Acanfora v. Board of Education of Montgomery County
| Decision Date | 31 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 72-1136-Y. |
| Citation | 359 F. Supp. 843 |
| Parties | Joseph ACANFORA, III v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Michael H. Gottesman, Darryl J. Anderson, Washington, D. C., Rob Ross Hendrickson, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.
Robert S. Bourbon, Rockville, Md., Alan I. Baron, Baltimore, Md., for defendants.
In an action brought pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1970) with jurisdiction founded on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343(3), 1343(4), and 1331 (1962, 1966), plaintiff Joseph Acanfora, III, a teacher under contract with the Montgomery County Board of Education, alleges that his transfer on September 26, 1972, from a classroom teaching position to a non-teaching position in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction resulted from the discovery of plaintiff's admitted homosexuality and, as such, violated his constitutional rights.
Defendants include the Board of Education—as well as its President, Vice-President and members individually—the Superintendent of Schools, and the Deputy Superintendent of Schools, all of Montgomery County, Maryland.
Acanfora attended public schools in New Jersey, and, after graduation from high school, entered Penn State University in the autumn of 1968. Having initially pursued studies in meteorology, he switched to an education major in his junior year, inclined more to a profession where he might work with people. Approximately at the same time, in the autumn of 1970, a homophile group was organized on campus, dedicated to ending discrimination against homosexuals and developing understanding of homosexuality. Acanfora, aware of his own homosexuality, joined and became Treasurer. In January, 1971, the group sought official recognition from the University. When the request was approved by the student government but denied by the administration, legal action followed in which Acanfora agreed to participate as a plaintiff, along with three other students. In the spring of 1971, during press interviews relating to the litigation, he stated publicly his homosexuality, and emphasized his belief in the unconstitutionality of the action of the University. While on assignment as a student teacher in the State College Area School District, Acanfora taught for six and one-half weeks before suspension by the Dean of the College of Education in late February, 1972, on the grounds of membership in the homophile organization. Following a new lawsuit, he was reinstated and completed his student teaching assignment, receiving a satisfactory evaluation. Plaintiff alleges he did not discuss homosexuality with students or colleagues, inside or outside the classroom.
In the spring of 1972, Acanfora applied for a teaching position with a number of different school systems, including Montgomery County. Following several interviews, he received an offer to teach eighth-grade earth science at Parkland Junior High School in Montgomery County. The offer was followed by a contract dated July 13, 1972 for the 1972-73 school year. Acanfora intentionally did not disclose his homosexuality during the interviews or in the official application form which provides for disclosure of membership in organizations and extracurricular activities, motivated by a desire to avoid rejection in light of his student-teaching experience in Pennsylvania.
During the spring of 1972, Acanfora also applied for certification to teach in Pennsylvania, a prerequisite to which is a finding of "good moral character." After a hearing at which plaintiff explained the professional relationship necessary between student and teacher, the intention never to discuss or encourage homosexuality, and the belief that homosexuals should gain legal rights and be free from specific hatred and fear, a special six-member panel split evenly and turned the matter over to the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, John Pittenger. Plaintiff's exhibit 4 (PX-4).
On August 29, 1972, plaintiff began teaching at Parkland and initial reports from the resource teacher in science (equivalent to the Chairman of the Department), indicate that his performance was satisfactory. On September 22, 1972, Secretary Pittenger held a news conference in Harrisburg to announce that Acanfora would be certified in Pennsylvania. News reports of the tie-breaker appeared in the New York Times and Washington Post; and on September 26, 1972, having learned of the reports and consulted colleagues, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Donald Miedema in the absence of the Superintendent and with no opposition from the Board of Education transferred plaintiff to a non-teaching position, at no loss in salary, pending investigation.
The subsequent investigation can best be described as cursory, including a brief discussion with the psychiatrist for the school system. It is quite clear from the evidence that the essential reason for the transfer was that Acanfora is an admitted homosexual. Moreover, Dr. Miedema stated that the Board of Education would not knowingly hire a homosexual. That Acanfora is the only member of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction lacking more than a baccalaureate degree and several years professional experience is simply corroborative of this policy. The Board has in no way attacked Acanfora's classroom performance, nor has it charged Acanfora with bringing up the subject of homosexuality in the school environment. The evidence is that he is competent and that he did not discuss his private life while at school.
The transfer, in addition to sparking this litigation, necessarily had an impact within the school community. Students and faculty separately petitioned for reinstatement. Several teachers in the Montgomery County School System called plaintiff to encourage him, but noted that they would refrain, under the circumstances, from associating themselves with him and his cause.
More significantly, as has been the pattern in controversial cases of recent years, plaintiff took his case to the people. He accepted offers, before and after the institution of this lawsuit on November 7, 1972, to discuss his case on a number of local and national television and radio shows, and with several newspapers, including:
1. A 15-minute interview on the Metropolitan Washington television program "Panorama" with Morry Povich, on October 26, 1972.
2. A 45-minute interview on the Metropolitan Washington WWDC radio program "Empathy" on November 1, 1972.
3. An interview on the educational television show "How Do Your Children Grow" on the Public Broadcasting System, the second week of November, 1972.
4. Participation in a 20-minute segment on the Columbia Broadcasting System national news review "60 Minutes" on February 25, 1973.
5. Telephone interviews with The Montgomery County Sentinel and The Montgomery County Tribune.
Transcripts of the two national television broadcasts are a part of the record. PX-7, 8.
The edition of "How Do Your Children Grow" is unique in that, moderated by psychiatrist Eda Leshan, it deals only peripherally with plaintiff's transfer and this litigation. Designed to educate children and parents in situations similar to that of the Acanfora family, the program gives thoughtful and serious insight into a problem which merits consideration. The segment on "60 Minutes", representative in subject matter of the other media coverage, albeit the most recent, focuses on the circumstances of this particular lawsuit.
In the course of his television exposure, Acanfora stresses again his disinclination to discuss matters of sexuality in the school environment, saying:
Neither is Acanfora inclined to hide his homosexuality.
Many of my friends have asked me why I'm doing this, why I just don't go some place and be a teacher and not let the gayness enter into it at all. But the fact is that I'm gay, just like the fact is that other teachers are straight or heterosexual. But I'm sure a heterosexual teacher isn't going to live his life a complete lie and hide what he is and I have no intentions of doing that either. I have every right to be what I am. I have every right to be a teacher. And I plan on doing both. Ibid. p. 8.
The defendants declined to participate in media coverage, or to alter the decision to deny plaintiff reinstatement and have refused to renew the 1972-73 contract.
The evidence further establishes that Parkland has an equal representation of sexes on the faculty and that a student in plaintiff's earth science class would be under his tutelage for one fifty-minute period every day out of seven or eight class periods, including homeroom.
To complete the story, plaintiff recently became a member and delegate of the gay caucus of the National Education Association, in anticipation of the upcoming convention. He has attended meetings, but is not active, in the Washington Gay Activists Alliance, which pleaded his cause to the Montgomery County Board of Education. Finally, plaintiff has received his certification to teach in Maryland.
The Court appreciates the substantial expert evidence directed toward the effect of a known homosexual teacher on students in the circumstances of this case. The experts have impressive curricula vitae, which are a part of the record and will not be reproduced in detail here. (It is noteworthy that defendants did not contact their experts...
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