Doherty v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 15 March 1973
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 748.
• Citation: 356 F. Supp. 35
• Parties: Corrie Anna DOHERTY, Plaintiff, v. Joe C. WILSON, Superintendent of Schools, Sumter County, Georgia; and Sumter County Board of Education, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia

356 F. Supp. 35

Corrie Anna DOHERTY, Plaintiff, v. Joe C. WILSON, Superintendent of Schools, Sumter County, Georgia; and Sumter County Board of Education, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 748.

United States District Court, M. D. Georgia, Americus Division.

March 15, 1973.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Howard Moore, Jr., Elizabeth R. Rindskopf, Moore, Alexander & Rindskopf, Atlanta, Ga., Norman J. Chachkin, New York City, for plaintiff.

Henry L. Crisp, Crisp & Oxford, Americus, Ga., for defendants.

OWENS, District Judge:

An evidentiary hearing was held January 18, 1973. The evidence presented shows that the following are the facts of this case:

Mrs. Corrie Anna Doherty, the plaintiff, is a young lady of the white race. She graduated from an Alabama college in December 1970. Soon thereafter she and her husband moved to Koinonia Farms — an interracial, religiously oriented, communal farm located in Sumter County, Georgia.

Defendant Joe C. Wilson was Superintendent of Schools for the defendant Sumter County Board of Education at the time of the occurrences out of which this case arose. He no longer serves in this position or any other position with defendant Board of Education.

Defendant Sumter County Board of Education approves the contracts for all teachers employed by the school system.¹ The board's general practice has been to defer to the judgment of the superintendent regarding the hiring of teachers. Accordingly, the board refuses to hire any applicant whom the superintendent has refused to recommend, although on occasion the board will exercise its own discretion as to whether to employ someone even though that person was recommended by the superintendent.

In February, 1971, plaintiff applied for a teaching position with the Sumter County school system. Defendant Wilson interviewed her, examined her qualifications and talked with her student teaching supervisor, but he proceeded no further with his investigations because of plaintiff being a resident of Koinonia Farms. Mr. Wilson believed that he would be fired by defendant Board of Education if he recommended a resident of Koinonia Farms to be a teacher. Mr. Wilson, therefore, notified plaintiff that her residence created a problem in the consideration of her application.

Immediately following her first interview with the superintendent, plaintiff had met Mr. Cecil Dunn, then principal of Sumter County's Plains High School. Dunn indicated his interest in using plaintiff to substitute teach for him and subsequently on several occasions did in fact ask her to teach. On these occasions Dunn found plaintiff qualified and was satisfied with her teaching performance. The only adverse criticism he received concerned the length of plaintiff's skirts. Other teachers had received similar criticisms and Dunn had seen nothing objectionable about plaintiff's appearance. Dunn subsequently discontinued his use of plaintiff as a substitute when it was made known to him that many residents of Sumter County did not approve of such contact with Koinonia.

In April, 1971, plaintiff made a second application for employment with the Sumter County school system. She applied for a position teaching remedial courses under the Title I program. Mr. John Katerpodis, who was then the director of federal programs for the Sumter County school system, interviewed plaintiff, reviewed her qualifications and found her qualified. He indicated to plaintiff that he expected that there would be openings for the 1971-1972 school year and that she would probably be hired. He also indicated that this would not be made official until the applications were submitted for approval to the Board of Education in August of 1971.

Mr. Katerpodis subsequently recommended to defendant Wilson that plaintiff be hired to fill a vacant position, however because of her residence at Koinonia Farms, Mr. Wilson refused to recommend to the defendant Board that plaintiff be hired in a Title I position. Mr. Katerpodis and Mr. Wilson often discussed the qualifications of applicants for Title I programs; plaintiff was the only applicant actually recommended by Mr. Katerpodis for employment whom Mr. Wilson refused to recommend to the board.

Mr. Katerpodis notified plaintiff in late August, 1971, that she would not be hired. She subsequently made application for a teaching position with the Terrell County Board of Education, but was told that they needed no more teachers. She made no more applications for employment for the 1971-72 school year or for the 1972-73 school year.

At Superintendent Wilson's suggestion, on September 9, 1971, Mrs. Doherty asked to appear before the defendant Sumter County Board of Education to discuss her application. She was notified that she would be heard at the board meeting scheduled for September 14, 1971.

Plaintiff went to the board meeting with Mr. Millard Fuller of Koinonia Farms who spoke to the meeting on behalf of plaintiff. The discussion before the board centered on Koinonia Farms. One board member asked plaintiff why she lived there. Another questioned her concerning her philosophy of life. She declined to answer these questions at the meeting, and Mr. Fuller told the board members that the questions were irrelevant. Superintendent Wilson told the board that he had not recommended her for employment because she resided at Koinonia Farms.

The school board then went into executive session. Statements made by Mr. Wilson led some of the members to believe that there were no unfilled vacancies in the Title I program at that time. The board concluded the matter by voting to direct the superintendent to send plaintiff a letter which stated that she was not needed.

There were in fact several vacancies in the Title I program for which plaintiff was qualified as of September 14, 1971. Superintendent Wilson did not recommend her for one of these teaching positions because she was a resident of Koinonia Farms. The school board ratified his action by its vote of September 14, 1971. Had the members of defendant Board been informed of the vacancies, the evidence indicates they would have ratified the superintendent's action anyway.

Superintendent Wilson's refusal to hire a Koinonia resident stemmed from a strongly adverse reaction which he had received following his recommendation that a Koinonia resident be hired for the school year 1970-71.²

Another Koinonia resident is presently employed as a teacher with the Sumter County school system. She obtained her position prior to and before defendants knew she was moving to Koinonia, but has been retained since it was learned that she resides there.

Plaintiff would have been paid $5,600 per year, plus a local supplement, if she had been hired to teach in the Sumter County school system. The evidence failed to show what the local supplement would have been for plaintiff.

Plaintiff, as a "Koinonia Partner", had to give up all substantial property holdings before moving to Koinonia. Had she been hired as a teacher her salary would have been given over to Koinonia or another charity, except for money which would go to pay off her educational loans. She could retain for herself only a small living allowance. She did not know how much this would be.

Koinonia Farms is a communal farm in which all residents contribute to the work of running the farm. In turn, each is provided with a place to live, food, other basic needs and a small living allowance. Other profits of the farm go to charitable endeavors. Very few Koinonia residents hold salary paying jobs away from the farm. For example, plaintiff's husband is an Episcopal minister, but since moving to Koinonia has not been receiving a salary from that church.³

No evidence was presented as to the value of whatever services plaintiff has rendered to Koinonia since September, 1971. Neither was evidence introduced as to the value of the support plaintiff has received from Koinonia since September, 1971.

It is the above facts upon which this court must make its decision.

Plaintiff by this action in equity seeks monetary and injunctive relief against the Sumter County Board of Education for its failure to hire her to teach.

This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343⁴ to enforce rights guaranteed plaintiff by 42 U.S.C. § 1983.⁵

Plaintiff seeks to maintain this lawsuit as a class action under Rules 23(a) and 23(b)(2), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, on behalf of herself and all present, past and future residents of Koinonia Farms who have or may in the future seek employment with the Sumter County Board of Education.

The evidence, however, failed to show that any other Koinonia residents have been denied employment by the board or that anyone else living there even desires to apply for a position. The evidence did show that two Koinonia residents have in fact been given jobs. Also, there was no showing that the number of Koinonia residents who possess qualifications to teach and who might desire to teach in the public schools is so great that joinder would be impracticable. See Rule 23(a)(1), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

There having been no showing that a proper class exists, the plaintiff may not proceed as representative of a class.

It is the Board of Education and not this court which is empowered by law to manage the Sumter County school system,⁶ and it is their duty to hire and fire teachers as necessary. To this end, the law grants the board and its superintendent broad discretion.⁷ The orderly operation of the schools depends upon their expertise and not upon whatever skills this judge may possess in the area of school administration.

The board's discretion, though, is not unbounded. Standards which they use in the evaluation of prospective teachers must be reasonably related to teaching competency and effectiveness. Sosa v. Board of Managers, 437 F.2d 173, 176 (5th Cir. 1971). Their standards must be applied in a uniform fashion so that no group of prospective teachers...