and that it actually meant only conduct seriously varying from community standards.
Even this softened version apparently was too strong for the Board. As a result, it did not dismiss Ms. Sullivan on the express ground of immorality. The Board did note that her conduct was considered 'grossly immoral' by many local residents. 7 However, the Board directly relied upon this observation only to support its conclusion that '(a)s long as Miss Sullivan continues to reside with Donald Dragon * * * she is not competent to teach * * * at Union Center * * *.' 387 F.Supp. at 1242.
The Board was clear that this term as well was employed only in a limited sense. The crucial findings of the Board are as follows:
As long as Miss Sullivan continues to reside with Donald Dragon without the benefit of matrimony, she is not competent to teach in the school at Union Center for which she was employed because the conduct of her personal life in such manner will cause the public to believe that she is violating a standard more of the community and that such is not a proper example for the students she teaches as well as other students who come in contact with her; and that at least some of the parents of the students whom she teaches will not want their students to continue to be taught by her because of the bad example, and that the knowledge of the students of the conduct of the teacher not approved by the community is likely to cause disciplinary problems in the teacher's classroom and will affect her ability to teach.
The conduct of the personal life of Kathleen Sullivan with regard to living with Donald Dragon is well known to the community of Union Center and the surrounding area and such conduct has caused a substantial public reaction against the continued employment of the teacher in the small country school and this public reaction has caused opinions to be formed as to Miss Sullivan's morality which has made her unacceptable to a large portion of the public in and about Union Center and that such reputation of Miss Sullivan has made it extremely difficult for her to exert the proper authority and respect of her students and to obtain the necessary respect, communications and support of the public and parents which will be necessary to effectually carry out the school program.
The personal life engaged in by Miss Sullivan and admitted by her constitutes a bad example for her students who are taught by example as well as by lecture. (387 F.Supp. at 1242--43.)
The Board's findings relative to incompetency boil down to three ultimate conclusions:
1) Ms. Sullivan's conduct set a 'bad example' which prevents her from maintaining a proper moral environment.
2) Local and especially parental adult reaction to her conduct would preclude her from generating necessary cooperation and support.
3) Student awareness that Ms. Sullivan's conduct was considered wrong by their parents and the community would impair her ability to maintain classroom discipline.
The Board was also clear that it was concerned only with the effect of Ms. Sullivan's conduct on her students in the peculiar circumstances of Union Center. The Board did not purport to find any general defect in her character, nor did the Board question her general abilities as a teacher. The parents who testified were in agreement that since Ms. Sullivan's arrival, their children's interest in school and rate of learning had markedly improved. Even...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Board of Trustees of Weston County School Dist. No. 1, Weston County v. Holso
...In Sullivan v. Meade County Independent School District No. 101, U.S.D.C., S.D.1975, 387 F.Supp. 1237, aff'd cause remanded for dismissal 530 F.2d 799, it was held that discharge of a teacher for her conduct in living with a boyfriend without benefit of matrimony was not unrelated to the ed......
-
Shahar v. Bowers
...exercise of religion claim), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1042, 134 L.Ed.2d 189 (1996); Sullivan v. Meade Independent School District No. 101, 530 F.2d 799, 804-06 (8th Cir.1976) (suggesting that Pickering would apply to association claim and substantive due process privacy claim)......
-
Shuman v. City of Philadelphia
...very well have an interest in investigating such activities and possibly terminating an employee. See Sullivan v. Meade Independent School District, 530 F.2d 799 (8th Cir. 1976); cf. Hollenbaugh v. Carnegie Free Library, 436 F.Supp. 1328 (W.D.Pa. 1977), aff'd without opinion, 578 F.2d 1374 ......
-
Jensen v. Conrad
...Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 98 S.Ct. 855, 55 L.Ed.2d 24 (1978) and also noted in the lower court decisions of Sullivan v. Meade Independent School District, 530 F.2d 799 (8th Cir.1976) and Tate v. Alexander, 527 F.Supp. 796 Therefore, in the instant case, the question is not whether the defend......