Domico v. Rapides Parish School Bd., 81-3364

• Citation: 675 F.2d 100
• Decision Date: 07 May 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-3364,81-3364
• Parties: 3 Ed. Law Rep. 815 James D. DOMICO, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 100

675 F.2d 100

3 Ed. Law Rep. 815

James D. DOMICO, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 81-3364.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 7, 1982.

Gravel, Roberts & Brady, James J. Brady, Alexandria, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Gus Voltz, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Alexandria, La., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, THORNBERRY and GARZA, Circuit Judges.

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

Once again, this Court is confronted with a hairstyle case, leaving unfulfilled our earlier hope that "the public, with growing thousands of entirely responsible adult members of the community wearing all sorts of hair and face trims, has come to its senses and does not see in such variations the seeds of violence and revolution." Hander v. San Jacinto Junior College, 519 F.2d 273, 281-82 (5th Cir. 1975) (Brown, J., concurring).

During the autumn of 1980, the Rapides Parish School Board announced that its "Student Dress Code," which prohibited students from wearing beards, would apply to all employees in the school system. Faced with the prospect of harsh discipline or termination, a number of bearded employees-including teachers and bus drivers, all of them tenured-filed suit in federal district court alleging violations of their civil rights. The district court held a trial and then granted the school board's motion for a directed verdict. The court found that the plaintiffs' suit failed to state a claim under federal law, because "there is no constitutionally protected right at stake." According to the district court,

(e)mployees of a public school system do not have a constitutionally protected right to wear beards. There is no need for the defendants to prove either a compelling interest or a rational relationship between the rule and a public purpose. There is no need for this court to become involved in this question.

Plaintiffs now appeal that decision.

The sole issue presented by plaintiffs' appeal is whether the district court erred by directing a verdict for the defendant school board against the plaintiffs' federal civil rights claims. Because we find no error in the directed verdict, we must affirm the district court's decision; however, because we disagree with the district court's reasoning, we feel compelled to voice our own analysis.

Contrary to what the district court stated, there is a constitutional liberty interest in choosing how to wear one's hair. In fact, this Circuit has twice invoked such a right in order to invalidate rules prescribing the choice of coiffure or beard: in the first case, striking down rules that regulated the length of male college students' hair, see Lansdale v. Tyler Junior College, 470 F.2d 659 (5th Cir. 1972) (en banc), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 986, 93 S.Ct. 2268, 36 L.Ed.2d 964 (1973), and in the second, voiding rules that prevented college teachers from wearing beards, see Hander v. San Jacinto Junior College, supra, 519 F.2d 273. The Lansdale Court made clear that the case law "unqualifiedly includes the right of citizens to choose their mode of personal hair grooming within the great host of liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment from arbitrary state action." Lansdale v. Tyler Junior College, supra, 470 F.2d at 663.

But the discovery of a constitutional right does not end the inquiry, for the right may be regulated so long as the deprivation is not arbitrary. ¹ "The constitutional issue to be decided... is whether (the school board's) determination that such regulations should be enacted is so irrational that it may be branded 'arbitrary,' and therefore a deprivation of (plaintiffs') liberty interest in freedom to choose (their) own hairstyle." Kelley v. Johnson, 425 U.S. 238, 248, 96 S.Ct. 1440, 1446, 47 L.Ed.2d 708 (1976).

Here, the school board has made a quite rational determination to limit its employees' choice of hairstyle, and we therefore will not intervene. In the high school environment, a hairstyle regulation is a reasonable means of furthering the school board's undeniable interest in teaching hygiene, instilling discipline, asserting authority, and compelling uniformity. This Court recognized in Karr v. Schmidt, 460 F.2d 609 (5th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 989, 93 S.Ct. 307, 34 L.Ed.2d 256 (1972), that such goals are indeed the legitimate concern of the school board and that a hairstyle regulation is not an unreasonable method of achieving them. In short, the school system's educational and disciplinary needs provide a rational basis for a rule...