West v. Tangipahoa Parish School Bd.

• Decision Date: 05 March 1993
• Docket Number: No. CA,CA
• Citation: 615 So.2d 979
• Parties: 81 Ed. Law Rep. 1208 Hayward WEST, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TANGIPAHOA PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, Defendant-Appellee. 92 0026.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 979

615 So.2d 979

81 Ed. Law Rep. 1208

Hayward WEST, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TANGIPAHOA PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, Defendant-Appellee.

No. CA 92 0026.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 5, 1993.

Writ Denied May 7, 1993.

Raymond L. Simmons, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.

David A. Hamilton, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee.

Before WATKINS, CRAIN and GONZALES, JJ.

GONZALES, Judge.

This case involves the appeal of a teacher dismissed from his position at Ponchatoula High School on charges of incompetency arising out of the showing of two "R" rated films to high school students. Mr. West was dismissed by the Tangipahoa Parish School Board in a tenure hearing, with a five to four vote of the members. Thereafter, Mr. West sought review of the school board decision in the district court, with that court upholding his dismissal. Mr. West has appealed and makes the following assignments of error:

Number One:

The trial judge erred in affirming the ruling of the school board.

Number Two:

The trial judge erred in finding that the school board had a rational basis for terminating Mr. West based on the substantial evidence in this case.

Number Three:

The trial judge erred in not finding that the school board acted arbitrarily and abused its discretion in its decision to terminate Mr. West.

Number Four:

Neither the school board, nor the trial judge, conducted this ma[tt]er within the scope and spirit as contemplated by the Louisiana Tenure Teacher [sic] Act; that is the proceedings were never liberally construed in favor of the tenured teacher.

Number Five:

It was clearly erroneous to find that termination of a tenured teacher was warranted where the teacher had worked in the same school for over 14 years without incident; had received numerus [sic] accolades in his positions as teacher; had never had his competency questioned in the slightest manner; had, on occasion, used his own money to buy equipment for the school's use; and had, arguably, used poor judgment in an isolated incident, but who had, even in that incident, fully complied with the rules and regulations of the school.

Hayward West was employed as a social studies teacher by the Tangipahoa Parish School Board for approximately fourteen years, with a good teaching record, and with approximately eight years as head of the social studies department. In the fall of 1987, Mr. West showed the films "Quest for Fire" and "Witchboard" to his World Geography and World History classes, which were composed of students ranging in age from fifteen to seventeen. The movie, "Quest for Fire", portrayed prehistoric man's need for fire as a survival tool and man's endeavor to master its elusive nature. The film contained some nudity, violence and several procreative encounters. The movie, "Witchboard", depicted horrifying experiences which befell a novice ouija board player who attempted to communicate with spirits of the deceased. This film contained profanity, violence and a scene showing frontal nudity of a woman.

Mr. West contends "Quest for Fire" fit in with the topic in class at that time involving ancient Chinese culture, and that it was disclosed on his lesson plan which was submitted to the school principal. Mr. West also contends that the film, "Witchboard", was pertinent to topics raised by the students concerning the occult during the week preceding Halloween. Though Mr. West admits the topic of Halloween was something of a deviation from his regular lesson plan, it was his teaching technique to insert a "mini-lesson" around the time of a holiday. Mr. West testified that he believed "Witchboard" helped illustrate to his classes that delving into the occult has negative consequences, and that the subject matter of the film helped him teach his classes about the history or origin of Halloween which began with devil worshippers.

The principal of the Ponchatoula High School, Mr. Bodker, testified that he received calls from several community members complaining about the showing of these films. Mr. Bodker testified that the films were irrelevant to the material being covered in Mr. West's classes at the time they were shown, and that considering the controversial portions of the films, they were inappropriate for use in the public school setting. Further, Mr. Bodker pointed out a lack of compliance by Mr. West with the Tangipahoa Parish "Instructional Materials Rules for Effective Use of Classroom Media", which provide: "Should the teacher have any doubt as to its [audiovisual material] suitability, the principal and/or media committee should be consulted."

The Louisiana Teacher Tenure Act provision governing removal of a school teacher is contained in La.R.S. 17:443, which reads in pertinent part as follows:

A permanent teacher shall not be removed from office except upon written and signed charges of willful neglect of duty, or incompetency or dishonesty, or of being a member of or contributing to any group, organization, movement or corporation that is by law or injunction prohibited from operating in the state of...