Mcleod, Trustees Moss Point Public Schools v. State ex rel. Colmer, Dist. Atty

• Decision Date: 03 June 1929
• Docket Number: 27867
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: MCLEOD et al., TRUSTEES MOSS POINT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, v. STATE ex rel. COLMER, DIST. ATTY

122 So. 737

154 Miss. 468

MCLEOD et al., TRUSTEES MOSS POINT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, v. STATE ex rel. COLMER, DIST. ATTY

No. 27867

Supreme Court of Mississippi

June 3, 1929

(Division B.)

1. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. High schools come within definition of "schools of higher grade" in constitutional provision relating to establishing schools (Constitution 1890, section 201). High schools established under laws of state come within definition of "schools of higher grade" in Constitution 1890, section 201 providing for establishment of free public schools.

2. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Constitutional provision relating to establishment of schools does not deprive legislature of power to pass laws authorizing trustees to make rules and regulations (Constitution 1890 section 201).

Constitution 1890, section 201, making it duty of legislature to establish uniform system of free public schools, does not deprive legislature of power to pass laws authorizing trustees of public schools to make reasonable rules and regulations for government and conduct of such schools.

3 STATUTES. Compulsory education provision and other provisions of school code relating to trustees' authority must be construed together (Hemingway's Code 1927, sections 8767, 8817). Compulsory education provision, Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8817 (Laws 1924, chapter 283, section 161), and section 8767 (section 126), relating to authority of trustees to prescribe and enforce rules, etc., must be construed together.

4. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Under compulsory education provision child is not entitled to attend public school regardless of his conduct; child is subject to such reasonable rules as school trustees see fit to adopt (Hemingway's Code 1927, sections 8767, 8817).

Under compulsory education provision, Hemingway's Code 1927 section 8817 (Laws 1924, chapter 283, section 161), a child is not entitled to attend public school regardless of his conduct, but is subject to such reasonable rules for government of school as trustees thereof may see fit to adopt under section 8767 (section 126).

5. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Court will not interfere with school trustees' exercise of discretion in matters confided by law to their discretion, absent abuse thereof. Court will not interfere with exercise of discretion of school trustees in matters confided by law to their discretion, unless there is a clear abuse of discretion or violation of law.

6. EVIDENCE. Presumption is in favor of reasonableness and propriety of rules made by school trustees (Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767).

Presumption is always in favor of reasonableness and propriety of any rules made by school trustees, under authority of Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767 (Laws 1924, chapter 283, section 126), to maintain successful management and good order and discipline in schools.

T. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Reasonableness of rules made by school trustees is question of law for courts (Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767).

Reasonableness of rules and regulations made by school trustees, under authority of Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767 (Laws 1924, chapter 283, section 126), is question of law for courts.

8. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. School trustees' ordinance barring married persons, otherwise eligible, from schools, held unreasonable and void (Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767). Ordinance adopted by school trustees barring married persons, otherwise eligible, from public schools, held arbitrary and unreasonable and abuse of discretion under Hemingway's Code 1927, section 8767 (Laws 1924, chapter 283, section 126), and therefore void.

Division B

APPEAL from circuit court of Jackson county.

HON. W. A. WHITE, Judge.

Petition by the state, on the relation of William Colmer, district attorney, against C. C. McLeod and others, trustees of Moss Point Public Schools, for writ of mandamus to compel the trustees to admit Wanda Dodge Myers as a pupil. From a judgment directing the issuance of the writ, respondents appeal. Affirmed.

Affirmed.

F. S. McInnis, of Moss Point, and Ford, White, Graham & Gautier, of Gulfport, for appellants.

Under chapter 293, sec. 126 of the Laws of Mississippi of 1924, codifying the statutory school laws of the state of Mississippi, separate school district trustees have the power to prescribe and enforce rules, not inconsistent with law or those prescribed by the state board of education, for their own government and government of schools, and have authority and it shall be their duty to suspend or dismiss pupils, when the best interest of the school make it necessary. Under such powers the trustees have the right to determine what pupils shall be received and what pupils shall be rejected and may in their discretion deny to married persons admission to the public schools.

24 R. C. L. 644, par. 103; Cryhon v. Board of Education, L. R. A. 1917C, p. 993; Bright v. Beard, Ann. Cas. 1918A, p. 399.

The presumption always is that school authorities have acted properly in excluding a pupil, and one seeking to set aside their position must present affirmative evidence that they have not so acted.

Barnard v. Shelbourne, Ann. Cas. 1915A, 751; Pugsley v. Sellmeyer et al., 30 A. L. R. 1212 and note; Alice Lauton v. Charles McKenney, 33 A. L. R. 1175; Dr. Albert F. Woods v. Vivian V. Simpson, 39 A. L. R. 1016; Hall v. Mt. Ida School for Girls, 50 A. L. R. 1495; 24 R. C. L. 574 et seq., par. 24; 31 C. J., page 108, sub-par. 2; 28 C. J. 1097; 13 R. C. L. 989, par. 8.

H. B. Everitt, of Pascagoula, for appellee.

An order by the trustees of a public school excluding married persons from becoming pupils in such schools is violative of sec. 201 of the Constitution of Mississippi providing that it shall be the duty of the legislature to encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement, by establishing a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, and, as soon as practicable, to establish schools of higher grade. Such an order is unreasonable and contrary to public policy as tending to deter marriage and the acquirement of education and is void.

Meister v. Moore, 96 U.S. 76.

OPINION

ANDERSON, J.

The state, by William Colmer, district attorney of the second judicial district, brought this action on the relation of Wanda Dodge Myers, a minor, by her next friend, Walter Crierson, against the board of trustees of the public schools of Moss Point, for a writ of mandamus to compel such trustees to admit said Wanda Dodge Myers as a pupil in the high school department of said public schools. The cause was tried on the petition for the writ of mandamus, and the answer thereto of the school trustees, the petition and answer raising no issue of fact, but questions of law alone. A judgment was rendered directing the issuance of a writ of mandamus as prayed for; from that judgment the school trustees appealed.

The school trustees of the Moss Point public schools adopted an ordinance, barring from the schools married persons, although in all other respects eligible to attend the schools. Wanda Dodge Myers was between fifteen and sixteen years of age, and married, but otherwise eligible. She desired to attend the high school department of the Moss Point public schools for the session of 1928-1929. She made application to do so, and was enrolled as a pupil in the high school department, but later, and before the opening of the schools, it was discovered by the superintendent that she was married, and thereupon she was denied admittance. The question is whether the ordinance under which she was denied admittance was...