U.S. v. Coffeeville Consol. School Dist., 74-1160

• Decision Date: 08 May 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74-1160,74-1160
• Citation: 513 F.2d 244
• Parties: 19 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 576, 9 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 10,180 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COFFEEVILLE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants-Appellants Stephen BROWN et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. COFFEEVILLE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants-Appellants
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 244

513 F.2d 244

19 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 576, 9 Empl. Prac.

Dec. P 10,180

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COFFEEVILLE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants-Appellants Stephen BROWN et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. COFFEEVILLE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants-Appellants

No. 74-1160

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

May 8, 1975

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Oct. 10, 1975

Hardy Lott, Greenwood, Miss., for defendants-appellants.

James O. Ford, Tupelo, Miss., David Rubin, Washington, D.C., H.M. Ray, U.S. Atty., Will R. Ford, Asst.U.S.Atty., Oxford, Miss., Stuart F. Pierson, Ben Krage, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Stephen J. Pollak, Richard M. Sharp, William F. Sheehan, III, Washington, D.C., for U.S.A.

Before WISDOM, COLEMAN and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.

COLEMAN, Circuit Judge.

The issue in this case is whether the Coffeeville Consolidated School District improperly failed to re-employ four black teachers, Alma Faye Chapman, Evelyn R. Miller, Robert Bennett, and James A. Lewis. The District Court entered judgment for the teachers and the School District has appealed.

The panel unanimously agrees that James A. Lewis should be reinstated and that the case as to Evelyn R. Miller should be remanded for further proceedings. A majority of the panel holds that teachers Chapman and Miller should also be reinstated.

I Background

In 1969, by its Attorney General, the United States sought to enjoin the Coffeeville School authorities from continuing to operate a dual school system. On March 12, 1970, the District Court, over objections by the government, approved a School Board plan of student desegregation, in which separate schools for boys and girls would be operated in the Coffeeville and Oakland attendance zones. At that time the standard Singleton order was entered. Inter alia, it directed that if there were to be a reduction in the number of teachers or other educational employees the selection of those to be demoted or dismissed would have to be made on the basis of objective and reasonable nondiscriminatory standards from among all the staff of the School District. As usual, it was further provided that upon such dismissal or demotion, no vacancy might be filled through recruitment of a person of a race, color, or national origin different from that of the individual dismissed or demoted until each qualified displaced staff member had an opportunity to fill the vacancy, and had failed to accept an offer to do so.

It was further ordered that prior to any reduction in force the Board should develop or require the development of nonracial objective criteria to be used in selecting those to be dismissed or demoted, with further appropriate provisions for the enforcement of that requirement.

For reasons not appearing of record, the Coffeeville Consolidated School District did not develop or promulgate the prescribed objective criteria.

On October 9, 1970, the District Court by modification of its prior order eliminated student assignment based upon separation by sex, effective at the end of the first semester of the 1970-71 school year. It directed the School Board to submit a new plan of student assignment based upon pairing and zoning. This plan was approved December 3, 1970, to take effect at the beginning of the next semester.

During the 1970-71 school year many black students boycotted the school. Members of the black community organized marches and boycotted Coffeeville merchants. There was an unhappy amount of turmoil and confusion. Subsequently, three black teachers were demoted. After a full hearing in February, 1971, these teachers were ordered restored to their prior positions.

For reasons, the details of which are far too lengthy to recite here, it was thought in early 1971 that the District faced the loss of twenty-four teacher units for the lack of students in numbers prescribed by state Average Daily Attendance standards. However, this anticipated loss was avoided. Twenty white teachers and three black teachers voluntarily left the system. One white teacher and seven black teachers were not re-employed "for cause." The appellants here are four of the seven blacks who were thus involuntarily terminated.

The District hired twelve new white teachers and six new black teachers, which resulted in total employment of thirty-four black teachers and thirty-four white teachers. This was the same ratio of black to white prevailing the previous year and was in compliance with the original District Court order which had required that black and white teachers be employed in equal numbers.

II Position of the Parties

The black teacher appellants claim that they were entitled to the benefit of Singleton standards because they were dismissed in anticipation of a reduction in teachers, necessitated by the desegregation process. The School District denies this because, as it turned out, there was no reduction in the number of teachers employed. It is further argued that the School had, in fact, become a unitary one and the Singleton rule did not apply in any event.

We must agree with the conclusions of the District Court that at the time these teachers were not re-employed the desegregation process in this school system had not been completed, the school had not become unitary, United States v. State of Texas et al. (San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated School District), 5 Cir., 1975, 509 F.2d 192. The dismissed teachers were entitled to the Singleton protection.

Obviously, they did not receive this benefit, and could not have received it, because the School Board simply failed to obey the original order of the Court that objective criteria be developed for dismissals entered on account of or in anticipation of reductions which appeared to be inevitable. Moreover, when the School District found that there were to be no reductions it did not retrace its steps and undo the action caused by mistaken expectations.

III Just Cause

The Coffeeville Consolidated School District seeks, however, to justify the dismissals on the grounds of just cause, independently of Singleton requirements.

It is the law of this Circuit that under certain circumstances, Singleton notwithstanding, discharges for just cause may be warranted without reference to any pre-established objective, reasonable standards, Thompson v. Madison County Board of Education, 5 Cir., 1973, 476 F.2d 676, 678.

" 'Just cause' in a Singleton situation means types of conduct that are repulsive to the minimum standards of decency--such as honesty and integrity--required by virtually all employers of their employees, and especially required of public servants such as school teachers. No pre-established objective criteria are necessary to justify the discharge of a teacher whose conduct does not measure up to these minimum standards of behavior. For example, if a teacher came to school drunk, or was found stealing from the school treasury, or sexually assaulted a student, the school board could substantiate on 'just cause' grounds its firing of that teacher, even though the school system was still in the process of desegregation and whether or not the school board had established any Singleton criteria for discharge or demotion." 476 F.2d 679.

The Court was careful to point out what just cause "is not" in a Singleton context:

"However, 'just cause' in a Singleton situation does not refer to a teacher's lack of professional credentials, his poor performance in the classroom, his failure to abide by school regulations, his lack of cooperation, or other similar explanations. These types of reasons for discharge fall directly within the scope of Singleton, and accordingly such discharges must be justified on the basis of objective and reasonable standards for dismissal previously set by the school board. If this kind of a discharge can be justified in terms of the established objective standards, it is not for 'just cause'; it is simply a discharge in compliance with Singleton criteria." 476 F.2d 678.

Even under Singleton, the hands of a school district are not tied. A school district does not have to put up with incompetency, poor performance, failure to abide by school regulations, lack of cooperation, or the like. All the district has to do is to develop objective, not subjective, criteria, in advance. The purpose of this is to insure that dismissals will not occur solely for racial reasons.

Thompson v. Madison County Board of Education laid down another very salutary principle: After a hearing, on notice, the findings and decision of academic administrative bodies are to be upheld by the Courts when reached by correct procedures and supported by substantial evidence, 476 F.2d t 678.

The teachers now before us were given prolonged and extensive hearings. Unfortunately, the Board followed this with no findings of fact which could have been reviewed under the substantial evidence rule.

IV Action in the District Court

Under these circumstances, the District Judge quite properly proceeded to hold hearings of his own. He made findings of fact and conclusions of law, set forth in United States v. Coffeeville Consolidated School District, D.C., 365 F.Supp. 990.

On the hearing for preliminary injunction, the District Court denied the injunction, holding at that time that "we are not dealing with a reduction of staff case, but we are dealing with a case involving an attempt by school officials to discharge for reason of cause". This meant, no doubt, that in the absence of the objective criteria, just cause was the only available defense. After the hearing on the merits the Court found that this was a reduction case. Possibly he was referring to the expected reduction which had set in motion the whole train of events hereinabove discussed. In any event, a review of the record as a whole permits of no defense except that of just cause.

The original plaintiffs in the original...