El Paso Indep. Sch. Dist. v. McIntyre
| Decision Date | 06 August 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 08–11–00329–CV.,08–11–00329–CV. |
| Citation | 457 S.W.3d 475 |
| Parties | EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Dr. Lorenzo Garcia, and Mark Mendoza, Appellants, v. Michael McINTYRE and Laura McIntyre, individually and on behalf of their Children, K.M., L.M., C.M., M.M., and L.M., Appellees. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
S. Anthony Safi, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi & Galatzan, El Paso, for Appellants.
Chad Baruch, The Law Office of Chad Baruch, Rowlett, for Appellees.
Before McCLURE, C.J., RIVERA, and RODRIGUEZ, JJ.
In this accelerated interlocutory appeal, we must balance a couple's right to home school their children against the rights of a school district to investigate the curriculum utilized. Michael and Laura McIntyre, individually and on behalf of five of their minor children, filed this lawsuit for damages and declaratory and injunctive relief after Class C misdemeanor truancy complaints were filed in a justice court against three of the children.1 Originally, the McIntyres filed suit against three family members, the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), and five of the District's employees. The claims against the family members and three of the five District employees were later dismissed, leaving the District, former superintendent Dr. Lorenzo Garcia, and attendance officer Mark Mendoza as the only remaining defendants.
The McIntyres have nine children, including the five minor children who are parties to the law suit. After completion of the Fall 2004 semester, the McIntyres withdrew their children from private school to begin home schooling them. Initially, the children were taught out of empty space in a motorcycle dealership owned by Michael and his twin brother, Tracy. Tracy testified in his deposition that during the time home schooling operated out of the dealership, he never observed the children pursuing traditional schoolwork. While the children would sing or play instruments, he never saw them reading books or doing arithmetic, nor did he observe any computers or other school equipment. Tracy overhead one of the McIntyre children tell a cousin that they did not need to do schoolwork because they were going to be raptured. Tracy discussed the situation with his parents, Gene and Shirene. In August 2005, due to a family dispute, the home school was moved from the motorcycle dealership to a rental house owned by the McIntyres.
In January 2006, the District received an anonymous complaint that the McIntyre children were not being educated. In November, Gene and Shirene met with Mark Mendoza, the District's designated attendance officer, and expressed concerns that their grandchildren were not attending school or otherwise receiving a proper education. After the meeting, Mendoza confirmed that the oldest of the McIntyre children, Tori, had run away from home at age seventeen so she could “attend school.” He discovered that when Tori enrolled at Coronado High School, she was unable to provide any information regarding the level of her education or the curriculum provided as part of her home school education. The McIntyres refused to provide any information to the District on Tori's behalf. As a result, Tori was placed as a second semester freshman, a year and a half behind her age group.
In December 2006, Mendoza asked a representative from Hornedo Middle School to visit the McIntyre home and inquire about the curriculum used to teach their children. The McIntyres answered the door, but Laura said only that she was tired of being harassed and would call her attorney. Lynda Sanders of Polk Elementary School was also asked to go to the McIntyre home and obtain a signed home school verification form. The McIntyres refused to sign the form or provide any other information regarding their home school curriculum. Following her visit, Sanders faxed the home school verification form to a Home School Legal Defense Association (HLSDA) attorney in Washington. Sanders also reported to the campus principal that the McIntyres were uncooperative and had refused to sign the form. Sanders later received a letter from the HSLDA attorney. The letter claimed that the McIntyres were “in full compliance” but that they declined to “submit any additional information.” The letter did not reflect that the attorney was licensed in Texas, or had any personal knowledge of the educational studies occurring in the McIntyre home. In January 2007, following their refusal to provide information to campus personnel, various notices and warnings were given to the McIntyres notifying them of their children's failure to attend school, and requesting conferences. The McIntyres did not cooperate with any of the requests for information or meetings.
Relying on information provided by the children's grandparents, his confirmation of information regarding Tori's inability to describe her home school education, and the refusal of the McIntyres to provide the District with any written assurance regarding the curriculum they were using “from somebody who had firsthand knowledge of the homeschooling education that was happening in the home,” Mendoza filed truancy complaints. In the blanks that would normally have listed the dates of absence on the truancy complaint, Mendoza wrote, “Has not met home school verification requirements.” According to Mendoza, he did not believe that the McIntyres had provided sufficient evidence of a bona fide home school.2
After the complaints were filed, HSLDA sent a second letter to Sanders, with copies to other District personnel. The letter was essentially identical to the first letter, but it also included a threat to file suit.
After receiving the citations, Laura called Mendoza. She recorded the conversation and a transcript of the recording is contained in the record. Janet Flores, the Juvenile Case Manager for the Justice of the Peace Court where the truancy complaints were filed, testified that she mailed notices of the truancy charges to the McIntyres. The notices advised them of their plea options and their rights, including rights to a jury trial, to retain counsel, and to subpoena witnesses. Laura called Flores after receiving notice and told her that she and her husband were home schooling their children. Flores informed Laura that she could submit documentation showing that she was, in fact, providing an education at home to her children, but Laura responded that she did not feel that it would be “right” to do so.3
In July 2007, the McIntyres initiated the instant suit. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief and damages based on alleged violations of the Texas Education Code, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (TRFRA), the Texas Constitution, and the United States Constitution.
Once this suit was filed, the District informed Matthew Moore, an assistant district attorney, about the case and its history. Moore was asked to use his independent judgment in pursuing the truancy complaints. The McIntyres later entered pleas of not guilty in all of the truancy cases, and requested a separate jury trial for each. On September 7, 2007, Moore wrote a letter to the McIntyres advising that if they would provide a signed statement that they were meeting state requirements, he would dismiss the truancy charges. The McIntyres refused to do so. In October 2007, Moore contacted Tori and asked if she would vouch for the fact that her parents were using a curriculum, but Tori declined to get involved. Moore testified in his deposition that he believed Tori and her grandparents would have testified that the children were not being educated or “learning anything,” but they did not want to testify. Ultimately, Moore decided to dismiss the truancy complaints.
The District defendants filed pleas to the jurisdiction and a motion for summary judgment based on the McIntyres' failure to exhaust administrative remedies; a plea to the jurisdiction as to the McIntyres' TRFRA claim; motions to dismiss based on the election of remedies provision in Section 101.106 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code ; and a motion for summary judgment based on the Education Code, official immunities as to the McIntyres' state law claims, and absolute and qualified immunities as to the McIntyres' Section 1983 federal claims.
Appellants bring nine issues for review. In Issue One, the District complains that the trial court erred in denying its plea to the jurisdiction with respect to the McIntyres' failure to provide the required pre-suit notice of their TRFRA claims. The McIntyres have conceded this point. In Issue Two, EPISD argues that the trial court erred in denying its plea to the jurisdiction based on the McIntyres' failure to exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing suit. In Issues Five, Six, Seven, and Eight, Appellants present various arguments in support of their claim that the trial court erred in refusing to dismiss the state law claims against the District employees. In Issue Five, they argue that based on the election of remedies provision in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 101.106, the trial court erred in allowing the McIntyres to pursue state law claims against both the District and its employees, despite the District's motion to dismiss. In Issue Six, Appellants allege an exhaustion of administrative remedies claim closely related to that in Issue Two. Specifically, in Issue Six, Appellants allege that the trial court erred in denying the District employees' plea to the jurisdiction and (first) motion for summary judgment, and in ruling that the McIntyres were not required to exhaust administrative remedies despite Section 22.0514 of the Texas Education Code. In Issues Seven and Eight, Appellants contend that the...
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