Washington v. Board of Ed., Sch. Dist. 89, Cook County, Ill., 73-1338.

• Decision Date: 20 May 1974
• Docket Number: No. 73-1338.,73-1338.
• Citation: 498 F.2d 11
• Parties: Robert J. WASHINGTON, Individually and as former Acting Principal of the Washington School, District 89, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT 89, COUNTY OF COOK, STATE OF ILLINOIS, a body politic and corporate, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

498 F.2d 11 (1974)

Robert J. WASHINGTON, Individually and as former Acting Principal of the Washington School, District 89, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT 89, COUNTY OF COOK, STATE OF ILLINOIS, a body politic and corporate, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 73-1338.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued December 3, 1973.

Decided May 20, 1974.

Patrick Keenan, Chicago, Ill., William A. London, Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation, Brookfield, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Lawrence A. Passarella, Melrose Park, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before CUMMINGS, PELL, and STEVENS, Circuit Judges.

PELL, Circuit Judge.

In June 1972, Robert Washington, acting principal of Washington School, a public elementary institution in Maywood, Illinois, was told by the district superintendent that he would be reassigned in the fall as a classroom teacher in a different school. Two weeks later, the Board of Education ratified the demotion and transfer, which entailed a substantially lower salary than Washington had been receiving. Subsequently, Washington, the Parent Teachers Organization of Washington School (P.T. O.), and a member of that organization filed a civil rights complaint alleging that the officials had acted in retaliation for plaintiffs' exercise of rights guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.¹

The district court held that the plaintiffs other than acting principal Washington had no standing under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to complain of the wrongs allegedly committed. The court therefore dismissed the action as to those plaintiffs. Relying in part on Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S. Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968), and several teacher nonretention decisions from this circuit, the court further concluded that plaintiff Washington had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

I

The complaint (and accompanying exhibits) reflect the following.

In October 1971, defendant district superintendent Peterson appointed Robert Washington acting principal of Washington School when the then principal, who later resigned, was suspended. Peterson "by statute and delegation was charged with supervising the day to day operation of the schools . . . and was empowered to hire, suspend, remove and transfer employees of District 89 subject to ratification by Defendant Board." In a confirmatory letter dated November 19, 1971, the superintendent stated that Washington would be acting principal until either the Board of Education approved a new principal or Peterson terminated the appointment. Plaintiff was to receive two weeks' notice.

The following month, when superintendent Peterson requested the Washington faculty and the P.T.O. to recommend a permanent principal, both groups named Robert Washington. On several occasions thereafter, Peterson indicated that the recommendations would be followed.

On January 25, 1972, the Executive Board of the P.T.O. determined the agenda for its February 8th meeting. The principal or acting principal of Washington School is an ex officio member of the P.T.O. Board. The agenda adopted included discussion of the following issues: (a) the $6 book fee assessed annually against each child in the school district; (b) the Board's rejection of a preliminary proposal for $217,000 in federal funds; (c) the Board's failure to fill the principalship vacancy at Washington School; and (d) the Board's failure to assign a full-time nurse at the school.

On January 27th, the defendants issued a news release announcing that plaintiff Washington had been named principal of Washington School. A few days later, defendants submitted to plaintiff for his signature a contract for the 1971-72 academic year designating him "Acting Principal."

Several days before the scheduled February P.T.O. meeting, P.T.O. members were sent a bulletin, sent over the name of the P.T.O. president, containing the agenda for the coming meeting. On the bulletin were the words "Approved: R. J. Washington, Acting Principal."

During this period, Washington was interviewed by a local reporter about "what student needs have to be met to provide quality education." The acting principal's remarks, some of which touched topics on the P.T.O. agenda, were quoted at length in a February 9, 1972, article in the Maywood Herald. At least three other District 89 principals were quoted in the local press in February on educational-financial problems.

Plaintiff maintains that "these two instances of the exercise of free expression . . . —the approval of (or perhaps failure to censor) the P.T.O. agenda, and the Maywood Herald article of February 9—cost him his job as principal." He points to a two-page memorandum listing "Reasons for decision to reassign," which he was given in June 1972 by superintendent Peterson. The bulk of the memorandum was devoted to what it denominated "your two major actions against the Superintendent and the Board of Education . . .," namely, the P.T.O. bulletin and the article in the Maywood Herald.²

The defendants emphasize the remainder of the memorandum, which listed eight additional criticisms and which by necessary inference might be deemed minor actions. Three concerned the manner in which Washington returned the contract defendants had tendered to him; the others cited instances when plaintiff allegedly had failed to follow acceptable procedures. "The following items added to your two major actions . . . only add to the evidence that has accumulated to verify your inability to perform as required in District 89." Washington characterizes this further "evidence" as drummed-up charges.

The defendants in this appeal also cite other factual matters claimed to support the result reached by the district court but which are not evident from the complaint and which matters we have not considered as we are only concerned with the correctness of dismissing the complaint because of failure of the complaint to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

II

Under Rule 12(b), Fed.R.Civ. P., a complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a sufficient claim only if the plaintiff would be entitled to no relief under any state of facts he could prove in support of his claim. The briefs clearly show that the parties disagree as to the "real reasons" defendants reassigned plaintiff. We must, of course, accept the allegations of the complaint as true. Therefore, the primary issue is whether the reassignment and demotion of Washington because he gave an interview to a reporter and permitted the dissemination of the P.T.O. bulletin infringed Washington's rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.³ If the case law establishes that a school administrator has no right to take these actions, then the district court properly dismissed Washington's complaint. Our reading of the applicable decisions, however, discloses no such absolute rule.

In Hostrop v. Board of Junior College Dist. No. 515, 471 F.2d 488 (7th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 967, 93 S. Ct. 2150, 36 L.Ed.2d 688 (1973), decided a week after the district court ruled in the present case, we reversed the dismissal of a complaint by the president of a state junior college. Hostrop had alleged that he had been removed from his position because of certain statements he had made. The "basic question" on appeal was "whether the rights of free expression and procedural due process traditionally given to teachers and other public employees extend also to a college president who was hired to act as the direct agent of a school board." 471 F.2d at 489. The district court in Hostrop, like the district court here, had reasoned from a remark in Pickering, supra, that First Amendment rights of persons in personal and intimate working relationships with their superiors may be restricted.

Judge Castle, speaking for the court, stated:

"Pickering holds that an employee\'s speech may be regulated only if a public entity can show that its functions are being substantially impeded by the employee\'s statements . . . . Absent actual proof of such an impairment, the face of the pleadings shows no reasons to deny Dr. Hostrop\'s first amendment rights. It was therefore error to dismiss his complaint for failure to state a cause of action on first amendment grounds." 471 F.2d at 492-493 (footnotes omitted).

Hostrop also pointed out the difficulties of deciding on a motion to dismiss what rights a particular administrator has. 471 F.2d at 491.

Hostrop plainly governs the case before us. The face of Washington's complaint reveals no deterioration of the relationship between Washington and his superiors so as to require the conclusion that plaintiff's expressive acts "substantially impeded" the public entity's functions. Indeed, according to the complaint, Washington continued to perform as an acting principal for four months after his two "major acts," that is, until June 1972, when defendant Peterson informed him that he would be reassigned and demoted. Paragraph 30 states in part: "On June 26, 1972 after the close of the 1971-72 school year, Plaintiff R. J. Washington met with Defendant Peterson to discuss his various requisitions for goods and services in connection with the forthcoming 1972-73 school year."

Also, as in Hostrop, the record does not reveal the nature and details of the complainant's relationship with his superiors. For example, we do not know whether the defendants had created properly drawn grievance procedures which plaintiff was supposed to have exhausted prior to making public statements about the problems confronting his school. Nor do we know from the complaint whether the defendants had promulgated a rule against the giving of press interviews such as Washington gave. If there was such a rule and if Washington's failure to adhere to it was the basis for defendants' disapproval of the interview, then the scope and constitutional validity of the rule...