White v. Board of Ed. of Lincoln County

• Decision Date: 25 February 1936
• Docket Number: 8325,8331-8337.
• Citation: 184 S.E. 264,117 W.Va. 114
• Parties: WHITE v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY et al., and seven other cases.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

184 S.E. 264

117 W.Va. 114

WHITE v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY et al., and seven other cases.

Nos. 8325, 8331-8337.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

February 25, 1936

Submitted February 5, 1936.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Under Acts First Extraordinary Session of Legislature, 1933 chapter 8, article 4, section 10 (3), a teacher who holds a contract for teaching in a designated school for a definite term may not, without his consent, within such term or prior thereto, be transferred to another school by the board of education and the county superintendent as a mere matter of expediency.

2. Section 10 (3), article 4, chapter 8 of the Acts of the First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature, 1933, does not warrant a board of education and county superintendent in transferring a teacher, without his consent, from a school for which he has contracted, when such transfer is not of a clearly regulatory nature but involves material alteration of the contractual obligation.

Original proceedings in mandamus by B. F. White, Bessie Parsons Thelma Richardson, Eva Traub Adams, Edith J. Traub, Oren L Eckhart, Louise Johnston, and Ethel Pickens, respectively against the Board of Education of Lincoln County and others.

Writs awarded.

Lee, Blessing & Steed, of Charleston, for respondents.

MAXWELL Judge.

These are original jurisdiction proceedings in mandamus wherein the relators are teachers in the public schools of Lincoln County and the respondents are the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools of that county. The cases are dealt with together for convenience.

In each case, the relator was employed by order entered May 6, 1935, by the Board of Education of Lincoln County as a teacher for the school year 1935-36. The employment was in pursuance of Acts of the Legislature, First Extraordinary Session 1933, chapter 8, article 5, § 4. Consequent upon such employment, a written contract as to each relator was executed by him or her and the board of education. Code 1931, 18-7-1. A newly elected board took office July 1, 1935; it employed a new county superintendent of schools, to-wit, Dennis Roy, one of the respondents. The other respondent is the Board of Education of Lincoln County, composed of George W. Walden, president, and S. S. McClure, J. E. Harless, Elza B. Adkins and F. B. Dyer, members.

By an order under the date of August 30, 1935, the board of education, upon recommendation of the county superintendent, transferred each of the relators from the school for which he or she was employed to another school. Six of the relators, to-wit, Bessie Parsons, Thelma Richardson, Eva Traub Adams, Edith J. Traub, Oren L. Eckhart and Louise Johnston, accepted the transfers under protest and are now, and, since the beginning of the school term in September, have been teaching in the schools to which they were transferred. Two of the relators, B. F. White and Ethel Pickens, declined to accept the transfers and have not been teaching during the current school year.

The relators aver that the action of the superintendent and the board of education in making said transfers was "arbitrary, capricious, and without any good or sufficient cause or reason therefor." The prayer of each petition is that the board of education and the county superintendent be required to recognize the validity of relator's contract and to permit him (or her) to carry out the terms thereof.

The respondents deny that their action in making said transfers was capricious or arbitrary or without good and sufficient reason. They aver that the changes were made in each instance for the best interest and general welfare of the schools of said county, and that such action was made pursuant to the Acts of the Legislature, Extraordinary Session, 1933, chapter 8, article 4, § 10(3), which provides that "the county superintendent shall * * * assign, transfer, suspend, promote or dismiss teachers, subject to the approval of the board."

Conspicuous in the consideration of these cases from a legal standpoint is the case of Neal v. Board of Education of Putnam County, 116 W.Va. ---, 181 S.E. 541, 542, decided September 17, 1935. That case involved a transfer similar to those presented in the proceedings at bar. Neal, the teacher affected, prosecuted mandamus against the board of education to compel recognition of his contract. His transfer had been made on the motion of one of the members of the board of education whose action seems to have been personal or political. The board's action was taken without the advice of the county superintendent. In legal justification of its action, the board relied on the same provision of the Acts of 1933 on which the respondents herein rely. We held that the power to transfer under that section (quoted supra) "may be used only for regulation and in emergencies. Even then, it must be exercised in a reasonable manner. The best interests of the schools must be intended. Arbitrary or capricious use of the power will not be permitted." The record disclosed that 47 teachers in said county had been transferred. We noted: "The wholesale shifting of teachers on August 20th is alone sufficient to shake the presumption of good faith." Relators rely explicitly on the holding of that case as indicative of the action which should be taken by the court in the instant cases. Respondents say that the factual situations at bar are essentially different from the situation presented in the Neal Case, and therefore it is not determinative of the action which should be taken in the cases before us; that, whereas, the record in that case did not disclose that the transfer of the relator was for the good of the school system of the county, the records at bar disclose meritorious purposes in the respect indicated.

Seriatim the cases before us are as follows:

B. F. White's Case:

Relator, an unmarried man residing at Hamlin, county seat of Lincoln County, was employed as principal of the Hamlin Graded School and as teacher of the eighth grade thereof. He was transferred to Dog Bone School, 23 miles from Hamlin, 5 miles off the hard road. The salary for teaching at Dog Bone, a one-room school, is much less than the salary of the principal of Hamlin elementary schools, but the respondents say that they have arranged with the teacher to whom the said principalship was assigned to accept a salary equivalent to the salary paid at Dog Bone School so that relator could receive at the latter school the same salary which he would have received at Hamlin. The majority members of the board say that the transfer of White was made on recommendation of the county superintendent and for what they considered to be the best interests of the schools. The county superintendent, Dennis Roy, says that in making said transfer "he was motivated solely by a desire to promote the efficiency and best interests of the schools and to replace an untrained, unprepared, and incompetent principal with one who was thoroughly trained, experienced, and prepared for the work." Further, he avers, "that while the relator may possess the ability and education to direct a one-room school and teach less advanced pupils, he does not have executive ability to manage a school system employing eight teachers, and embracing three hundred pupils, and that he lacks the education necessary to teach the more advanced eighth grade subjects, all which would have been required of him in the said Hamlin schools."

In support of these averments derogatory of the relator the record discloses in addition to the testimony of the county superintendent the testimony of one teacher. She had taught at the Hamlin school when the relator formerly was its principal. On the other hand, a number of other teachers, some of whom had served with relator in the Hamlin school, express the unequivocal opinion that he was qualified for the position for which he contracted; that as a general thing, he enjoyed the respect and confidence of both teachers and pupils.

It is to be noted that the relator had had the experience of eight years as a teacher and principal of schools, following which experience he served as County Superintendent of Schools of Lincoln County for the four-year term ending July 1, 1935. This twelve years of background cannot be lightly thrown aside. We are of opinion that the evidence does not sustain the charge that the relator was incompetent to resume his former position of principal of the Hamlin elementary schools. The further averment of the respondents that the "relator is an unmarried man who must necessarily pay his living expenses wherever he may be, and that such accommodations may be obtained much cheaper at said new location than in the town of Hamlin," clearly affords no basis of justification for disregarding the contract which had been made with relator.

Another question is raised with reference to White's case. In furtherance of his duty as county superintendent of schools, in the spring of 1935, he submitted to the County Board of Education, an approved list of qualified teachers for the school year of 1935-36. Acts Extraordinary Session of the Legislature, 1933, chapter 8, article 5, § 4. Because this list submitted by...