Hastings v. Bonner

• Decision Date: 14 August 1978
• Docket Number: No. 76-2052,76-2052
• Parties: Nancy HASTINGS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. G. B. BONNER, and Arthur Johnson, Individually and as agents and employees of the School Board of Wakulla County, Florida, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 136

578 F.2d 136

Nancy HASTINGS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. G. B. BONNER, and Arthur Johnson, Individually and as agents and employees of the School Board of Wakulla

County, Florida, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 76-2052.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 14, 1978.

Jerry D. Anker, Steven E. Silverman, David Rubin, Robert H. Chanin, Washington, D. C., Richard H. Frank, Tampa, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellants.

William F. Daniel, Tallahassee, Fla., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Before COWEN, ^* Senior Judge, GOLDBERG and AINSWORTH, Circuit judges.

COWEN, Senior Judge:

Appellants are three former school teachers in the Wakulla County, Florida school system. Appellant Gail Hazlett taught at Sopchoppy Elementary School under Principal Gleney Bonner. Appellants Nancy Hastings and Diana Sullivan taught at Crawfordville Elementary School under Principal Arthur Johnson. At the end of the 1973-74 school year none of the three were tenured teachers under Florida law. See Fla.Stat.Ann. § 231.36(3)(a). Appellants Hazlett and Sullivan were eligible for continuing contracts (tenure) for the next school year (1974-75). Appellant Hastings was eligible only for another annual contract. None of the three teachers, however, received contract renewals for the 1974-75 school year. The Superintendent of Wakulla County Schools, William Payne, wrote to each appellant that he was not renewing her contract, because he wished to improve the instructional program at her school by replacing her with a more qualified teacher.

Appellants filed suit, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 (1970), against Superintendent Payne, Principals Bonner and Johnson, and the Wakulla County School Board, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. They alleged denial of their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and association. At the conclusion of a trial without a jury the court entered a verdict in favor of the school board. Later, in a memorandum opinion, the district judge held "the evidence will not support a finding that (Principal Bonner) abridged in any way the freedom of speech or association" of Mrs. Hazlett; that Principal Johnson "had more than sufficient justification for not recommending Hastings and Sullivan for further employment," and that the evidence did not establish that his recommendations were "impermissably motivated." With respect to Superintendent Payne, the court found that, although he was guilty of "flimsy after-the-fact-rationalization" in his stated reasons for not rehiring Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Sullivan, and although "the instant case is replete with elements" which would support Hastings' and Sullivan's position that the nonrenewal resulted from their exercise of First Amendment rights, Payne did not violate those rights "since there is more than ample evidence that they exercised their First Amendment liberties in a manner that interfered with the normal operation of the school." The court further held with respect to Mrs. Hazlett's complaint against Mr. Payne "absent a stronger showing that the exercise of some protected right was involved, the court finds no actionable impropriety in (Mrs. Hazlett's) termination for insubordination."

We agree with the trial judge's observation that this is a troublesome case in which witnesses for both sides contradicted one another at almost every turn. We recognize, too, that in such a situation, he correctly determined that "conclusions must necessarily rest not so much on proven facts as on logical inferences and the demeanor of witnesses." However, after a careful review of the record, we hold, with regret, that it is necessary to remand the case to the district court for the making of additional findings of fact and conclusions of law. We think there are two reasons which compel this conclusion: first, the trial judge failed to resolve a crucial conflict in the evidence regarding the alleged insubordination of Mrs. Hazlett, and second, there is a substantial doubt that the court applied the correct legal standard in holding that the disruptive conduct of Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Sullivan precluded their rights to recover. See Mt. Healthy Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), where the Supreme Court remanded to the district court a case raising questions similar to those at bar.

I. BACKGROUND

The background for this litigation lies in the activity of the three appellants in the Wakulla County Education Association (WCEA). The WCEA was an affiliate of the Florida Education Association (FEA), which was a further affiliate of the National Education Association. During the 1973-74 school year, the WCEA was the focus of controversy in the Wakulla County school system. This controversy centered on the confrontative tactics advocated and used by some WCEA members, apparently including the appellants, to promote the goals of those members. The goals included the achievement of better teaching conditions, salaries, and other benefits for association members. One hotly disputed issue, which arose in the argument over methods available to achieve these goals, was an end-of-the-school-year statewide vote taken among representatives of the various county associations such as the WCEA, to determine whether the FEA should merge with the American Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, and as a result forego its affiliation with the NEA.

Appellants apparently played key roles in steering the WCEA on its chosen course during the 1973-74 school year. Mrs. Hazlett was the WCEA building representative at Sopchoppy Elementary School, and also served successively as secretary, vice-president, and president of the WCEA. Mrs. Hastings was chairman of the WCEA political action and membership committees, and Mrs. Sullivan chaired the public relations committee. Appellants admit that one of their assumed responsibilities was the joint authorship, with Mike Makowsky, an FEA counselor and organizer of a WCEA newsletter which was openly critical of Superintendent Payne.

At trial each appellant testified that during the 1973-74 school year she was warned in some fashion by her respective principal that Superintendent Payne was unhappy with her WCEA activities, and unless she disassociated herself from those efforts, her contract might not be renewed for 1974-75. A fourth teacher, a Mrs. Gowdy, also testified Principal Johnson had informed her that Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Sullivan were in peril of losing their employment on account of their WCEA activities. Messrs. Bonner, Johnson, and Payne all denied that the above conversations took place. Although the trial judge did not specifically resolve this conflicting testimony in favor of either side, he rejected Payne's testimony that Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Sullivan were replaced in order to upgrade the system by selecting more qualified teachers.

One important fact not in dispute is that during 1973-74, all three appellants performed their classroom duties satisfactorily. Principal Johnson rated Mrs. Hastings an "excellent" teacher, and Mrs. Sullivan a "fine" teacher. Principal Bonner rated Mrs. Hazlett a "good" teacher.

II. MRS. HAZLETT'S CLAIM

A. Obscurity in the trial court's findings.

We first consider the court's findings and holding with respect to Mrs. Hazlett. The record is clear that during the 1973-74 school year Mrs. Hazlett was warned on occasion by Principal Bonner that her prospective appointment as a continuing contract teacher for the 1974-75 school year was in danger because she failed to communicate sufficiently with the administration about her classroom operation, and because her activities in the WCEA were unprofessional. During the course of the year, however, Mrs. Hazlett progressed toward the resolution of this deficiency to such an extent that Mr. Payne and Mr. Bonner agreed that Mr. Payne would offer her at least another annual contract for 1974-75, in lieu of the continuing contract for which she was eligible. Mr. Payne drafted the letter offering Mrs. Hazlett annual employment for 1974-75 by simply requesting her to check one of two boxes accepting or rejecting the offer and to mail the letter back to him by March 29, 1974.

Mrs. Hazlett balked at this request. She requested a meeting with Mr. Payne at 4:30 p. m. on the afternoon of March 29, to discuss the reasons why she was not being offered a continuing contract. Mr. Payne agreed to grant this request. To Mr. Payne's surprise, however, Mrs. Hazlett appeared at his office at the appointed time on March 29 accompanied by two other persons, her husband and Mike Makowsky, the FEA counselor and organizer who had previously participated in the joint authorship of newsletters critical of Mr. Payne.

That all of the above events took place, both sides agree. Now comes the important conflict in the evidence which the district court failed to resolve. The trial judge stated the facts of the March 29 meeting as follows:

* * * On March 29, 1974, Mrs. Hazlett appeared at the Superintendent's office, accompanied by her husband and a local representative of the state teacher organization. She had not advised the Superintendent that she wished these gentlemen to be present during the interview. On being apprised of this fact, Mr. Payne refused to see Mrs. Hazlett and subsequently revoked the offer of a fourth year of employment. * * * (Emphasis added.)

Appellants view this as an unqualified finding that Mr. Payne refused to see Mrs. Hazlett and withdrew his offer of employment to her for the sole reason that she dared to bring two unannounced representatives to his office and to request their presence at a meeting previously scheduled with him. Based on this interpretation, appellants argue that we must conclude as a matter of law that Mr. Payne's withdrawal of an...