Hinds County School Dist. v. R.B. ex rel. D.L.B.

• Decision Date: 18 September 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2006-CA-00326-COA.,2006-CA-00326-COA.
• Citation: 10 So.3d 495
• Parties: HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES, Appellant, v. R.B., a Minor by and through his Next Friend, D.L.B., Appellee.
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

10 So.3d 495

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES, Appellant, v. R.B., a Minor by and through his Next Friend, D.L.B., Appellee.

No. 2006-CA-00326-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

September 18, 2007.

Rehearing Denied April 29, 2008.

Ian Charles Jones, Ryan Robertson Sadler, James A. Keith, Jackson, David Earl Rozier, attorneys for appellant.

Latrice Westbrooks, Jackson, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., GRIFFIS and BARNES, JJ.

KING, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. The Hinds County School District appeals the chancery court's decision to reverse the expulsions of R.B., a minor and student of the Hinds County School District and to expunge the expulsions from his record. The chancellor determined that the School Board's decisions were unsupported by substantial evidence, were arbitrary and capricious, and violated R.B.'s rights of due process. Finding no error, this Court affirms.

FACTS

¶ 2. In February 2004, R.B., a minor, was a student at Byram Middle School. On February 5, 2004, R.B. was called to the office of Principal David Campbell. Campbell advised R.B. that an anonymous female student had informed Campbell that R.B. tried to sell her drugs the previous afternoon. R.B. consented to a search of his backpack, and Campbell also conducted a physical search of R.B.'s person. During the physical search, Campbell had R.B. remove his shoes, socks, and outer shirt. Campbell also searched R.B.'s pants pockets and then asked R.B. to remove any items from his underwear, which he refused to do. The search turned up a cigarette lighter, several CDs, and a nail file device, which Campbell found in a compartment of R.B.'s backpack.

¶ 3. Campbell called R.B.'s father, D.L.B., to come to the school. According to the father's testimony, Campbell accused his son of selling drugs. When D.L.B. arrived at Byram Middle School, he met with Campbell. D.L.B. testified that Campbell told him that "we know he's got some [marijuana], but we didn't find it on him." Campbell asked D.L.B. to finish the physical search of R.B. by having R.B. remove his underwear. D.L.B. refused. D.L.B. then testified that Campbell threatened his son with expulsion for possession of a weapon-the nail file device-if D.L.B. did not complete the physical search. D.L.B. again refused to strip search his son, so Campbell called the police to take R.B. to the juvenile detention center.¹

¶ 4. Campbell recommended that R.B. be expelled for one year. Under the appeals structure for disciplinary proceedings, that recommendation proceeded to the Appeals Committee. The Appeals Committee is made up of three members and a hearing officer, who is responsible for conducting the hearing. R.B., through his father, D.L.B., received a letter of notice regarding the Appeals Committee hearing.

¶ 5. The Appeals Committee held its hearing on February 17, 2004. The three-person committee reviewed the principal's recommendation and the security officer's report identifying the nail file device as a "pocket knife." The hearing officer's testimony indicates that the nail file device was not at the hearing and was not made available for the committee to view. D.L.B. attended the Appeals Committee hearing and spoke on behalf of his son. The Appeals Committee recommended that R.B. be expelled from Byram Middle School and transferred to the alternative school for the remainder of the school year plus the first nine weeks of the next school year, to be followed by probation for the rest of the following semester.

¶ 6. The School Board then held a hearing on March 11, 2004, to consider the recommendation of the Appeals Committee. R.B. also received a letter of notice regarding the School Board hearing. D.L.B. and R.B. appeared at the hearing, and D.L.B. spoke on his son's behalf. D.L.B. also presented a nail clipper as representative of the nail file device on which his son's disciplinary action was based. The Appeals Committee hearing officer disputed D.L.B.'s characterization of the nail file device in his oral report to the School Board. The nail file device, however, was not available for viewing. The School Board decided to have the hearing officer fax over a photocopy of the nail file device the following day and to allow the superintendent to review the photocopy. If the superintendent determined that the nail file device matched the hearing officer's description, the School Board would uphold the decision.

¶ 7. The following morning, the superintendent received a faxed photocopy of the nail file device. Although the object itself has three attachments, only one prong of the device, which resembles a knife blade, was displayed in the photocopy. The superintendent unilaterally determined that the object depicted in the photocopy was a "weapon;" therefore, the decision of the Appeals Board was upheld. The superintendent faxed a copy of the document she had received to D.L.B. R.B. later received notice of the School Board's decision, which he timely appealed to the chancery court.

¶ 8. Pursuant to the School Board's decision, R.B. was transferred to the alternative school for the remainder of the school year. On May 19, 2004, the school's resident police officer received a report that R.B. and another student had marijuana in their possession. As the officer and the principal were headed to R.B.'s classroom, another student spotted them and alerted the class. The officer took R.B. back to the office and questioned him. R.B. stated that another student, J.D., had offered him marijuana but that R.B. "didn't mess with the stuff." R.B. stated that when J.D. realized that the principal and school officer were coming into the classroom, J.D. threw the marijuana at R.B. and told him to hide it. R.B. threw the drugs onto a bookshelf. R.B. signed a type-written statement to that effect.

¶ 9. J.D. admitted to buying marijuana from two other students. J.D. further stated that he "gave all of the marijuana to [R.B.] and [R.B.] tried to frame him by hiding it in [J.D.'s] desk." A third student, the one who alerted the class to the principal's approach, submitted a written statement to the effect that R.B. and J.D. were trading the marijuana back and forth but that R.B. was the one in possession and was attempting to sell it.

¶ 10. On the basis of this incident, the alternative school's principal recommended a one-year expulsion for R.B. R.B. received notice of the Appeals Committee hearing. This time, R.B. spoke on his own behalf, as D.L.B. was unable to attend. The Appeals Committee adopted the principal's recommendation of a one-year expulsion, and the matter was transferred to the School Board.

¶ 11. R.B. and D.L.B. did not receive notice of the School Board hearing. They knew, from previous experience, when the School Board met and happened to hear that R.B.'s case was being heard on the evening of June 10, 2004. When R.B. and D.L.B. arrived at the School Board hearing, they were not given an opportunity to be heard. D.L.B. testified that when he asked to see the evidence against his son, particularly the statements from the other students, he was denied the opportunity even to view the statements because the School Board required that the identities of those students be kept confidential. The School Board upheld the Appeals Committee's recommendation for a one-year expulsion. R.B. and D.L.B. received notice of the expulsion via letter dated June 11, 2004.

¶ 12. On April 8, 2004, following the initial order of expulsion regarding the incident with the nail file device, R.B. and D.L.B. appealed the School Board's decision to the Hinds County Chancery Court. When R.B. was expelled from the alternative school in June 2004, R.B. and D.L.B. amended their appeal to include the marijuana possession incident.

¶ 13. The chancellor held a hearing on February 8, 2005, which was continued until October 5, 2005. Following the hearing, the chancellor overturned both expulsions. With regard to the incident involving the nail file device, the chancellor found that the School Board's decision was arbitrary and capricious and not supported by substantial evidence due to the School Board's utter failure to inspect the nail file device and to make an independent determination regarding the classification of the device as a weapon. With regard to both the nail file device and the marijuana incidents, the chancellor held that the School Board violated R.B.'s due process rights. The chancellor reversed the expulsions and ordered R.B.'s record expunged.²

¶ 14. The Hinds County School District Board of Trustees appealed. The School Board argues that the chancellor erred in finding that both of the School Board's disciplinary decisions regarding R.B. were arbitrary and capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence, and in violation of R.B.'s constitutional rights.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 15. A school board is an administrative agency to which certain powers and duties have been delegated, including the responsibility of conducting the final review on student disciplinary matters. Loftin v. George County Bd. of Educ., 183 So.2d 621, 622 (Miss.1966); Miss.Code Ann. § 27-7-301(e) (Supp.2006). In reviewing the decision of a chancellor regarding an agency decision, this Court will affirm the agency decision unless that decision "(1) was unsupported by substantial evidence; (2) was arbitrary or capricious; (3) was beyond the power of the administrative agency to make; or (4) violated some statutory or constitutional right of the complaining party." Mississippi Sierra Club v. Mississippi Dep't of Envtl. Quality, 819 So.2d 515, 519(¶ 15) (Miss. 2002).

ANALYSIS

1. Disciplinary proceedings regarding the nail file device incident

¶ 16. The School Board argues that the decision to uphold the Appeals Committee's recommendation to suspend R.B. for possession of a weapon was supported by substantial evidence. The School Board argues that the Appeals Committee had the report of the...