Keckeisen v. Independent School Dist. 612

• Citation: 509 F.2d 1062
• Decision Date: 28 February 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74--1326,74--1326
• Parties: Edward KECKEISEN, Appellant, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 612 et al., Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 1062

509 F.2d 1062

Edward KECKEISEN, Appellant, v. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 612 et al., Appellees.

No. 74--1326.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 13, 1974.

Decided Feb. 10, 1975.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 28, 1975.

William B. Korstad, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

Norvell C. Callaghan and James F. Nelson, Winter & Nelson, Ltd., Glenwood, Minn., for appellees.

Before VAN OOSTERHOUT, Senior Circuit Judge, HEANEY, Circuit Judge, and MEREDITH, Chief District Judge. ^*

MEREDITH, Chief District Judge.

This is a civil rights action sought to be maintained under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, in which appellant, Edward Keckeisen, seeks a permanent injunction restraining defendants from terminating his employment contract, reinstatement as principal of the Glenwood High School, and punitive damages. Appellant's employment contract was terminated pursuant to the School Board's policy, which provides in pertinent part:

It shall be the policy of the Board of Education not to employ the combination of husband and wife in the schools of the District where a conflict of interest could arise; said policy is to apply to the following:

1. Administrator--Teacher relationship

2. Husband and Wife combination in the same building

3. All other situations where a conflict of interest occurs.

Where the employment of a husband and wife in Independent School District 612 causes a conflict of interest to occur or should one of the above three conditions arise, that then either the husband or the wife shall resign. In the event neither the husband or the wife resigns within 10 days of notification of the conflict of interest or the occurrence of the above conditions, that then and in that event the Board of Education shall determine which position should be terminated according to statute.

Edward Keckeisen, the principal of Glenwood High School, was married of Lois Korbel, a physical education teacher at the school, in December 1972. Both were tenured teachers, having been employed three and six years, respectively, at their positions. The School Board's policy, the constitutionality of which is the subject of this appeal, was officially adopted by the Board on June 12, 1972, notice of its adoption being sent to all faculty members in the school district. The record indicates that the Board was apprised of the intention of Keckeisen and Korbel to marry at the time that it officially adopted the policy in question, but there is no allegation or evidence that the policy was invidiously tailored to fit the circumstance of their prospective marriage. In the record of the hearing that was held before the School Board on March 29, 1973, there was testimony by the Superintendent of Schools and past board members, dating back to 1945, that there had been a policy in the district not to hire married couples in the school system. There was testimony that on several occasions persons had not been hired, or that they had been asked to resign, because of the fact that they were married to someone who was already employed by the school district. It was also pointed out in that hearing that the district does use husbands or wives of faculty members as substitute teachers from time to time. This was explained as being necessary due to the small size of the community, and the scarcity of qualified persons who can be available on short notice. It is clear to the court that the problems of substitutes and those of permanent staff members are quite different and are distinguishable for purposes of the issue to be decided here.

Upon the marriage of Keckeisen and Korbel, the School Board notified the Keckeisens of the applicability of the policy to them, and in March 1973 a public hearing was held to determine whether the Keckeisens, or either of them, should be terminated in their employment. By resolution of the School Board, appellant was notified, on March 29, 1973, that his employment contract would not be renewed beyond the end of the school year, and, in fact, appellant has not been employed by appellee since the completion of the 1973 academic year.

Appellant then brought the matter before the federal district court, claiming that his Ninth Amendment right to privacy and Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws had been violated. Chief Judge Devitt dismissed the matter, holding in a brief opinion that a cause of action was not stated, and, further, 'that even if one were stated the school board's conflict of interest policy * * * is a permissible one under constitutional standards * * *.'

In considering the constitutionality of appellees' policy, and particularly its application to Edward Keckeisen, it is instructive to note that appellees' alternatives were rather strictly limited by the setting of the events. Glenwood is a small town in which there is only one high school. There is an elementary school in Glenwood, but neither of the Keckeisens were certified, as required by Minnesota law, to teach at the elementary level; and the position of principal of the elementary school was filled by a tenured teacher. It was not possible, therefore, to transfer either of the Keckeisens to another school within the district, which would have mitigated the severity of the result reached pursuant to the Board's policy.

Jurisdiction

Appellees contend that the matter is not properly one of federal cognizance because appellant has not exhausted the remedies provided by Minnesota law and because appellees are not 'persons' within the import of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985. This court finds, however, that appellant has properly stated a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Although the states are given immunity by the Eleventh Amendment from the prosecution of civil claims, individuals and associations acting under color of state law are not immune to the sanctions of the Civil Rights Act and may be sued, unless it is clear to the court that the claim is actually a ruse by which personal jurisdiction over the state is sought to be exercised. See Whitner v. Davis, 410 F.2d 24 (9th Cir. 1969) (action dismissed as to state and college, but allowed to proceed against board of trustees); Porcelli v. Titus, 302 F.Supp. 726, 730 (D.N.J.1969), aff'd, 431 F.2d 1254 (3d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 944, 91 S.Ct. 1612, 29 L.Ed.2d 112 (1971); Miller v. Parsons, 313 F.Supp. 1150 (M.D.Pa.1970). Cf. Board of Trustees of Arkansas A & M College v. Davis, 396 F.2d 730 (8th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S 962, 89 S.Ct. 401, 21 L.Ed.2d 375 (1968). Likewise, municipal corporations were not intended to be included as 'persons' under § 1983, as appellees point out, but it would defeat the central intention of the Civil Rights Act to disallow actions against individuals employed by municipal corporations. Such is the holding of the Supreme Court in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961), where it was held that individual police officers, but not the city itself, were subject to the sanctions of § 1983. This court, in affirming the district court in Brenden v. Independent School District 742, 477 F.2d 1292 (8th Cir. 1973), found school districts to be within the meaning of 'persons' for the purposes of § 1983.

As to whether the present action is barred by appellant's decision not to pursue the matter in the state courts of Minnesota, it must be understood that appellant has alleged the violation of his federal constitutional rights. Appellees miss the mark entirely with their contention that school boards are vested with discretionary powers that should not be subjected to judicial scrutiny, for what is involved in the case at bar is not merely the wisdom of a school board's decision to terminate the services of a teacher, as in Scheelhaase v....