La Fleur v. Cleveland Board of Education, Civ. A. No. C 71-292

Citation326 F. Supp. 1208
Decision Date12 May 1971
Docket NumberC 71-333.,Civ. A. No. C 71-292
PartiesJo Carol LA FLEUR, Plaintiff, v. CLEVELAND BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Defendants. Ann Elizabeth NELSON, Plaintiff, v. CLEVELAND BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Defendants.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court of Northern District of Ohio

Charles F. Clarke, Arthur A. Kola, George W. Pring, of Squire, Saunders & Dempsey, Cleveland, Ohio, for defendants.

Carol S. Agin, Lewis Katz, Cleveland, Ohio, for plaintiffs.

Sidney Picker, Jr., Cleveland, Ohio, amicus curiae, brief submitted by the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL).

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CONNELL, District Judge.

This case has been presented to this Court asking for injunction against the defendant, Cleveland Board of Education, from enforcing a regulation of the Cleveland School Board prohibiting teachers who become pregnant from teaching their classes past the fourth month of pregnancy.

The plaintiffs in the case, Jo Carol La Fleur and Ann Elizabeth Nelson are teachers in the Cleveland public school system. Both teachers are married and pregnant; Mrs. La Fleur is expecting birth of her child sometime from the mid to the end of July of this year, while Mrs. Nelson expects her child on August 26, 1971.

Mrs. Jo Carol La Fleur, C 71-292, is a teacher at Patrick Henry Junior High School and has taught her class from September 1970 until March 12, 1971, when, due to the enforcement of the school board regulation, she was asked to discontinue her duties due to her pregnancy. The plaintiff, La Fleur, taught a seventh grade class composed exclusively of girls who are designated as under-achievers or problem children. This class is called a "project transition" class which is supervised and operated by the Cleveland public schools and partially funded with Federal money. This class is composed exclusively of girls, about twenty-five in number, who are to be given special attention for purposes of making them ready for the eighth grade in school. Mrs. La Fleur did not request the maternity leave, rather the regulation was enforced as to this plaintiff and her maternity leave was involuntary. Presently, in her absence, the class is being taught by a substitute teacher.

The plaintiff, Ann Elizabeth Nelson, C 71-333, is a French teacher at Central Junior High School. She has taught French to seventh, eighth and ninth grade students since September 1970. Mrs. Nelson reported her pregnancy to her principal on January 29, 1971, and applied for maternity leave.

This case came on for hearing on April 19, 1971. The issues being identical in nature, the cases were tried and submitted together and both will be decided in this memorandum and order.

The regulation in question concerns maternity leaves of absence for teachers and is stated on pages 20-21 of the teachers handbook, Joint Ex. 1. The regulation provides that:

"Any married teacher who becomes pregnant and who desires to return to the employ of the Board at a future date may be granted a maternity leave of absence without pay."

The application of this regulation provides that the absence shall be effective not less than five months before the expected date of the normal birth of the child. Further, the regulation states that in application; this leave of absence shall be effective not less than five months before the expected date of the normal birth of the child, and application for such leave to the superintendent at least two weeks before the effective date of the leave of absence.

The plaintiffs contend that this regulation discriminates against the plaintiffs as female employees with respect to their employment and deprives them of their "rights, privileges and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, (42 U.S.C. § 1983)." Plaintiffs pray this Court grant a Declaratory Judgment ruling that the policies and practices of the school board are unlawful, and further the plaintiffs request the granting of a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining the Cleveland Board of Education from discriminating against the plaintiffs on the "basis of sex with respect to the terms and conditions and privileges of her employment and compensation thereof in deprivation of her rights, privileges and immunities secured by the United States Constitution and laws and the Civil Rights Act of 1871."

The defendants maintain that the regulation is a "valid exercise of the school board's statutory authority to make rules and regulations for its government and the government of its employees and the pupils of the school, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 3313.20." The defendants further contend that "the maternity leave policy violates no constitutional rights of the plaintiff and is not discriminatory in any sense, let alone a per se discrimination based wholly on sex."

This Court reads the complaint as being brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for an alleged violation of the plaintiffs' guarantee of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343; giving the district court original jurisdiction to hear cases for redress of deprivations arising under color of State law for alleged violations of privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States or by any act of Congress providing for the equal rights of citizens.

It is necessary to point out that the plaintiffs have not brought this action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.

The facts show that the maternity regulation in question was adopted in the early fifties upon the request of Dr. Mark C. Schinnerer, Superintendent of the Cleveland public schools. Prior to this time no maternity leave regulation had been in effect. The rule as it appears today is essentially the same as it was when adopted. The change in the rule now permits the mother to return at the beginning of the semester following the age of three months of the new child rather than the six months as previously provided. Also, the regulation now asks for one month's notice of pregnancy leave prior to the termination of employment rather than two weeks' notice as stated in the regulations as it now appears.

The evidence shows that prior to the rule, the teachers suffered many indignities as a result of pregnancy which consisted of children pointing, giggling, laughing and making snide remarks causing interruption and interference with the classroom program of study. The evidence shows that there were numerous reports of similar incidents which brought about the need for the Board of Education to prevent the continuance of this disruptive situation.

The evidence further shows that there were many instances where teachers refused to voluntarily withdraw from teaching until the birth of the child; and although no child was born in the classroom, a few times it was very close. The evidence shows that in one instance where a teacher's pregnancy was advanced, children in a Cleveland junior high school class were "taking bets on whether the baby would be born in the classroom or in the hall." Dr. Schinnerer testified that the purpose of this rule was to protect the teacher and maintain the continuity of the classroom program; the prevention of disruption in the educational process. When the regulation was presented to the Board of Education for adoption, at a public meeting, the vote of the Board of Education was unanimous.

The Cleveland Board of Education is concerned with the well-being of over 5800 teachers, of which 3774 are women. It is further pointed out that fifty percent of these women are of childbearing age, and that an average of 225 teachers are on maternity leave at all times.

A plaintiffs' witness testified that the incidence of violence in the Cleveland schools had increased steadily over the last ten years. The concurring evidence of Mr. Julius Tanczos, Supervisor of Secondary Organization of the Cleveland public schools shows that there were 256 assaults upon teachers by pupils and others, within the school buildings in the 1969-70 school year. The record shows that up to the date of the lawsuit, 140 such assaults had already taken place. The school system classifies an assault as the physical contact with the person or the threatening of a teacher with a weapon. This year alone, there has been the confiscation of 46 guns and 18 knives in the Cleveland public schools. Further it is shown that there were 136 teachers accidentally injured as the result of falls in corridors and hallways during the 1969-70 school year.

The duties of a teacher in the Cleveland public schools require her to be on her feet much of the day, and aside from teaching, they include the maintenance of order in the classrooms and the supervision of the movement of students in the halls, corridors and sometimes in the cafeterias. In addition to the teachers, the public school system employs 132 security guards which are stationed in the secondary schools, grades seven thru twelve, for the specific purpose of maintaining order and keeping outsiders from entering the school building.

With respect to the health of a pregnant teacher, during a normal pregnancy, the woman should gain between fifteen and twenty pounds. Pregnancy is a normal condition; and these individuals may continue to lead normal lives, however, the evidence shows complications can arise and the resulting effects can be very serious.

The evidence shows that toxemia occurs in as high as ten percent of pregnancies. This condition can occur slowly and may be unforeseen and will prohibit the individual from working until the condition is brought under control. The more serious complication of placenta previa occurs in one percent of the pregnancies and this condition is very serious and its gravity greatly increases should it occur after the sixth month. This...

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15 cases
  • Cleveland Board of Education v. Fleur Cohen v. Chesterfield County School Board 8212 777 72 8212 1129
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • 21 Enero 1974
    ...the constitutionality of the maternity leave rule. The District Court tried the cases together, and rejected the plaintiffs' arguments. 326 F.Supp. 1208. A divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed, finding the Cleveland rule in violation of the Equa......
  • Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • 8 Marzo 1976
    ...question was apparently so far from the central thought that neither the District Court opinion, LaFleur v. Cleveland Board of Education, 326 F.Supp. 1208 (E.D.Ohio 1971), nor the Court of Appeals opinion, 465 F.2d 1184 (6 Cir. 1972), mentions who the et al. defendants were. The District Co......
  • Green v. Waterford Board of Education
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • 29 Enero 1973
    ...Board of Education, 465 F.2d 1184 (6th Cir. 1972) (2-1 decision) (mandatory leave provision is unconstitutional), rev'g 326 F.Supp. 1208 (N.D.Ohio 1971), petition for cert. filed, 41 U.S.L.W. 3315 (U.S. Nov. 27, 1972) (No. 72-777), with Cohen v. Chesterfield County School Board, 474 F.2d 39......
  • Green v. Waterford Board of Education
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
    • 12 Abril 1972
    ...equal protection of the laws in violation of the fourteenth amendment. The opposite result was reached in La Fleur v. Cleveland Bd. of Educ., 326 F.Supp. 1208 (N.D.Ohio 1971), where it was held that the requirement that the teacher's leave be taken five months before the normally expected d......
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1 books & journal articles
  • TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR SIDNEY I. PICKER JR.
    • United States
    • Case Western Reserve Law Review Vol. 71 No. 4, June 2021
    • 22 Junio 2021
    ...OF OHIO 165, 166-74 (Paul Finkelman & Roberta Sue Alexander eds., 2012). (3.) See La Fleur [sic] v. Cleveland Bd. of Educ., 326 F. Supp. 1208, 1208 (N.D. Ohio 1971); LaFleur v. Cleveland Bd. of Educ., 465 F.2d 1184, 1185 (6th Cir. 1972); LaFleur, 414 U.S. at 633. The case had other conn......

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