James v. Beaufort County Board of Education, Civ. No. 680.

• Decision Date: 11 November 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 680.
• Citation: 348 F. Supp. 711
• Parties: Nathaniel JAMES et al., Plaintiffs, v. The BEAUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, a public body corporate, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina

348 F. Supp. 711

Nathaniel JAMES et al., Plaintiffs, v. The BEAUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, a public body corporate, Defendant.

Civ. No. 680.

United States District Court, E. D. North Carolina, Washington Division.

September 30, 1971.

Order November 11, 1971.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Conrad O. Pearson, Durham, N. C., Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Lanning, Charlotte, N. C., Jack Greenberg, Conrad K. Harper, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Lee E. Knott, Jr., Washington, N. C., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

LARKINS, District Judge:

This action was commenced on April 18, 1969 by the plaintiffs pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 1343(3) and (4); and Title 42, United States Code, Sections 1983 and 1981, wherein plaintiffs seek injunction relief to secure rights, privileges and immunities guaranteed by the due process and equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs brought this class action on behalf of themselves and other Negro teachers, principals and professional school personnel in the defendant's school system pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Specifically, plaintiffs seek: (1) To enjoin the defendant from employing, assigning, promoting and dismissing teachers, principals and professional school personnal solely on the basis of race and color; (2) An order issued by the court reinstating the individual plaintiffs, Nathaniel James and R. L. Simpson, in the same or comparable positions they held during the 1967-1968 school year as principal and teacher, respectively; and (3) An order entered by the court requiring the defendant to pay plaintiffs' costs and reasonable counsel fees.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. This action is authorized by 42 United States Code §§ 1983 and 1981; and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Jurisdiction is grounded upon 28 United States Code, § 1343.

2. Plaintiffs have standing to sue. Smith v. Board of Education, 365 F.2d 770 (8th Cir, 1966); Alston v. School Board of the City of Norfolk, 112 F.2d 992 (4th Cir. 1940); Armstead v. Starkville Mun. Separate School District, 325 F.Supp. 560 (N.D.Miss.1971).

3. It is unconstitutional for public officials to discriminate on the basis of race in the hiring and retention of teachers in the public schools. Singleton v. Jackson Mun. Sep. School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (5th Cir. 1969); Chambers v. Hendersonville City Board of Education, 364 F.2d 189 (4th Cir. 1966).

4. By Opinion and Order dated August 5, 1968, this Court ordered the desegregation of the public school system operated by the Beaufort County Board of Education, beginning with the 1968-1969 school year. Embodied in that order was a requirement that geographical attendance zones be established; among the zones established throughout the system were the Chocowinity High School and the Chocowinity Elementary School. The court order converted what was, prior to that time, a dual system into a unitary system. Previously, Chocowinity High School, predominantly white, contained grades kindergarten through twelve; and Chocowinity Elementary School, predominately Negro, contained grades kindergarten through eight. The Beaufort County Board of Education, in compliance with the court order, combined the two schools to form a single administrative unit wherein students in grades one through two were assigned to Chocowinity Elementary, while students in grades three through twelve were assigned to Chocowinity High School.

5. For the 1967-1968 school year, the Beaufort County School System operated 10 public schools comprised of approximately 5270 students. Of this number, approximately 2853 or 54% were white and 2417 or 46% were Negro. The system employed 228 teachers, of whom 132 or 58% were white and 96 or 42% were Negro.

6. For the 1968-1969 school year, the racial composition of the student body remained approximately the same ratio as the previous year. (4940 students; 2590 or 52% white and 2350 or 48% Negro). The system employed 188 teachers that year; 123 white and 65 Negro, a decrease of 9 white teachers and 31 Negro teachers from the previous year. Thus percentage-wise, the change was from 58% white to 66%; and from 42% Negro to 34%.

7. For the 1967-1968 school year there were 10 principals employed by the defendant; 6 white and 4 Negro.

8. For the 1968-1969 school year there were 9 principals employed; 8 white and 1 Negro; an increase of 2 white and a decrease of 3 Negro principals from the previous year. The 3 Negro principals were: (1) Nathaniel James, the plaintiff in this action whose position as principal of the Chocowinity Elementary School was eliminated due to the consolidation of the Chocowinity Elementary and High Schools into one administrative unit; (2) Mr. G. T. Swinson, Snowden High School, who retired; (3) Mr. Frank Ambrose, Beaufort County Elementary School, who resigned. The remaining Negro school principal, Mr. Richmond Carr served as principal of the Belhaven School for the 1968-1969 school year. Thus, during the 1967-1968 school year operating under a dual system, there were 3 Negro high school principals and one Negro elementary school principal; one principal, Mr. Carr, remained principal of the Belhaven School which was changed from a high school to an elementary school; the elementary school principalship at Chocowinity was eliminated; and the 2 vacant principalships were filled by hiring white persons.

6. North Carolina General Statute § 115-142(b), hereinafter referred to as the continuing contract law, provides, in effect, that a teacher, principal or other professional educational employee will continue to be employed by the board of education unless notified prior to the end of the school year during which he is employed. The law requires the superintendent to give notice of the termination of the contract by registered mail, addressed to the employee whose contract will not be renewed for the ensuing year. In the absence of such notice, the employee's contract continues with the board of education for the next year. The Beaufort County Board of Education was and is subject to the continuing contract law and as such is required to comply with its provisions. Furthermore, the individual plaintiffs in this action are charged with knowledge of the continuing contract law and its effect on their contractual arrangements with the defendant.

THE CLAIM OF NATHANIEL JAMES

1. The plaintiff, Nathaniel James, is fully qualified as a teacher and principal by the State of North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Winston-Salem State College in 1952 and was awarded his master's degree by North Carolina A & T University in 1959. He holds a principal's certificate from the State of North Carolina and was employed by the Beaufort County Board of Education as a teaching principal at the Chocowinity Elementary School from 1957 through the 1967-1968 school year. He is qualified to teach grades 4 through 8 and was engaged in full time teaching while at the Chocowinity Elementary School in 1967-1968, as well as performing the duties of principal.

2. Nathaniel James has knowledge of the North Carolina continuing contract law and knew of its existence and the manner in which it operates when he was employed by the Beaufort County Board of Education. The plaintiff, Nathaniel James, was not given the requisite notice that his contract with the Beaufort County Board of Education was to be terminated prior to the end of the 1967-1968 school year. Therefore, he had a continuing contract with the Beaufort County Board of Education for the 1968-1969 school year.

3. Acting pursuant to the court order of August 5, 1968, the Beaufort County School Board combined the Chocowinity schools, forming one unit, thereby eliminating Nathaniel James' position as principal. Mr. James, acting upon a newspaper article reporting the board's action, and in response to information given him by his cousin in a telephone conversation, contacted Mr. Veasey, the Superintendent of the Beaufort County Schools. In a personal interview, Mr. Veasey confirmed that Mr. James' position at the Chocowinity Elementary School had been eliminated and that Mr. James had been assigned to teach in the Chocowinity High School for the 1968-1969 school year. Mr. James, upon learning that he would not be a principal in the Beaufort County School System, sought employment as a principal in Norfolk, Virginia. He was unsuccessful in securing employment as a principal, but did obtain a teaching position with a promise of a principal's position after one year in the system. Mr. James, however, did not embark upon his duties in Norfolk, but applied for and accepted a position with the Martin County Board of Education as principal of the Martin County School, a position which he presently holds. Nathaniel James did not report for work on the required date with the Beaufort County Schools, but instead reported for work with the Martin County Schools. The Court, therefore, finds as a fact that Nathaniel James was not dismissed from the employ of the Beaufort County Board of Education, but that Mr. James took it upon himself to seek other employment. However, this finding does not preclude this Court from a finding that the School Board's decision not to offer Mr. James a comparable position to the one he held prior to the integration of the Beaufort County Schools, was due to a policy of racial discrimination.

4. Nathaniel James was not offered a position as principal within the Beaufort County School System after his principalship was eliminated at Chocowinity Elementary. He was considered for the principal's position at the Aurora and the Beaufort schools, but was rejected by the superintendent, Mr. Veasey, who refused to recommend him to the School Committee for either of the two vacant principalships. Both positions were filled by white persons with...