Morris v. Board of Education of Laurel Sch. Dist.

• Decision Date: 04 August 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 4684.
• Citation: 401 F. Supp. 188
• Parties: Margo L. MORRIS, Plaintiff, v. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE LAUREL SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

401 F. Supp. 188

Margo L. MORRIS, Plaintiff, v. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE LAUREL SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 4684.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

August 4, 1975.

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Jacob Kreshtool, and Sheldon N. Sandler, Bader, Dorsey & Kreshtool, Wilmington, Del., for plaintiff.

John E. Messick, Tunnell & Raysor, Georgetown, Del., for defendants.

OPINION

STAPLETON, District Judge:

Margo Morris, a school teacher formerly employed by the Laurel School District, alleges in this action that the District's failure to rehire her for a fourth year violated her rights under the Civil Rights Act, under a collective bargaining agreement, and under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

I. THE FACTS

Laurel, Delaware, is a small community located in the southernmost part of the state. The Laurel School District serves the town and the surrounding rural area. Its affairs are administered by an elective school board whose members receive no monetary compensation. The chief administrator of the District is the Superintendent, Mr. Hupp. The District's schools were desegregated in the mid-60's.

Miss Morris, who is black, was hired by the Laurel School District in the Summer of 1970 and subsequently taught in the District for three school years, 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73. She had previously taught in Wycomico County, Maryland. She left her position there because she had been teaching elementary children — which she was not certified to do — and because she was unable to coach there. In the Laurel District she taught physical education and health and coached a number of teams including the girls' varsity basketball team.

During Miss Morris' first two years in the Laurel District, she taught in the combined junior and senior high school where her principal was Mr. Harrington. Mr. Harrington evaluated Miss Morris' teaching performance during these two years as average and better than average. Miss Morris' performance as a coach also appears to have been satisfactory. In her first year, the girls' basketball team came in second in its division and, in her second year, the team won the division championship and played in the conference championship game.

The District's personnel file on Miss Morris, in contrast to those of a number of other teachers associated with the athletic program, bears no evidence of complaints about her performance either as teacher or coach during the first two years. Nor did the evidence at trial reveal any serious problems during this period. Only one episode described at trial warrants mention in light of subsequent events. During March of 1971, after the basketball season had ended, Miss Morris began dating Kenneth Long. Mr. Long who is also black, attended a number of basketball games during the 1971-72 season and usually sat in the stands. At the conference championship game in Milford, however, Mr. Long sat on the bench beside Miss Morris and both Mr. Harrington and Mr. Hupp observed this.¹ Both thought it inappropriate for a non-coach to be sitting on the bench during a game,² and Mr. Harrington mentioned this to Miss Morris at her spring evaluation shortly after the championship game. Thereafter, Mr. Long did not sit on the bench during any games.³

Non-tenured teachers in the Laurel District are employed pursuant to ten-month contracts, running from September through June. In March or April of each year, the Laurel School Board discusses the question of contract renewals. To assist in making decisions on renewal, the Board members receive recommendations from Mr. Hupp, who in turn receives recommendations from his subordinates. In the Spring of 1972, Mr. Harrington recommended Miss Morris' reemployment for the coming year without reservation. Mr. Hupp recommended reemployment to the Board. While some of those present at the meeting now claim to have a vague recollection that Mr. Hupp expressed some reservation about his recommendation and mentioned insubordination, the record shows that Mr. Hupp would have had no basis for such an assertion and, for this reason, I conclude that Mr. Hupp did not qualify his recommendation. The Board renewed Miss Morris' contract for the 1972-73 school year.

The 1972-73 school year was one of transition for the Laurel School District. The District was reorganized, thanks to the construction of a new facility. This new building housed the Senior High School and the combined Junior-Senior High School building of prior years became the Laurel Central Middle School. Miss Morris was assigned as a teacher to the Middle School. Her principal there was Mr. Dodson. Mr. Harrington was assigned to be principal of the Senior High. During the transition, Mr. Harrington reviewed with Mr. Dodson a list of teachers at the Middle School who had manifested deficiencies. Miss Morris' name was not on this list.

Miss Morris' teaching during the 1972-73 school year appears to have been uneventful and entirely consistent, in terms of performance, with her first two years. Mr. Dodson evaluated her as an "above average teacher" and recommended that she be rehired for the 1973-74 school year. Mr. Harrington, who also had a supervisory position with respect to Miss Morris that year by virtue of the fact that she was coaching senior high athletics, testified at trial that the "rapport" between them was "good".⁴ Miss Morris was always courteous in her dealings with him, and exhibited a willingness to "spend extra time at the school doing things she was asked to do."⁵

Unfortunately, Miss Morris' experience as a coach during the 1972-73 school year did not prove to be as uneventful as her experience teaching.

Senior high school basketball practice started in mid-November at the new high school.⁶ The new bleachers had not arrived, however, and the coaches promptly expressed a desire to move to the middle school for practice so that the team members would have the advantages of practicing on the court where they would play their games. At this time, Miss Morris was still seeing Kenneth Long. He would drop her at school in the morning and return towards the end of the day to pick her up. On at least one occasion prior to November 29, 1972 he came into the middle school building and watched the end of basketball practice while waiting for Miss Morris to complete her duties. Parents frequently did the same thing while waiting for their children to finish practice.

Prior to November 29, 1972, no one had told Miss Morris that visitors were not to be permitted at practice. On that day, however, Mr. Harrington wrote Miss Morris a memorandum. He was motivated in doing so by two things: Miss Morris had not previously been given instruction with respect to the security precautions to be taken in the new building and he had heard from the other female physical education instructor that Miss Morris' boyfriend had been attending practices. The subject of the memorandum was "Building Usage." Most of it dealt with securing the building at the end of the day and with confining the students to the gymlocker room area after school hours. The memorandum concluded, however, with the following directive:

There is to be no one admitted to the building during practice sessions except the coaches, players, or other staff members.

Mr. Harrington intended, and Miss Morris understood, that this included Kenneth Long.

While, after November 29, 1972, Mr. Long continued to attend basketball games, there is no persuasive evidence in the record that Mr. Long attended another basketball practice prior to February 19, 1973. By contrast, it appears that — with the knowledge of the administration — the broad policy expressed in the Harrington memorandum was frequently violated during the winter months by parents and recent graduates.

During the 1972-73 season, Miss Morris' basketball team compiled an enviable record. By January or early February, however, a number of rumors and complaints about Miss Morris were circulating around the community. There were, of course, the inevitable complaints of parents who could not understand why their daughters did not play more. Beyond this, however, there were allegations that Miss Morris discriminated in favor of black players. Also, it was rumored that Miss Morris was "associating with this boy who appeared somewhat drunk, but there was never any odor of alcohol."⁷

On February 19th, Mr. Long went to pick up Miss Morris and was admitted to the building by the janitor. He stood and observed the remainder of the girls' basketball practice. That evening Mr. Harrington received a telephone call from the mother of one of the girls on the team complaining that Miss Morris' boyfriend had been at practice and appeared to be under the influence of something. Mr. Harrington communicated this complaint to Miss Morris on February 20, and reminded her of his instruction that no visitors be permitted at practices. Miss Morris acknowledged that her boyfriend had been present the previous day but denied that he was under the influence of anything.

In addition to talking with Miss Morris, Mr. Harrington relayed the parent's complaint to Mr. Hupp who called a meeting for the following day. At the meeting Mr. Hupp and Mr. Harrington discussed with Miss Morris both recent complaints and certain "rumors". Among the matters discussed were whether Miss Morris had allowed a black girl to practice without gym shoes, whether she had started Debbie West, a black girl, after she had not shown up for practice, why Miss Morris had brought two black girls up from the junior varsity team after two injuries, instead of utilizing white "bench warmers", and whether she had permitted Vera Horsey, another black girl, to act in a coaching capacity. Miss Morris denied that she had allowed any players to coach, but acknowledged having allowed one girl to practice...