Cochran v. Board of Educ. of Mexico School Dist. No. 59

• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: CRANE; AHRENS
• Citation: Cochran v. Board of Educ. of Mexico School Dist. No. 59, 815 S.W.2d 55 (Mo. App. 1991)
• Decision Date: 23 July 1991
• Docket Number: No. 58692,58692
• Parties: 69 Ed. Law Rep. 1182 In re the Matter of Steven COCHRAN, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MEXICO SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 59, Defendant/Respondent.

Page 55

815 S.W.2d 55

69 Ed. Law Rep. 1182

In re the Matter of Steven COCHRAN, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MEXICO SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 59 Defendant/Respondent.

No. 58692.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Northern Division.

July 23, 1991.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court

Denied Aug. 29, 1991.

Application to Transfer Denied Oct. 16, 1991.

Bradford A. Brett, Brett, Erdel, Tanzey and Hamlett, P.C., Mexico, for plaintiff/appellant.

Louis J. Leonatti, Ann P. Hagan and Paul A. Seigfreid, Seigfreid, Runge, Leonatti & Pohlmeyer, P.C., Mexico, for defendant/respondent.

CRANE, Judge.

Plaintiff Steven Cochran appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court of Audrain County upholding the action of the defendant Board of Education of Mexico School District No. 59 approving his termination as a welding instructor with the Mexico Area Vocational Technical School. We affirm.

Facts

The evidence, considered in the light most favorable to the school board's decision, reveals that Steven Cochran had been employed as a welding instructor at the Mexico Area Vocational Technical School from 1979 until his termination by the defendant school board on November 29, 1989. His teaching contract gave him the rights of a tenured teacher under the Missouri Teacher Tenure Act. He also oversaw the daily operation of the Mexico school district's participation in the federal surplus property program. This federal program, administered through a state agency, enables not-for-profit organizations such as the school district or its vocational schools to purchase items previously used by the federal government at a substantially reduced price. Where the "acquisition cost," defined as the federal government's original price, exceeded $3,000.00 for an item, the not-for-profit entity purchasing the item was restricted from disposing of the property for an eighteen month period. The entity was required to report the status of purchasers from time to time.

Cochran was first authorized as the school district's representative for the program by letter dated May 29, 1984, addressed to the State Agency for Surplus Property in Jefferson City, Missouri, from Donald Palmer, then superintendent of schools. The school district subsequently purchased various items through the surplus property program including a fork lift, die casting machine, profile projector, scrap aluminum, titanium and screw machines. Cochran handled the negotiations for both the sale and purchase of surplus property. He would locate the items at the surplus property agency's yard in Jefferson City, and put a hold on items of interest. After his return, he would then type up a purchase order that Mr. David Wilkinson, the director of the vocational school, would sign. Wilkinson would forward the purchase order to central office to be issued. Cochran was responsible for preparation of the surplus property utilization reports concerning surplus property the district acquired. Cochran prepared some reports which indicated purchases were still in inventory when they had been sold in violation of the restriction.

After questions were raised by a standard audit and articles in the press, and as a result of a federal investigation, the school board requested its auditor and its attorney to investigate allegations of impropriety in the surplus property program. After receiving the results of the investigation, the school board issued a warning letter to Cochran on July 26, 1989, for "insubordination" and "immoral conduct" regarding the surplus property program. Cochran and his attorney met with interim superintendent John Dean on August 23, 1989. As a result of the violations of federal regulations governing the surplus property program, the school district negotiated a settlement with the General Services Administration which required it to pay the United States government over $54,000.00 and to arrange for and pay the cost for the return of a lathe to the surplus property agency office. The settlement was finalized in November, 1989.

On October 18, 1989, the board issued a charges letter to Cochran advising him of the school board's interim decision to terminate him and outlining the basis for its charges of immoral conduct. There were three allegations of immoral conduct: (1) that Mr. Cochran filed at least four false reports with the State Agency for Surplus Property; (2) that he was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Mexico Area Vocational Technical School Surplus Property Program and that various violations of regulations were found in the way the Vo-Tech School utilized certain pieces of surplus equipment; and (3) that he filed an application to teach in the adult education program at the Mexico Area Vocational Technical School that contained incorrect personal information which caused the district to overpay Cochran and that he refused to return the overpaid funds. He also was provided with a notice outlining his rights to a hearing.

Administrative Proceedings

The school board conducted a hearing on the evenings of November 13 and 14, 1989, to hear evidence of the charges. Cochran filed a motion with the board to disqualify the board and appoint a circuit judge as hearing officer on the grounds that the board was biased and the publicity surrounding the case tainted the proceedings. The school board took the motion with the case and ultimately denied the motion when it issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law. Two weeks after the hearing the board met in two executive sessions to deliberate and vote on the charges. The school board voted 4-2 to terminate Cochran.

The majority of the board made the following conclusions:

(a) that Cochran was responsible for the preparation of four Surplus Property Utilization Reports which falsely indicated that equipment was still owned by the school district and was on school district property, when in fact it had been sold;

(b) that Cochran directed the Mexico school district's participation in the government's Surplus Property Program, and he bore part of the responsibility for the District's failure to comply with the program's requirements; and

(c) that Cochran's application to teach in the Adult Education Program contained false information. However, the school board found insufficient proof that this false information resulted in increased pay.

The two dissenting members of the board issued a separate opinion reflecting their belief that the evidence did not support all of the conclusions of the majority and that disciplinary action other than termination was warranted.

Circuit Court Proceedings

Cochran thereafter filed a petition for review with the circuit court along with a motion regarding pre-hearing unfairness and post-hearing irregularities. The motion was countered by affidavit. The circuit court denied the motion and upheld the board's decision.

Standard of Review

We review the findings and conclusions of the administrative agency rather than the judgment of the circuit court. Kramer v. Mason, 806 S.W.2d 131, 134 (Mo.App.1991); Hudson v. Wellston School District, 796 S.W.2d 31, 33 (Mo.App.1990). Our scope of review is limited to a determination whether or not the decision of the agency is supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the record as a whole, whether the decision was arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable, or whether the administrative action constituted an abuse of discretion. Gamble v. Hoffman, 732 S.W.2d 890, 892 (Mo. banc 1987); Umphries v. Jones, 804 S.W.2d 38, 40 (Mo.App.1991). We may not substitute our judgment of the evidence. Kramer, 806 S.W.2d at 134. In addition, we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the agency decision, together with all reasonable inferences where supported. Id; Hudson, 796 S.W.2d at 33. If evidence before an administrative body would warrant either of two opposed findings, we are bound by the administrative determination and it is irrelevant that there is evidence to support a contrary finding. Kramer, 806 S.W.2d at 134; Hudson, 796 S.W.2d at 33. We likewise defer to the determination of the credibility of the witnesses by the administrative tribunal. Kramer, 806 S.W.2d at 134; Hudson, 796 S.W.2d at 33.

The action of the agency must be supported by substantial evidence. Substantial evidence has been defined as:

evidence which, if true, has probative force upon the issues, i.e., evidence favoring facts which are such that reasonable men may differ as to whether it establishes them; it is evidence from which the trier or triers of the fact reasonably could find the issues in harmony therewith; it is evidence of a character sufficiently substantial to warrant the trier of facts in finding from it the facts, to establish which the evidence was introduced.

Fujita v. Jeffries, 714 S.W.2d 202, 206 (Mo.App.1986) quoting Collins v. Division of Welfare, 364 Mo. 1032, 270 S.W.2d 817, 820 (Mo. banc 1954). "There is a strong presumption of validity in favor of a school board's decision because the courts are reluctant to interfere with a school board's broad discretion in matters affecting school management." Beck v. James, 793 S.W.2d 416, 418 (Mo.App.1990) quoting Bell v. Board of Education, 711 S.W.2d 950, 955 (Mo.App.1986).

Due Process

For his first point Cochran asserts that the school board's hearing violated § 536.140.2(5) RSMo 1986 and his rights to constitutional and administrative due process in that the attorney for the school board had multiple roles as investigator and prosecutor on behalf of the school superintendent during the hearing, that he had participated in the final deliberations of the school board and that the board was biased. We examine first the allegations concerning the role of the attorney for the school board, Mr. Louis Leonatti.

The record reflects that Leonatti assisted in the audit of the Mexico school district's participation in the surplus property...