Reeves v. Claiborne County Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 05 October 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-4238,86-4238
• Citation: 828 F.2d 1096
• Parties: 41 Ed. Law Rep. 838 Odessa L. REEVES, Plaintiff-Appellant Cross-Appellee, v. CLAIBORNE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants, and John C. Noble Defendant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1096

828 F.2d 1096

41 Ed. Law Rep. 838

Odessa L. REEVES, Plaintiff-Appellant Cross-Appellee, v. CLAIBORNE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants, and John C. Noble Defendant-Appellee Cross-Appellant.

No. 86-4238.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Oct. 5, 1987.

James William Craig, Byrd & Assoc., Denise Sweet-Owens, Owens & Owens, Jackson, Miss., for plaintiff-appellant cross-appellee.

Everett T. Sanders, Sanders, Blackmon & Dunmore, Natchez, Miss., Tyree Irving, Greenville, Miss., defendant-appellee cross-appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before RUBIN, GARZA, and JONES, Circuit Judges.

GARZA, Circuit Judge:

Mrs. Odessa Reeves, appellant-cross-appellee, filed suit against the Claiborne County Board of Education (Board) and Superintendent of Education John C. Noble, appellee-cross-appellant, after a mid-year transfer from her position as Chapter I Coordinator of the Claiborne County schools to a newly-created position within the school system. Reeves was reassigned shortly after giving testimony in a co-employee's lawsuit against Noble and the Board. The district court absolved the school board and its members of official and individual liability, but found Noble individually liable for nominal and punitive damages for the retaliatory transfer of appellant. The district court did not order Reeves reinstated to her prior position nor did it award her lost wages, and Reeves appeals the district court's refusal to grant her back pay and reinstatement. Noble appeals the district court's decision to hold him individually liable for Reeves' transfer.

The Fall From Grace

Mrs. Odessa Reeves has been employed by the Claiborne County school system for the past thirty (30) years, twenty-five (25) as an administrator. Reeves holds an "AA" Certificate in Administration and a "AAA" Certificate in Elementary Education under Mississippi law. ¹ She taught elementary school her first two years of employment but has served in various administrative capacities ever since. Mrs. Reeves' position from January of 1971 through April 6, 1984 was Chapter I Coordinator of the Claiborne County school system, making her responsible for all educational program funding provided by the Mississippi legislature and the federal government. The Chapter I Coordinator has various duties: to work with the State Department of Education in developing and implementing a budget; to plan specific programs in compliance with state education requirements; to identify the educational needs of children on the local level; to serve as a contact person between the State Department of Education and the Claiborne County schools; to design in-service programs for the staff; and to purchase materials and equipment for the school. Reeves had supervisory authority over several other school employees in her role as Chapter I Coordinator.

In 1983, Reeves was assigned the responsibility of implementing the Reading Improvement Program (AIM), which was to be implemented under the Superintendent of Education's direction for the first time in the 1983-1984 academic year. Several assistant teachers were hired to implement the AIM program by Dr. Joseph Travillion, then the Superintendent of the Claiborne County schools. Although Mississippi state law requires that teachers be hired only upon approval of a county board of education after recommendation by the superintendent, the assistant teachers hired for the AIM program were never formally approved by the Board. During the fall of 1983, Dr. John C. Noble successfully challenged Travillion in a closely-contested election for school board superintendent. Another hard-fought issue in the local election was a recall petition to oust three of the five school board members holding seats at that time. However, the recall election failed to defeat any of the challenged school board members. Several teachers had been active in the recall petition drive, including at least three new teaching assistants in the AIM program. Dr. Noble took office in early January, 1984, and discharged several teaching assistants in his first few days as superintendent. The AIM teaching assistants claimed that they were fired for political activity in the past election campaign, i.e., support for the recall petition of certain school board members. On January 26, 1984, an action styled Gloria B. Holloway, et al. v. Claiborne County Board of Education, et al. ² was filed in the district court to enjoin the Board from discharging certain assistant teachers in the Claiborne County AIM program. Mrs. Odessa Reeves was served a subpoena to testify in the case, and on March 2, 1984, appellant testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Holloway litigation. The district court described her testimony as generally "neutral," though her factual testimony on the hiring process and implementation of the AIM program was helpful to the plaintiffs. On cross-examination, Reeves resisted attempts by counsel for the Board to alter her direct testimony on the school system's decision-making process.

The district court entered judgment against Noble and the Board on March 30, 1984, permanently enjoining the defendants from dismissing the teacher assistants. Thereafter, on April 3, 1984, at the next regular Board meeting after the Holloway trial, Noble proposed that Reeves be transferred to a newly-created position of "Director of Reading" ³ to improve the quality of education in the school district. Noble told the Board that the reading performance of the students had fallen much below the norm for Mississippi students. ⁴ According to Noble, Reeves was transferred because he believed she was qualified to organize the reading program and he was "not satisfied" with her performance as Chapter I Coordinator. On Friday, April 6, 1984, a special Board meeting was called and Superintendent Noble obtained permission to reassign Reeves. At approximately 4:45 p.m. that day, Odessa Reeves received a letter from Noble advising her that effective Monday, April 9, 1984, she would be reassigned as "Director of Reading" in the Claiborne County schools.

Mrs. Reeves' office was moved from the central administrative building of the Claiborne County school district to the kitchen of a home economics class in a junior high school. Mrs. Reeves was given no supervisory authority over other employees, and she did not receive a job description for the new position until she took Noble's deposition in this lawsuit. During the summer months after Reeves was transferred, the Claiborne County school system hired a number of reading aides for the second grade, though appellant was not involved in the hiring process nor informed of the hiring decision. The district court found that certain "longtime perquisites were withdrawn from Reeves, such as reimbursement for attendance at state-wide school meetings and the overlooking of her shortened daily work schedule." After her reassignment, Reeves was required to stay alone in her office until 5:00 p.m. although all other administrative employees left around 4:00 p.m. Finally, no one replaced Odessa Reeves as Chapter I Coordinator of federal programs; the position remained unfilled until another coordinator was hired two months before trial. ⁵ Reeves filed suit against Noble and the Claiborne County Board of Education for a retaliatory transfer and demotion in response to her exercise of First Amendment freedom of speech--her testimony in the Holloway trial.

Following discovery and a bench trial, the district court entered its findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court found that Noble's "predominant motive" in proposing Reeves' transfer was to punish her for testifying in behalf of her co-employees in Holloway and undermining the school board's defense in that case. The court also found that there were some legitimate reasons supporting Reeves' transfer. ⁶ Therefore, the court found Noble liable in his individual capacity and awarded Reeves $1.00 nominal damages and $1,000 punitive damages from Noble. No compensatory damages of back pay or reinstatement were awarded because the court decided that Reeves had "voluntarily accepted" the retaliatory transfer when she signed the next school year's employment contract. ⁷ The district court also said it did not want to get too involved in making the decisions of the Board. Reeves appeals only on the question of appropriate remedies, contending that she was entitled to reinstatement and back pay; Noble appeals the decision to hold him individually liable for Reeves' transfer as a retaliatory personnel action.

Mt. Healthy Evaluation

Appellant's substantive first amendment claim that she was retaliated against because she had engaged in constitutionally protected expressive activity is governed by the guidelines set forth in Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). The initial inquiry under the Mt. Healthy test is whether the statements made or activities engaged in by the public employee are directed to matters of public concern or are otherwise protected by the first amendment. If so, the question becomes how the employee's interest in engaging in such activities is balanced against various legitimate interests the governmental employer may have. This determination is made on a case-by-case basis pursuant to principles set forth in Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983) and Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). See generally McBee v. Jim Hogg County, Texas, 730 F.2d 1009, 1013-17 (5th Cir.1984) (en banc). If the foregoing balance is struck in favor of the employee, the second part of the Mt. Healthy analysis requires a factual determination which consists of two elements: (1) whether the employee's constitutionally protected speech or activity was a "motivating...