State Tenure Commission v. Madison County Bd. of Ed., 8 Div. 189
| Decision Date | 25 July 1968 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 189 |
| Citation | 213 So.2d 823,282 Ala. 658 |
| Parties | STATE TENURE COMMISSION v. MEDISON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
MacDonald Gallion, Atty. Gen., Wm. N. McQueen, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Roscoe Roberts, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Ford, Caldwell, Ford & Payne, Huntsville, for appellee.
After a contested hearing, the Madison County Board of Education cancelled the employment contract of one J. D. Wigley, a Vocational Agricultural teacher who had acquired a continuing service status, usually termed 'tenure.' Hereinafter in this opinion, we shall refer to Mr. Wigley as the teacher. Within the time provided, the teacher appealed to the State Tenure Commission. The hearings before the Madison County Board of Education, and the appeal to the State Tenure Commission were both pursuant to Chapter 13, § 351 et seq., Title 52, Code of Alabama, 1940, as amended. Section 359, supra, sets out the mode of cancellation of tenure teachers' employment contracts. Grounds for cancellation of such employment contracts are covered by § 358, supra. The grounds are: (1) Incompetency; (2) insubordination; (3) neglect of duty; (4) immorality; (5) justifiable decrease in the number of teacher positions; (6) or other good and just cause. But, Cancellation may not be made for political or personal reasons, and we would like to emphasize this last clause which we feel played a part in the original proceedings involved in this case.
Section 360, supra, makes the actions of the employing board, which was in this case the Madison County Board of Education, final in its action on cancellation of teachers' contracts, provided such action was in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 13, supra, and was not arbitrarily unjust. This same section provides the teacher a right to appeal to the State Tenure Commission in order to obtain a review by such Tenure Commission as to whether such action of the employing board--in this case the Madison County Board of Education--was in compliance with Chapter 13, supra; and whether such action was Arbitrarily unjust.
Chapter 13A is supplemental to Chapter 13. Section 361(8) of Chapter 13A of Title 52, supra, makes it the duty of the State Tenure Commission to hear and determine appeal cases, as provided in § 360, Title 52, as amended, and states that the decisions of the State Tenure Commission shall be final to the extent provided by § 361. Section 361 of Title 52, supra, makes the action of the State Tenure Commission in reviewing cancellation of teachers' contracts, if made in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 13, and unless Unjust, final and conclusive. Section 361, supra, also provides for a review from the State Tenure Commission ruling by petition of mandamus filed in the circuit court of the county where the school system involved is located, and the question reviewed is whether such action of the State Tenure Commission complies with the provisions of this Chapter, and whether such action by the Commission was unjust.
The State Tenure Commission held that the action of the Madison County Board of Education, in cancelling the contract of the teacher, was arbitrary and unjust. The judgment of the Madison County Board of Education is set out below, and also the decision of the State Tenure Commission:
'Within five (5) days of the last hearing day and on September 25, 1963, the Board met in special called session at 6:30 P.M. to consider the evidence in the matter of the proposed cancellation of Mr. J. D. Wigley's contract as teacher of vocational agriculture in the Buckhorn High School, with the following members present: L. E. Hereford, Wm. L. Vaughn, Atlas Carriger, Donald Spencer and Herman B. Sanders.
'After due and careful consideration the Madison County Board of Education found the charges proved on Specifications 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11, and that portion of Specification 12 reading 'the said J. D. Wigley has exhibited a pattern of failure or refusal to cooperate in the schools in the Madison County School System in which he has served' and 'he has failed to uphold and maintain the authority vested in the principals of the schools wherein he has been employed.' The remainder of Specification XII was either not proved or was covered by preceding specifications.
'The Board then unanimously voted to cancel the contract of the said J. D. Wigley.
'A motion was offered by Mr. Carriger and seconded by Mr. Sanders, and carried, authorizing the Superintendent of Education to officially notify Mr. J. D. Wigley and attorney, Roscoe Roberts, of the Board's decision to cancel his contract as teacher of vocational agriculture at the Buckhorn High School.
'There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned.'
'Findings of the Alabama Tenure Commission in the Case of J. D. Wigley.
'The commission after due consideration found by unanimous vote that the requirements of the statute in connection with the action of the Madison County Board of Education in cancelling the contract of J. D. Wigley were complied with.
The Madison County Board of Education filed a petition for mandamus in the circuit court of Madison County, and that court set aside the action of the State Tenure Commission. The judgment of the Madison County circuit court is set out below:
'Issue being joined between the Petitioners and Respondents this cause is submitted to the Court upon the evidence taken in open Court and the certified transcription of the record of the proceedings before the Madison County Board of Education.
'Upon consideration of same the Court is of the opinion that while the testimony given at the hearing before the Madison County Board of Education was in conflict, there was evidence, which if found to be true by such Board, supported certain of the specifications and grounds for the cancellation of the employment of Mr. J. D. Wigley by the Board of Education.
'The Court is further of the opinion that in order for the action of the Madison County Board of Education to have been arbitrarily unjust there must have been no legal evidence to support any of the statutory grounds for cancellation found to exist by such Board.
'The Court is further of the opinion that the action of the Respondents was unjust in holding that the action of the Madison County Board of Education was arbitrarily unjust in that it is an attempt to set aside the finding of the Madison County Board of Education made within the scope of the power delegated to that Board, the Madison County Board of Education having evidence before it which, it believed, justified its action.
'The Court is further of the opinion that the action of the State Tenure Commission, also known as Alabama Tenure Commission in determining that the Madison County Board of Education was arbitrarily unjust in its decision cancelling J. D. Wigley's contract should be revoked and held to be null and void.
'The Court is further of the opinion the Petitioners are entilted to the relief prayed for in their amended petition.
'It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the Court that the action of the State Tenure Commission or its members in finding that the cancellation of the contract of J. D. Wigley was arbitrarily unjust be and the same is revoked and held to be null and void and that a pre-emptory writ of mandamus forthwith issue from this Court directed to the State Tenure Commission or Howell T. Heflin, as Chairman of such Commission and Mrs. Lula Moss, Miss Katherine Killebrew, Oscar Zeanah, J. Tom Green, Mrs. William Lawrence and Mrs. John Lathram requiring them to revoke, repeal and rescind the finding that the decision of the Madison County Board of Education in revoking the contract of J. D. Wigley was arbitrarily unjust.'
Thereupon the State Tenure Commission, hereafter called the Commission, appealed from the decision of the circuit court to this court.
The hearing before the Madison County Board of Education was taken down and subscribed, and the transcript of such hearing was used at the hearing before the Commission, and in the circuit court at the mandamus hearing. The case was not tried ore tenus by the circuit court. On August 17, 1963, the teacher, who was not a party to this appeal, received notice by letter that his contract of employment would be considered for cancellation due to 'incompetency in respect to the manner in which the students in your vocational agricultural classes are taught by you; insubordination in your willful refusal to obey the reasonable rules and regulations of the Board of Education of Madison County, Alabama, the Madison County Superintendent of Schools and the Principals of the schools in which you have taught; neglect of duty in your failing to give the students in the vocational agricultural classes taught by you the necessary training, guidance, instruction and teacher leadership required by the Board of Education, especially in the filed of class and shop training in keeping with the Vocational Department of the State Department of Education as outlined by said Department, and for good and just cause in having been a party to trickery and fraud in exhibiting cattle or livestock by students under your supervision as a teacher in the county schools in livestock shows or competition.'
After insistence by the teacher, detailed reasons or specifications for the proposed cancellation were provided him. The County Board of Education, it will be...
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