Alman v. Fox Chapel Area School District

4 Pa. D. & C.3d 288, 1977 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedDecember 7, 1977
Docketno. GD 77-23624
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Pa. D. & C.3d 288 (Alman v. Fox Chapel Area School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alman v. Fox Chapel Area School District, 4 Pa. D. & C.3d 288, 1977 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1977).

Opinion

ROSS, J.,

Plaintiffs, Daniel G. Alman and Jane H. Alman, parents and natural guardians of their minor children, Karen Alman and Richard Alman, filed a complaint in equity naming as defendants the Fox Chapel Area School District, its district superintendent, James M. Burk, its senior high school principal, Robert D. Myers, and the Fox Chapel Area School District Board of School Directors. Plaintiffs ask for an injunction restraining defendants from enforcing a 1961 school district resolution barring students at the Fox Chapel Senior High School from driving to or from school, from parking on school property during school hours, from riding to school in a vehicle not operated by a parent and from driving a vehicle to within walking distance of the school and walking from there. Plaintiffs ask that a special exception be made to allow Karen Alman, a licensed Pennsylvania driver, to drive to and from the senior high school which she attends, to park on school grounds during school hours, to be accompanied while driving by her brother, Richard, and to allow Richard to drive to and from school and park there during school hours once he secures his operator’s license. Plaintiffs ask the court to order the school district to provide bus transportation for the minor plaintiffs within a reasonable distance from their home so long as they are not allowed to drive. It is asserted plaintiffs need immediate relief by way of preliminary injunction because, unless Karen can drive, she and her brother have no safe way of getting to and from school and, if they drive, they will be suspended and suffer irreparable harm.

After the court refused an ex parte preliminary injunction, defendants moved for a dismissal of the complaint on the ground it faded to aver that the [290]*290defendant board acted contrary to law, outside the scope of its statutory authority, in bad faith or in an arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable manner.

Upon being given leave, plaintiffs amended their complaint to allege that the defendant board acted contrary to the Public School Code of March 10, 1949, P.L. 30, secs. 1331 and 1362, as amended, 24 P.S. §§13-1331 and 13-1362, in failing to provide transportation for the minor plaintiffs who must walk to and from school on “hazardous” roads. The amended complaint asserts the board acted outside the scope of its authority in finding Fox Chapel Road and Highland Road not hazardous. It is contended that section 1362 of the Code, 24 P.S. §13-1362, specifically mandates that only the Bureau of Traffic Safety of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation may determine whether or not a school district road is hazardous and that the board acted capriciously, arbitrarily, unreasonably and in bad faith in failing to have the Bureau of Traffic Safety evaluate and certify as hazardous Field Club and Highland Roads and in denying minor plaintiffs’ request for permission to drive to and from school.

The hearing on the complaints and motions was held October 20 and 27, 1977. Before the court now are plaintiffs’ prayer for preliminary injunction and defendants’ motion for its denial and a dismissal of the complaints.

THE FACTS

The court finds the following facts on the basis of the evidence presented to it.

In 1961, the Fox Chapel Area School District, a school district of the second class located in Allegheny County, Pa., through its board of school di[291]*291rectors, adopted regulation 10-21 which provides:

“Use of Automobiles

“Pupils are not permitted to drive automobiles to regular school sessions. This regulation also forbids driving and parking to within walking distance of the school. Since sufficient bus transportation has been provided, it is not necessary for students to drive.

“[N]o student is to be driven to or from school grounds in a car unless the driver is a parent. No other person may be the driver.

“Violation of the School Board ruling will result in a suspension of not less than three (3) days.

“Students in the Work Experience Program must register their automobile with the designated assistant principal ...”

Students in the Work Experience Program (employed students) are exempted from the regulatory restrictions.

The regulation was adopted out of consideration for student safety, to prevent traffic congestion at school opening and closing times and hot-rodding, to discourage smoking in vehicles or students leaving the school grounds during school hours, to deter outsiders from coming on school property and to prevent students from riding with other persons without their parent’s approval. The school has parking spaces for 480 vehicles. School enrollment is 1,670 students. One student was killed on the school parking lot riding a vehicle not his own.

Plaintiffs moved into the Fox Chapel Area School District in October 1976. They live at 927 Field Club Road, Fox Chapel Borough. Karen Alman is 16 and an eleventh grade student in the [292]*292defendant district’s senior high school where her 15-year-old brother, Richard, is a tenth grade student. Karen has been licensed to operate a motor vehicle since May, 1977.

The Almans’ home is one and two-tenths miles from the high school, which is also located on Field Club Road. Their residence is located one and one-tenths miles from the nearest school bus stop on Highland Road. The Alman children may ride the bus because their home is closer to the bus stop than to the school. Most children in the Forest area of the school district where the Almans reside walk to school, preferring not to take advantage of the bus transportation available.

Transportation by cab is available to the Alman children to school but has never been utilized by them because, in addition to their parents’ transportation, they have received rides to school with other parents. Richard has walked once and Karen twice to school from their home during their attendance at senior high school.

Plaintiff, Daniel Alman, is employed in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. When the Almans first moved to Fox Chapel, Jane H. Alman (mother of the minor plaintiffs) was not employed. Richard at that time rode a school bus to the junior high school and the Almans provided school transportation for Karen. About March of 1977, Mrs Alman began to work at her husband’s place of business and, if no other way was possible, they brought their daughter home from school by driving from their Oakland place of business to the senior high school.

The Almans drive to work each morning at 9 a.m. one hour and ten minutes after the high school session begins. Mr. Alman prefers not to drive the children because he does not want to leave earlier.

[293]*293In May 1977, after Karen secured a motor vehicle operator’s license, Daniel Alman contacted defendant, Robert D. Myers, to obtain permission for Karen to drive to and from school. Mr. Myers indicated the regulation against students driving would be enforced as to Karen. Daniel Alman then requested defendant, James M. Burk, to grant an exception from the regulation to Karen Alman and when that was refused wrote the school board asking permission for Karen to drive. The school board did not respond.

Soon after the new school year began in the fall of 1977, Karen Alman drove to school accompanied by Richard (now a senior high school student), although she had been earlier apprised of the regulation against driving.

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Bluebook (online)
4 Pa. D. & C.3d 288, 1977 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alman-v-fox-chapel-area-school-district-pactcomplallegh-1977.