Hickman v. Valley Local School Dist. Bd. of Ed.
| Decision Date | 23 April 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-3226,79-3226 |
| Citation | 619 F.2d 606 |
| Parties | 104 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2412 Nancy C. HICKMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VALLEY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Arthur Wilkowski, Wilkowski, Bloom & Simko, Toledo, Ohio, for plaintiff-appellant.
Arthur M. Ney, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio, for Valley Local.
John C. Burkholder, Columbus, Ohio, for Crabtree, Gahm, Hawk, Mowery and Wortman.
James M. Moore, Lindhorst & Dreidame, Cincinatti, Ohio, for Young and Chestnut.
Before MERRITT, BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR. and JONES, Circuit Judges.
The Valley Local School District Board of Education ("Board") decided not to renew Nancy Hickman's teaching contract for the 1976-77 academic year. The renewal of her contract would have given her tenure under Ohio law, Ohio Rev. Code § 3319.11. Hickman filed suit in federal district court alleging that her contract had not been renewed because of her union activities. The district court, after a nonjury trial, entered judgment for defendants, holding that Hickman would have been dismissed even in the absence of her union activities. Because we hold that the district court erred in its application of the test in Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), we reverse.
Hickman is a certified elementary school teacher. She had taught a first grade class in the Valley Local Schools for 31/2 years when the Board decided not to renew her contract. Before coming to the Valley Local Schools, she had taught elementary classes for nine years in other school districts.
The defendants are the Board; the individual Board members; James Young, the Superintendent of Valley Local Schools; and Robert Chestnut, Principal of Valley Local Elementary School where Hickman taught. The Board members and Young are sued in their official and individual capacities. Chestnut is sued only in his official capacity.
Hickman was very active in the teachers' union. In 1973-74, her first full year of teaching in the Valley Local Schools, Hickman was a representative on the union's negotiating team. The first collective agreement was negotiated at this time. In 1974-75, she served as Vice President and the following year she served as President. Hickman published the union newsletter in these three years.
A number of her activities irritated Young and Chestnut. For example, Hickman took a complaint about an outbreak of scabies directly to the Board, bypassing Young and Chestnut. She removed a book on Board policies from Chestnut's office and gave it to the school nurse, who wanted information on how to enlist the aid of other school personnel in fighting the scabies outbreak. Chestnut complained. Hickman won the local PTA's support on a bill pending in the Ohio legislature that would give public employees a collective bargaining bill of rights. Chestnut disapproved. Hickman processed and won the first grievance. She bypassed Young and Chestnut on another teacher's salary dispute and won. She published a union newsletter that reprinted a slogan of the National Education Association: "celebrate the bicentennial process 200 grievances this year."
In 1975, Chestnut recommended to Young that the Board not renew Hickman's contract. However, Young recommended renewal to the Board and her contract was renewed. In 1976, Young agreed with Chestnut and recommended nonrenewal. The Board accepted Young's unfavorable recommendation. Three Board members voted against renewal solely on the basis of Young's recommendation. Another member voted for dismissal because of his personal knowledge of a "personality conflict" between Chestnut and Hickman. The fifth member did not vote.
Young based his adverse recommendation on the unfavorable evaluation of Hickman's teaching by Chestnut, after he observed her in the classroom for 15-30 minutes once or twice, and on a series of minor rules infractions documented by Chestnut.
Chestnut evaluated Hickman in three academic years. He used forms listing a number of categories and providing a rating from 1 (highest) to 5. The first year she received excellent ratings. The second year, 1974-75, showed excellent marks for teaching, but a sharp drop in the "in the school" evaluation. For example, her grade for intra-school relationships plummeted from 1 to 5, and her rating for professional ethics from 3 to 5. The evaluation advised Hickman to be more cooperative and to reduce her activities outside the classroom. Chestnut noted that he hoped his problems with Hickman could be reconciled.
Chestnut began in November, 1975 to "document" a case for Hickman's nonrenewal. His final list included a number of complaints about Hickman, such as one instance of allegedly improper playground supervision, guiding the building inspectors on a tour, calling in the County Supervisor on the teacher's salary dispute, taking the missing policy book, and refusing to meet with him in conference without another teacher present.
The 1975-76 evaluation showed a decline in several areas of teaching. The ratings for "intra-school relationships" and "professional ethics" remained at 5. Chestnut's comments recommended:
(less) talking to the teachers in hallway during class time better cooperation with administration less tearing down and more building up re-evaluate her philosophy and purpose for being at school (she) has intimidated teachers not joining her association controls and argues conversations with those who do not agree with her tries to be principal and teacher and president of the VTA (union) at the same time.
Chestnut testified that he recommended nonrenewal in 1975 because of a decline in Hickman's ratings for "in the school professional" areas. Chestnut based his unfavorable recommendation in 1976 on a decline in classroom performance, poor ratings in intra-school relationships and professional ethics, and too many responsibilities outside of the classroom.
The Supreme Court in Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, supra, stated the principles which must guide our resolution of this appeal:
Initially, in this case, the burden was properly placed upon respondent to show that his conduct was constitutionally protected, and that this conduct was a "substantial factor" or, to put it in other words, that it was a "motivating factor" in the Board's decision not to rehire him. Respondent having carried that burden, however, the District Court should have gone on to determine whether the Board had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have reached the same decision as to respondent's reemployment even in the absence of the protected conduct. (Footnote deleted).
429 U.S. at 287, 97 S.Ct. at 576.
Applying these principles, the district court declared that Hickman had proven a prima facie case of dismissal predicated on constitutionally protected activities, such as the scabies incident, her work with the PTA on legislation, and representing a teacher's grievances. The district court then considered defendants' evidence and held that Hickman would have been dismissed even in the absence of her union activities, because of the personality conflict between Chestnut and Hickman.
Hickman argues on appeal that the "personality conflict" and declining performance evaluation cannot serve as reasons to justify her dismissal, because they are inextricably linked to the antagonism generated from her union activities. She also contends that the court must examine the basis for the recommendations of Young and Chestnut to the Board, since the Board acted in reliance on those recommendations. Agreeing with both arguments, we hold that the district court erred in its application of the Mt. Healthy test.
The Supreme Court in Mt. Healthy fashioned a "test of causation which distinguishes between a result caused by a constitutional violation and one not so caused." 429 U.S. at 286, 97 S.Ct. at 575. The Court reasoned that "(t) he constitutional principle at stake is sufficiently vindicated if such an employee is placed in no worse a position than if he had not engaged in the conduct." Id. at 285-86, 97 S.Ct. at 575. Our inquiry then is whether a cause of Hickman's dismissal was the administrators' disapproval of some of her union activities.
In our view, the facts compel the conclusion that Hickman would not...
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