Caldwell v. Cannady, Civ. A. No. 5-994

• Decision Date: 09 March 1972
• Docket Number: 5-1001 and 5-1002.,Civ. A. No. 5-994
• Citation: 340 F. Supp. 835
• Parties: James CALDWELL et al., Plaintiffs, v. Alvin CANNADY, Individually and as Superintendent of Schools of the Lamesa Independent School District, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas

340 F. Supp. 835

James CALDWELL et al., Plaintiffs, v. Alvin CANNADY, Individually and as Superintendent of Schools of the Lamesa Independent School District, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 5-994, 5-1001 and 5-1002.

United States District Court, N. D. Texas, Lubbock Division.

March 9, 1972.

Karl Cayton and Willis E. Gresham, Jr., Cayton, Gresham & Fulbright, Sam Saleh, Saleh & Saleh, Lamesa, Tex., for plaintiffs.

James H. Milam, Crenshaw, Dupree & Milam, Lubbock, Tex., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND FINAL JUDGMENT AND ORDER

WOODWARD, District Judge.

This action was brought by four high school students and their fathers, as next friends, against the officials of the Lamesa Independent School District, following the school board's expulsion of the four from Lamesa High School for alleged violation of the school board's policy prohibiting possession of drugs, including marijuana. Plaintiffs contend that the policy in question is unconstitutional, both on its face and as applied to them, and that the evidence used against them was obtained through illegal searches and seizures. They are seeking a permanent injunction to restrain the school authorities from interfering with or prohibiting the students' attendance at Lamesa High School and a declaratory judgment concerning the constitutionality of the aforementioned policy, as well as a finding that the evidence used against the students was illegally obtained and therefore not to be considered by the school board.

On March 1, 1972, the Court had its final hearing on the matter, with all parties being present and represented by counsel. After extensive consideration of the record in this case, and of the briefs and arguments of counsel, the Court files this memorandum opinion as its findings of fact and conclusions of law, and also as its order and final judgment in each of the above cases.

On December 20, 1971, the Board of Trustees of the Lamesa Independent School District adopted policy 5131, which reads in pertinent part as follows:

"Use, Possession or Sale of Dangerous Drugs or Narcotic Drugs

Any student who shall sell, use or possess any dangerous drug or narcotic drug (as those terms are now defined, or may hereafter be defined, by law), . . . shall be expelled from school for not less than the balance of the semester during which such offense occurs and not more than the balance of the entire school year remaining. No credit shall be given to the student for any work accomplished in a semester during which he is expelled."

This policy, which calls for mandatory expulsion, superseded the portion of the previous policy 5114.1 which made expulsion discretionary under the same circumstances. According to the undisputed testimony of defendants, a written copy of this policy was given to each student on or about December 20, 1971, and the policy was announced over the public address system to each class and was published in the Lamesa newspaper.

On January 14, 1972, plaintiffs James Caldwell, 18, and Ronnie Jones, 16, were arrested in Lamesa, Dawson County, Texas, by officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and two state narcotics agents and charged with possession of marijuana. A few days later, Caldwell was indicted by the grand jury of Dawson County on these same charges. Jones, being a minor, was not indicted, but charges of delinquency were brought against him in county court, ostensibly as a result of this same incident.

On January 21, 1972, Caldwell was expelled by the school administration for the remainder of the semester. On January 25, 1972, after a hearing in open court with counsel and parties present, this Court found a lack of procedural due process on the part of the school board in the manner in which Caldwell was expelled, and granted a preliminary injunction the effect of which was to reinstate Caldwell pending final disposition of his case. The Court ordered plaintiff Caldwell to request a hearing before the State Commissioner of Education as provided by the Texas Education Code. This order was entered because of the failure of the school authorities to follow their own procedural rules,¹ in that Caldwell was actually expelled before a hearing was held.

On January 15, 1972, plaintiffs Kenneth Dale Barrow, 18, and Steven Carl Barrow, 17, were arrested in Borden County, Texas, by officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and charged with possession of marijuana. On February 1, 1972, after the District Attorney of Borden County had advised that the charges would be presented to the next grand jury, the Barrows were expelled by the school board for the remainder of the semester.

On February 3, 1972, plaintiff Ronnie Jones was expelled by the school board for the remainder of the semester.

On February 8, 1972, on motion of the plaintiff, Ronnie Jones was reinstated by this Court as a student in Lamesa High School under a temporary injunction similar to the one issued with regard to the Caldwell boy.

On February 9, 1972, a similar order of temporary reinstatement was issued by this Court with regard to the two Barrow boys, and all four cases were set for a combined hearing and trial on the merits on March 1, 1972.

On the evening of February 9, 1972, plaintiff Steven Carl Barrow was again arrested in Lynn County, Texas, by officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and charged with possession of marijuana. The circumstances of this arrest were aggravated by the fact that immediately prior to his apprehension, Steven Carl Barrow drove his car at a high rate of speed through the scene of a fatal accident and forced patrolmen to give high speed chase down the highway before he could be apprehended. Upon being apprised of these facts by counsel for both plaintiff and defense, the Court in an order dated February 14, 1972, rescinded its temporary reinstatement order with regard to Steven Carl Barrow.

Evidence was presented that all of the expulsions were ordered by the school board after written notice and hearing was afforded the students and their parents in accordance with Rule 5114, supra, with the exception of the expulsion of Caldwell.

On February 28, 1972, pursuant to an order of this Court, an original proceeding was held before Dr. J. W. Edgar, Commissioner of Education of the State of Texas to determine whether James Caldwell had violated the policy of the Lamesa school board concerning possession of marijuana. This hearing before Dr. Edgar was ordered by the Court following its finding that procedural due process had been denied James Caldwell by the school authorities at the time of his expulsion. No such denial of due process was apparent in the expulsion of the other three boys, so no such original proceeding before the Commissioner was ordered by the Court in the Jones or Barrow cases. The Court made it clear that nothing in its orders was to prevent any party from following the state agency appeal route provided by law in these circumstances, or to interfere in any way with state criminal or juvenile proceedings. Dr. Edgar has not rendered any decision in the matter to this date.

The hearing before this Court on March 1, 1972, dealt solely with the constitutional issues involved in the four cases and was not intended to determine the fact questions that were to be resolved by Dr. Edgar.

A. Constitutionality of the Policy in Question

This Court finds that Policy 5131 of the Board of Trustees of the Lamesa Independent School District is constitutionally valid.

The Court is here faced with two delicate, complicated and troublesome issues: first, the proper scope of authority of those in charge of public education; second, the mounting problems resulting throughout the country from the increasing use of drugs. This Court feels that these problems demand too great an expertise to be resolved solely by resort to the courts. In particular, as far as the underlying issue which confronts us here is concerned — that is, whether marijuana is properly included in the class of "dangerous drugs" — the Court considers that to be a matter for legislative determination and not one for judicial legislation.

The power to administer public education is delegated by law to local school boards. Those bodies are charged with the principal duty of providing quality education, which includes a proper environment for quality education. This duty necessarily carries with it the power to promulgate whatever measures appear reasonably necessary to carry out these purposes.

It is obvious to this Court that the possession, or certainly the use of drugs by students could have an adverse effect on the quality of the educational environment in a school of any level, but particularly so when children high school age or younger are involved. This Court therefore holds that the enactment of a policy which prohibits student possession of dangerous drugs, as defined by the Legislature of the State of Texas, is a reasonable exercise of the power vested in this local school board.

The fact that this board does not have a policy of compulsory expulsion of students who might violate other serious crimes does not necessarily invalidate the policy under consideration in this case, nor is it invalidated by the fact that some are found to be guilty of its violation while some are not.

There being no constitutional infirmities, Policy 5131 of the Board of Trustees of the Lamesa Independent School District is valid and in full force and effect.

B. Procedural Due Process

There is no question but that Policy 5114 of the Board of Trustees of the Lamesa Independent School District, if followed, provides constitutional due process in setting out the procedures to be used...