Abbott v. Claiborne Parish School Bd.

550 So. 2d 294, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1647, 1989 WL 112075
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 1989
Docket20842-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 550 So. 2d 294 (Abbott v. Claiborne Parish School Bd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abbott v. Claiborne Parish School Bd., 550 So. 2d 294, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1647, 1989 WL 112075 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

550 So.2d 294 (1989)

Jerlene ABBOTT, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CLAIBORNE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 20842-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 27, 1989.
Rehearing Denied October 26, 1989.
Writ Denied December 8, 1989.

*295 Culpepper, Teat & Avery by Bobby L. Culpepper, Jonesboro, for plaintiff-appellant.

John C. Blake, Dist. Atty., Jonesboro, and Lunn, Irion, Johnson, Salley & Carlisle by Brian D. Smith, Shreveport, for defendant-appellee.

Before FRED W. JONES, Jr., LINDSAY and HIGHTOWER, JJ.

LINDSAY, Judge.

The plaintiff, Jerlene Abbott, a teacher of remedial reading and math in the federally funded "Chapter I" program, filed suit against the Claiborne Parish School Board following the nonrenewal of her teaching contract for the 1986-87 school year. The plaintiff requested reinstatement to her position and damages of $115,000 because the defendant school board allegedly failed to comply with the Teacher Tenure Act, LSA-R.S. 17:441, et seq. She now appeals from a trial court judgment denying her claims. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

Beginning in 1977, the plaintiff was employed by the defendant school board as a Chapter I teacher. She taught remedial reading and math to slow learners in fifth and sixth grades.

In the spring of 1985, principals in the Claiborne Parish school system were informed of cuts in federal funds supporting the Chapter I remedial programs. At that time, the principals were given the option of implementing reductions in their Chapter I programs in the upcoming 1985-86 school year or waiting until the 1986-1987 school year. The plaintiff's principal initially chose to make his school's reduction immediately and informed the plaintiff that she would be dismissed. However, the principal reconsidered, and the plaintiff taught fifth and sixth grade in the Chapter I program in the 1985-86 school year.

In the spring of 1986, the plaintiff received a letter from W.J. Richardson, the superintendent of the defendant school board. The letter was dated May 14, 1986. The letter recited that due to decreases in Chapter I federal funding, the position she had formerly held was to be eliminated for the upcoming year. However, Mr. Richardson recommended that the plaintiff contact the principals of various schools within the parish to seek other employment. The plaintiff contacted numerous principals of *296 schools in Claiborne Parish and Webster Parish. However, none of the principals recommended her for employment. (In addition to the plaintiff, four other Chapter I teachers received letters to the same effect.)

On May 26, 1986, the plaintiff responded in writing to Mr. Richardson's letter by formally requesting employment for the 1986-87 school year. On July 29, 1986, the plaintiff met with Mr. Richardson, at which time he explained to her the procedure for dismissing probationary teachers. As none of the principals contacted by the plaintiff had recommended her for employment, Mr. Richardson did not offer her a teaching position. He asked the plaintiff if she wanted to voice her grievances at the school board meeting to be held in August. She initially declined, but she later wrote him, asking to be placed on the August agenda.

At the school board meeting, the plaintiff read a prepared statement complaining of her dismissal. Accompanying the plaintiff was a representative of the Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE). Mr. Richardson and School Board President W.F.M. Meadors, Jr., discussed the procedure for hiring and dismissing nontenured teachers. No member of the school board suggested that those procedures be changed.

Subsequently, on November 21, 1986, the plaintiff filed suit against the defendant school board, alleging that the defendant had failed to follow the proper procedure for removing a tenured teacher under L.S.A. R.S. 17:443. Nor had the school board applied its own "reduction in force" policy in her termination. The plaintiff further alleged that she had been discriminated against by the school board. In addition to seeking reinstatement to her former position, the plaintiff also sought damages in the following amounts: for damages to her name, reputation, honor and integrity, $50,000; attorney fees, $15,000; and emotional distress and humiliation, $50,000; or a total of $115,000 in damages.

The defendant school board answered the plaintiff's petition, denying that the tenure laws applied to plaintiff's employment situation.

On April 20, 1987, the defendant filed a motion for summary judgment. In support of this motion, the defendant filed the depositions of the plaintiff and Mr. Richardson, and the affidavit of Huey Fields, the director of the defendant's Chapter I education programs. The testimony of Mr. Richardson and Mr. Fields established that the plaintiff's salary was paid from a Chapter I federal grant. The only local funds that Mrs. Abbott received in her paychecks were personal improvement program support payments from 1982 to 1986. The plaintiff filed her own affidavit in opposition to the motion for summary judgment.

On May 6, 1987, the trial court issued a written opinion in which it granted partial summary judgment in favor of the defendant. It found that the plaintiff was not a tenured teacher within the contemplation of the Teacher Tenure Act, R.S. 17:441 et seq. The trial court found that the defendant had been employed in the federal funded Chapter I program for nine years and therefore the teacher tenure laws did not apply. However, the trial court found that the plaintiff had been treated as a probationary teacher, that the defendant had a "reduction in force" policy which applied to certain probationary teachers, and that those policies had not been applied to the petitioner. The court found that there was a material issue of fact as to whether these rules applied to the plaintiff. Thus, it denied the motion for summary judgment as it pertained to those claims. A judgment in conformity with this opinion was signed on June 14, 1987. (No appeal was taken from this judgment.)

Trial on the merits was held on the remaining issues on April 21, 1988. The plaintiff testified on her own behalf. She testified that as an employee of the defendant she had been teaching Chapter I remedial reading and math for nine years. She further testified that the defendant did not treat her differently from any other teacher, and that she had performed all of the duties required of her. She testified that, in keeping with Mr. Richardson's advice, *297 she had contacted numerous principals of various schools in Claiborne Parish and had been unable to secure further employment. She was currently working at the Homer Childhood Learning Center as a part-time teacher and at Presbyterian Village as a part-time nurse's aide. She testified that her dismissal by the defendant had caused her several problems, both financial and emotional. She stated that she was unaware that she had been hired on a year-to-year basis, even though she had received a letter each year saying her employment would continue for another year. She did concede that she had no assurances of automatic renewal. After the presentation of the plaintiff's testimony, she rested her case.

Testifying on behalf of the defense was Doris Lowe, business manager of the defendant school board. She testified that she handled the accounting and all payroll records. Her testimony established the plaintiff's past salary, as well as the salary she would have earned if her employment with the defendant had continued.

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550 So. 2d 294, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1647, 1989 WL 112075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abbott-v-claiborne-parish-school-bd-lactapp-1989.