Board of Education v. Shockley

This appeal relates to the questions: (1) Was there substantial evidence of wilful and persistent insubordination within the meaning of the Teacher’s Tenure Act?; (2) Was the action of the Board in refusing to admit certain evidence and to make an offer of proof with reference thereto error?

Appellee, defendant below, has been continuously employed by the Department of Public Instruction for the State of Delaware since September I, 1948, and by the Board of Education of the Laurel School District since September 1, 1950. Appellee has teacher tenure status under Title 14, Del. C. § 1403.

Appellee has raised a question as to the sufficiency of the evidence. It will therefore be necessary to cite the pertinent facts with some particularity and at some length. In doing so we shall adopt that version which the Board of Education might reasonably have found to be justified by the evidence.

On August 1, 1955, appellee was employed hy the Board as “Principal of the Dunbar School and Teacher of Social Studies, Physical Education and other assigned duties”, for the school year beginning July 1, 1955, and ending June 30, 1956. The following year he was employed as “Principal and Teacher in the Junior High School and other assigned duties”. He was reemployed thereafter in the same capacity until June 30, 1958.

On August 29, 1956, in a conversation between appellee and the Superintendent, appellee made a request of the Superintendent that appellee be excused from any teaching duties. The Superintendent informed appellee that in granting such request

In a schedule prepared in the fall of 1957 by appellee and presented to the Superintendent for approval, it was indicated that appellee was teaching one section of Ninth Grade Social Studies only. In November of 1957 the Superintendent first learned that appellee was not teaching any classes. On December 2, 1957, the Superintendent wrote to Dr. Elizabeth C. Lloyd, Director of Teacher Education and Professional Standards, State Department of Public Instruction, notifying her that appellee “was not teaching grades or subjects at the Dunbar School”. At the request of Dr. Lloyd, he instructed appellee and all other teachers to fill in and return to his office individual schedule forms. Appellee failed to comply with this request. The forms sent in by another teacher at the school, Mr. Parker, indicated that he, Mr. Parker, was teaching the class supposedly being taught by appellee. When the proposed schedule for the second semester, 1958, indicated that appellee had again failed to assign to himself any teaching duties, the Superintendent, in an interdepartmental communication, dated February 10, 1958, called to the attention of appellee that at the beginning of the school year he had requested that appellee assume the responsibility for two classes. He requested that appellee take over a second period Social Study course and relieve Mr. Parker. To that communication the Superintendent received no reply from appellee, nor did appellee revise his schedule as requested by the Superintendent. The Superintendent testified that he had had more than one conversation with appellee concerning his teaching duties. He testified that shortly after this communication of

On April 9, 1958, the Superintendent went to the Dunbar School and questioned appellee about his teaching assignment. Appellee replied that he was not teaching, adding: “I tried that for a while last year and it didn’t work.” On April 18th, 1958, the Superintendent sent to appellee, by registered mail, a. letter in which he stated that his visits to the Dunbar School gave no evidence that appellee was carrying out his responsibility for teaching as instructed by the Superintendent. He again reminded appellee that he had been instructed to teach two classes. The Superintendent then stated: “Any reasons for your inability or unwillingness to carry out this assignment should now become a matter of record.” Although this was a formal

The Board notified appellee by letter of the termination of his employment for wilful and persistent insubordination. Appellee requested a public hearing, which was granted. The Board upheld its previous decision. In an appeal to the Superior Court the decision of the Board was set aside and appellee ordered reinstated. The Board appealed to this court.

14 Del. C. § 1414, relating to appeals in such cases to the Superior Court, provides:

“The cause shall be determined by the Court from the record which shall include a certified copy of the evidence, findings and the decision of the board, without the aid of a jury. * * The Court shall decide all relevant questions of law and all other matters involved, and shall sustain any board action, findings and conclusions supported by substantial evidence. The Court may reverse, affirm or modify the decision of the board or remand the cause to the board for a rehearing.”

The first question which this court must determine

Substantial evidence has been defined as such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Application of Hackensack Water Co., 41 N. J. Super. 408 , 125 A. 2d 281 ; Sinclair v. Director of Division of Employment Sec., 331 Mass. 101 , 117 N. E. 2d 164 ; Kelleher v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Rev., 175 Pa. Super. 261 , 104 A. 2d 171 , 41 A. L. R. 2d 1155 . In this state, in Workmen's Compensation cases, substantial evidence has been defined as evidence in the record “from which its conclusion could have been fairly and reasonably drawn”. Wright v. American Brake Shoe Co., 8 Terry 299 , 90 A. 2d 681 ; LeTourneau v. Consolidated Fisheries Co., 4 Terry 540 , 51 A. 2d 862 ; Dallachiesa v. Gen. Motors Co., 1 Storey (51 Del.) 130, 140 A. 2d 137 . In the LeTourneau case the court stated that the reason underlying this rule is premised upon the fact that the Board below sees and hears the witnesses and is therefore better able to determine the credit and weight to be given their testimony.

As we view the function of the Board, it is its duty to weigh and appraise the evidence, determine the credibility of the witnesses, resolve issues of fact and draw its conclusions and inferences therefrom. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board v. Elk Motor Sales Co., 388 Pa. 173 , 130 A. 2d 501 . The statute fixes the power of the Superior Court upon appeal to a determination of whether or not the findings of the Board are supported by substantial evidence. If there was presented substantial and credible evidence to support the charges and a fair administrative hearing was had, the Superior Court cannot substitute its judgment for the judgment of the school authorities. Applebaum v. Wulff, Ohio Com. Pl., 95 N. E. 2d 19 ; Wallace v. Bd. of Education of City of Los Angeles, 63 Cal. App. 2d 611 , 147 P. 2d 8 . See 78 C. J. S. Schools and School Districts § 209 (3), p. 1110.

It is important that the authority of Boards of Education to enforce discipline in teaching staffs be maintained by the courts for the efficient functioning of the school system. Consequently, after a finding by a Board of Education adverse to a teacher resulting in the termination of the teacher’s employment, upon appeal the teacher bears the burden of demonstrating that the Board’s action in terminating his employment was not based upon substantial evidence, but was in fact arbitrary or capricious. Courts should be reluctant to set aside findings of a Board of Education after public hearing unless the record clearly contains no substantial evidence supporting findings of the Board.

Appellee complains of the fact that the Board is acting as prosecutor, judge and jury. He cites authorities for his contention that the presumption in favor of the acts of a judicial or quasi-judicial tribunal does not apply with the same force to a tribunal which prosecutes as well as sits as a court of justice.

There is no question but that a court under such circumstances will scrutinize carefully the act of such a body. In the case of Application of Diamond State Telephone Co. for Changes in Rates, in Accordance with Section 151 of Title 26 of the Del. C. of 1953, Del., 149 A. 2d 324 , in commenting upon the

Appellee contends that the Board deprived him of a substantial right by the excluding of the testimony of Dr. Lloyd — designated by appellee as his expert witness — and the testimony of appellee himself relating to a prior meeting of the Board approximately seven months previously.

Appellee asked Dr. Lloyd whether it was wise educational policy to change a teacher assignment with only twenty-seven days remaining in the semester. Upon objection this testimony was excluded.

We do not think the testimony was admissible because it was not based upon the evidence presented. The statement by the Superintendent to appellee on April 18th as to whether he was teaching was not an order to teach: it was an inquiry as to whether appellee had carried out an order previously given. Moreover, even if it was properly admissible, we do not see how appellee was harmed, since no one at the hearing contended that it would have been proper to compel appellee to begin teaching that late in the school year.

Appellee’s second objection related to the refusal of the Board to permit appellee to testify, and to make an order of proof, relative to a meeting of the Board on September 5, 1957, at which meeting appellee had been requested to be, and

No authority is needed to show that appellee should have been permitted to complete his offer of proof and that he should have been given an opportunity to prove any bias existing on the part of the Board. The need for an unbiased Board, particularly in view of the fact that the Board was acting not only as prosecutor but as judge, is too apparent to be questioned. To refuse such offer was error which must be corrected.

The case must go back to the Board for the purpose of permitting appellee to submit testimony in support of said offer. As we understand appellee’s offer, it was his purpose to show circumstances occurring at the hearing on September 5, 1957, which would have indicated bias and prejudice on the part of the Board against appellee, that the real charge against him was in asking to enroll his Negro daughter in a white school and that the charge of wilful and persistent insubordination was a subterfuge to cover up the charge made on September 5, 1957. We therefore direct that the Board shall permit appellee to

We appreciate the incongruity in directing the Board to sit in determining whether or not it was guilty of bias. Unfortunately, under the statute we see no other way hy which this question may he determined. We have confidence that the Board will give appellee a fair hearing and make a just determination of this question. In any event, its determination, if adverse to appellant, will be reviewable by the Superior Court.

The order of the Superior Court of April 27, 1959, is reversed, and the case is remanded to that court with instructions to vacate its order and to remand the case to the Board for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.