Kuhlmeier v. Hazelwood School Dist.

• Decision Date: 09 May 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-2039C(1).,83-2039C(1).
• Citation: 607 F. Supp. 1450
• Parties: Cathy KUHLMEIER, Leslie Smart, Leanne Tippett, Plaintiffs, v. HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT, Charles Sweeney, Joseph Donahue, Gwen Gerhardt, August Busch, Jr., Ann Gibbons, James Arnac, Dr. Thomas Lawson, Robert Eugene Reynolds, Howard Emerson and Dr. Francis Huss, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

607 F. Supp. 1450

Cathy KUHLMEIER, Leslie Smart, Leanne Tippett, Plaintiffs, v. HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT, Charles Sweeney, Joseph Donahue, Gwen Gerhardt, August Busch, Jr., Ann Gibbons, James Arnac, Dr. Thomas Lawson, Robert Eugene Reynolds, Howard Emerson and Dr. Francis Huss, Defendants.

No. 83-2039C(1).

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, E.D.

May 9, 1985.

Leslie D. Edwards, B. Stephen Miller, III, American Civil Liberties Union, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs.

Robert P. Baine, Jr., Susan E. Kaiser, St. Louis, Mo., for all defendants.

MEMORANDUM

NANGLE, Chief Judge.

This is a civil rights action for declaratory relief and damages arising from defendants' refusal to permit publication of certain articles in the May 13, 1983, issue of Spectrum, a school newspaper published at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis County, Missouri.¹ Because the factual disputes in this case are inextricably intertwined with the central legal issue in this case, namely the extent of plaintiffs' first amendment right of expression as student members of Spectrum, this Court held on November 8, 1984, that the declaratory relief and liability questions should be heard by this Court sitting without a jury. Accordingly, the issues of declaratory relief and liability were bifurcated from the issue of damages and the trial of this matter was directed solely to the issue of liability. Kuhlmeier v. Hazelwood School District, No. 83-2033C(1), unpublished Order and Memorandum (E.D.Mo., November 8, 1984).

This case was tried to this Court sitting without a jury. This Court having considered the pleadings, the testimony of the witnesses, the documents in evidence, and the stipulations of the parties, and being fully advised in the premises, hereby makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, as required by Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52.

A. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs Kathy Kuhlmeier, Lee Ann Tippett-West and Leslie Smart are residents of the State of Missouri and at all times relevant herein citizens of the United States. During the spring semester of 1983, said plaintiffs were students in the Journalism II class at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis County, Missouri, and were members of the Spectrum staff. Ms. Kuhlmeier served as Spectrum's layout editor and performed the page layouts for the stories at issue herein. Ms. Smart served as newswriter and movie reviewer for Spectrum. Ms. Tippett served as news feature writer, cartoonist and part-time photographer for Spectrum. In addition, Ms. Tippett prepared a graph to be used in connection with one of the articles at issue herein. Said plaintiffs did not write any of the stories at issue herein.

2. Defendant Hazelwood School District (hereinafter "District") is a Missouri public school district organized pursuant to, and operated in accordance with, statutes of the State of Missouri. Responsibility for the government and operation of the District is vested in a six (6)-director Board of Education (hereinafter "Board"). During the period relevant to this case, the Board was comprised of defendants Charles E. Sweeney (President), Joseph E. Donahue (Vice-President), August A. Busch, Jr. (Treasurer), Gwendolyn L. Gerhardt (Secretary), James E. Arnac, and Ann Gibbons. The Board controls all aspects of the District's operations, exercises general supervision over the schools of the District, and adopts and revises the rules, regulations and policies of the District. Hazelwood East High School (hereinafter "Hazelwood East") is one of three secondary schools operated by the District. Hazelwood East has an enrollment of approximately 1,800 students in grades nine (9) through twelve (12).

During all periods relevant to this lawsuit, defendant Thomas J. Lawson has been the Superintendent of the Hazelwood School District, defendant Frances Huss has been the Assistant superintendent for secondary education of the Hazelwood School District, defendant Robert Eugene Reynolds has been the principal and instructional leader of Hazelwood East High School, and defendant Howard Emerson has been the coordinator of school information and year book sponsor at Hazelwood Central High School. Dr. Lawson is the chief executive officer of the District and is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the policies of the school board. Dr. Huss' responsibilities include supervision over all high school personnel, curriculum, activities, instruction, programs, budgets, and expenditures. He is the immediate supervisor of the District's high school principals, including the principal of Hazelwood East. In addition to being the educational leader and chief administrator of Hazelwood East, Mr. Reynolds is responsible for Hazelwood East's budget. In addition to his responsibilities at Hazelwood Central High School, Mr. Emerson served as temporary year book sponsor, journalism teacher and faculty advisor for Spectrum at Hazelwood East from May 1, 1983, through the end of the 1982-83 academic year.

All of the individual defendants in this case are citizens of the United States and reside within the Eastern District of Missouri. Both the District and Hazelwood East are located and operated exclusively within the Eastern District of Missouri.

3. During the 1982-83 academic year, the Hazelwood East curriculum included two (2) journalism classes, "Journalism I" and "Journalism II". In Journalism I, students were taught the principles of reporting, writing, editing, layout, publishing, and journalistic ethics. Students could not enroll in Journalism II unless they first completed Journalism I. The textbook used for these courses, English and Hach, Scholastic Journalism (6th ed. 1978), was approved by the Board. Said textbook included chapters on "Understanding Press Law" and "Handling Sensitive Issues". Both Journalism I and Journalism II were taught at Hazelwood East by Robert Stergos from 1981 through April 29, 1983. The authors of the articles at issue herein, as well as plaintiffs, were enrolled in and completed Journalism I during the fall of 1982.

Journalism II was taught during the spring of 1983. Most Journalism II students, including plaintiffs and all of the authors of the articles in question, were juniors or seniors. In Journalism II, students continued to receive instruction on topics relevant to newspaper journalism. However, the primary activity of students enrolled in Journalism II was production and publication of Hazelwood East's school newspaper, Spectrum. This activity is best described as a classroom exercise or "lab" in which Journalism II students were given an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills derived from the instruction they received. For example, the course description for Journalism II in the Curriculum Guide was, as follows: "Journalism II provides a laboratory situation in which the students publish the school newspaper applying the skills they have learned in Journalism I". In addition, the main concepts or ideas underlying Journalism II were, as follows:

1. An experience for students to practice journalistic techniques learned in Journalism I by publishing the school newspaper under the pressures of pre-established deadlines.

2. the legal, moral, and ethical restrictions imposed upon journalists within the community.

3. responsibility and acceptance of criticism for articles of opinion.

4. leadership responsibilities as issue and page editors.

5. creative and imaginative layouts which present the news within an accurate, fair, and balanced format.

6. pride in the school newspaper.

7. journalism as a potential career choice.

Both Journalism I and Journalism II were taught according to the Curriculum Guide which was approved by the Board.

Students received a grade and course credit for participation in Journalism II. Not all stories produced in the Journalism II class were printed in Spectrum. Grades were not affected by whether an article was published.

4. Spectrum was the school-sponsored newspaper at Hazelwood East. Spectrum was published approximately six (6) times per semester and typically included stories of interest to students, such as sports, interviews with faculty members, prom news, news items, movie reviews, editorials, and current items of interest. The paper typically covered four (4) sides of 11 inch by 17 inch paper. However, a six (6)-page paper was often printed in connection with special events, such as Homecoming, Prom, or the "Senior" issue. When Spectrum was published, it was sold during lunch for 25 cents per copy in the "commons" area of Hazelwood East. In addition, the paper could be purchased from the journalism room which was located in the library of Hazelwood East. The Board allocated operating funds to Spectrum in its annual budget and this amount was supplemented by the revenues received from sales of the newspaper. During the 1982-83 school year, printing expenses amounted to $4,668.50, $1,166.84 of which was defrayed through sales. Spectrum was printed by Messenger Printing Company, a private business.

For the most part, Spectrum was written and designed by students in the Journalism II class. Spectrum's staff was essentially restricted to students in the Journalism II class. However, Hazelwood East students not enrolled in Journalism II could submit material for publication in Spectrum so long as the material met the standards set forth in Hazelwood School Board Policy No. 348.51. For example, Spectrum often published a column entitled "Letters to the Editor". There was one exception in the spring of 1983, because Elizabeth Conley, author of one of the stories at issue herein, was not enrolled in Journalism II and worked on the staff of Spectrum as part of an independent study program. The reason for this arrangement was that Ms. Conley was enrolled in a Calculus class during the period that the Journalism II class met. However, she did meet with Mr. Stergos, the...