Shuler v. School Bd. of Liberty County, HH-377

• Decision Date: 09 June 1978
• Docket Number: No. HH-377,HH-377
• Citation: 366 So.2d 1184
• Parties: Laquita SHULER, as Superintendent of Schools, Petitioner, v. The SCHOOL BOARD OF LIBERTY COUNTY, Florida, Respondent.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1184

366 So.2d 1184

Laquita SHULER, as Superintendent of Schools, Petitioner, v. The SCHOOL BOARD OF LIBERTY COUNTY, Florida, Respondent.

No. HH-377.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

June 9, 1978.

Rehearing Denied July 13, 1978.

Joseph C. Jacobs and Brian S. Duffy, of Ervin, Varn, Jacobs, Odom & Kitchen, Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Clinton E. Foster, Panama City, Cynthia S. Tunnicliff and Sam Spector, of Spector & Tunnicliff, Tallahassee, for respondent.

BOYER, Judge.

By petition for review pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act petitioner seeks resolution of a dispute which has arisen between the superintendent and the school board of Liberty County regarding the federally funded Headstart Program in Liberty County and peripheral issues related thereto. No useful purpose will be accomplished by a recitation of the rather complicated factual background. Suffice to say, for resolving the issues presented, our examination of the record convinces us that the challenged resolution which was passed by the school board did not impose an illegal limitation upon the statutory powers of the superintendent (Point One); that such resolution did not constitute a rule within the meaning of F.S. 120.52(14) thereby requiring adherence to the procedure set forth in F.S. 120.54 and that the board did not act improperly in failing to afford the superintendent a "section 120.57 hearing" prior to the passage of the challenged resolution. (Point Two)

The third Point presented to us relates to the refusal of the school board to employ or retain an attorney to represent the superintendent in accordance with the formally adopted and promulgated policies of the school board. We are of the view that when a viable legal issue develops between a superintendent and a school board, as to the respective powers and responsibilities of each, of such magnitude as to reasonably require competent legal advice, each is entitled to independent representation by competent legal counsel at public expense and that the holder of the purse strings is required, upon request, to make appropriate financial arrangements therefor. The record reveals that the Liberty County School Board has adopted a policy (policy # 136) providing that when legal services are needed by the superintendent, the school board may employ or retain a competent attorney to render such services. That policy may not be disregarded simply because the subject dispute is between the superintendent and the school board itself....