Dennis v. County School Bd. of Rappahannock Co.

• Decision Date: 28 February 1984
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 83-0021-C.
• Citation: 582 F. Supp. 536
• Parties: James R. DENNIS, Plaintiff, v. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

582 F. Supp. 536

James R. DENNIS, Plaintiff, v. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 83-0021-C.

United States District Court, W.D. Virginia, Charlottesville Division.

February 28, 1984.

Roger A. Ritchie, Harrisonburg, Va., for plaintiff.

Douglas L. Guynn, Philip C. Stone, Harrisonburg, Va., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MICHAEL, District Judge.

The plaintiff, James R. Dennis, filed the above-referenced action on March 25, 1983, although he has since filed, with leave of court, an amended complaint. The suit was brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The plaintiff is currently a resident of West Virginia, although at the time the complaint was originally filed he was a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He had been employed for two years as a probationary teacher in the Rappahannock County school system in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The defendants include Robert Estabrook, Superintendent of the Rappahannock County Public Schools, and the individual members of the School Board of Rappahannock County. The defendants failed to renew the plaintiff's contract for his position as a probationary teacher in the Spring of 1982. This action forms the basis for this lawsuit.

The plaintiff's amended complaint contains two counts. First, he alleges that the substantial motivating factor in the defendants' decision not to renew his contract was retaliation for the plaintiff's exercise of his First Amendment rights. Second, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant School Board's written notice of the nonrenewal of his teaching contract was not received until after the April 15 deadline established in Va.Code § 22.1-304, thereby entitling the plaintiff to a probationary contract for the 1982-83 school year. In his prayer for relief, the plaintiff asks for back pay, reinstatement, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

On April 22, 1983, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss. On June 21, 1983, all parties appeared, by counsel, to argue the motion before the court. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court directed the parties to file further memoranda of law to support their positions, and the parties have complied with this request. Shortly after the plaintiff filed his amended complaint on November 9, 1983, the defendants responded with a second motion to dismiss, restating the same grounds raised in their previous motion. The issues are now ripe for disposition.

The defendants have raised three grounds to sustain their motion to dismiss: (1) with respect to the Second Count, the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the Count does not allege either diversity of citizenship or federal question jurisdiction; (2) again with respect to the Second Count, the written notice of nonrenewal given by the Superintendent of Schools prior to the April 15 deadline met the requirements of Va.Code § 22.1-304; and (3) the complaint as a whole fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The court will consider each ground separately below.

I. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

The defendants urge the court to dismiss the Second Count because it alleges neither diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 nor a federal question under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The plaintiff has asked the court to exercise its pendent jurisdiction over the claim. Ever since the Supreme Court decision in United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966), it has been clear that as a matter of Constitutional power, a federal district court may exercise pendent jurisdiction over non-federal claims whenever those claims are asserted with federal claims in a single action. However, both the federal and non-federal claims must "derive from a common nucleus of operative fact" and be so related that ordinarily the plaintiff "would be expected to try them all in one judicial proceeding". Id. at 725, 86 S.Ct. at 1138. Gibbs stresses that a federal district court ought to exercise its discretion sparingly, based on considerations of "judicial economy, convenience, and fairness to litigants," avoiding needless decisions based on state law. Id. at 726, 86 S.Ct. at 1139.

This court has no difficulty in concluding that it has the Constitutional power to decide the plaintiff's Second Count. Furthermore, looking at the factors to be considered in exercising its discretion, the court believes it is certainly economical and convenient to all parties to rule upon the issues raised in the Second Count, rather than dismissing them without prejudice only to have the claim refiled in state court. The court recognizes that the necessity of construing the statutory scheme embodied in Va.Code §§ 22.1-304 and 22.1-305 without any direct guidance from Virginia courts makes the resolution of the questions somewhat more difficult. Nevertheless, in light of all the other factors, the court finds it proper to exercise its pendent jurisdiction over the plaintiff's Second Count.

II. Virginia Code §§ 22.1-304 and 22.1-305

In Title 22.1, Chapter 15 of the Virginia Code, the Virginia General Assembly has enacted a statutory scheme covering, inter alia, the hiring, dismissal, and suspension of teachers in the public school systems of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In particular, §§ 22.1-304 and 22.1-305 mandate certain procedures to be followed by school superintendents and local boards of education in order to effectuate the renewal or nonrenewal of a teaching contract of a probationary teacher. A probationary teacher is one who has not achieved "continuing contract status", i.e., one who has not taught for three years in the same school division, thereby entitling that teacher to a form of tenure within that school division. Teachers who have continuing contract status may be dismissed only for cause, see § 307, or because enrollments have decreased or particular subjects have been abolished from the school curriculum, see § 304. A probationary teacher, on the other hand, may be dismissed without cause simply by not renewing his contract for the coming school year. However, such a nonrenewal must be done in accordance with the procedures mandated in §§ 304 and 305.

§ 304 states in pertinent part

§ 22.1-304. Reemployment of teacher who has not achieved continuing contract status; .... — If a teacher who has not achieved continuing contract status receives notice of reemployment, he must accept or reject in writing within fifteen days of receipt of such notice. Except as provided in § 22.1-305, written notice of nonrenewal of the contract must be given by the school board on or before April fifteenth of each year. If no such notice is given a teacher by April fifteenth, the teacher shall be entitled to a contract for the ensuing year in accordance with local salary stipulations including increments § 305 states in pertinent part

§ 22.1-305. Nonrenewal of contract of probationary teacher.—A. Before a division superintendent recommends to the school board nonrenewal of the contract of a teacher who has not achieved continuing contract status, the division superintendent shall notify the teacher of the proposed recommendation. Upon written request of the teacher within five working days after receipt of such notice, the division superintendent or his designee shall orally provide the specific reasons, if any, for such recommendation, along with supporting documentation, if any, to the teacher and, if requested by the teacher, to his or her representative. Within ten days after receiving such reasons, the teacher may request, by notification in writing to the division superintendent, a conference before the division superintendent. Upon such request, the division superintendent shall set a date for the conference, which shall be within thirty days of the request, and shall give the teacher at least fifteen days' notice of the time and place of the conference.

....

E. In any case in which a teacher requests a conference as provided in this section, written notice of nonrenewal of the contract by the school board must be given within thirty days after the division superintendent notifies the teacher of his intention with respect to the recommendation and the provisions of § 22.01-304 requiring such notice on or before April fifteenth shall not be applicable.

....

H. The intent of this section is to provide an opportunity for a probationary teacher to discuss the reasons for nonrenewal with the division superintendent or his designee, and the provisions of this section are meant to be procedural only. Nothing contained herein shall be taken to require cause as defined in § 22.1-307 for the nonrenewal of the contract of a teacher who has not achieved continuing contract status nor shall the failure of the school board or the division superintendent to comply with any time requirement herein constitute a basis for continued employment of the teacher.

In the Second Count of his amended complaint, the plaintiff alleges the following facts. On April 13, 1982, the plaintiff, then in his second year as a probationary teacher, received a hand-delivered letter from the division superintendent, Mr. Estabrook. The letter advised the plaintiff that the superintendent would recommend to the Rappahannock County School Board at its meeting scheduled for that day that the plaintiff's contract not be renewed for a third year. At the time plaintiff received the letter, he requested the reasons for the recommendation, whereupon the superintendent responded that he was making the recommendation because he believed the plaintiff was immature. The School Board failed to take any action on the superintendent's recommendation at its April 13, 1982, meeting. On April 15, 1982, the plaintiff wrote a letter to the superintendent requesting supporting documentation, if there was any, for his recommendation. The superintendent...