Clark v. Ann Arbor School District

344 N.W.2d 48, 130 Mich. App. 681, 16 Educ. L. Rep. 270
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 5, 1983
DocketDocket 61457
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 344 N.W.2d 48 (Clark v. Ann Arbor School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Ann Arbor School District, 344 N.W.2d 48, 130 Mich. App. 681, 16 Educ. L. Rep. 270 (Mich. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

Cynar, J.

Charges were filed with respondent board against petitioner Clark, a tenured teacher, pursuant to Article 4 of the teacher tenure act, MCL 38.101 et seq.; MSA 15.2001 et seq. Following a hearing, respondent found the charges of an unprofessional relationship with one of her male students had been established and discharged the petitioner. Petitioner appealed to the tenure commission, which affirmed. The circuit court reversed the tenure commission. Respondent appeals as a matter of right.

Petitioner was a drama teacher and forum leader at Community High School for three years prior to her discharge. The forum was a discussion group in which students discussed a variety of [683]*683topics, including personal problems. Community High School is a nontraditional school designed to provide an individualized educational program for its students. Teachers are required to spend much more time with students outside the ordinary school setting than at other schools and one of the school’s goals is to develop close contact between teachers and students. Respondent does not dispute that Clark’s classroom performance was excellent and she was popular with students.

In the spring of 1975, near the end of her first year of teaching, the principal warned petitioner about her conduct with male students. She denied impropriety. Without challenging her denial, she was advised such conduct would be cause for dismissal. In any event, she was told to avoid not only impropriety but also the appearance of impropriety.

In the fall of 1977, the principal, now deputy superintendent, was again required to deal with petitioner on this subject. A parent was referred to the deputy superintendent by a high school principal. The parent’s son, Rob, was a student in petitioner’s drama class as well as in her home room class. The parent expressed some very serious concerns about petitioner’s relationship with his son. Following further investigation, charges under the tenure act were filed against the petitioner with respondent.

The evidence in support of these charges are summarized as follows:

The charges concern the relationship between petitioner and Rob, a 17-year-old student. Rob’s brother, Seth, and Willard, a friend of Seth’s (both 14 years old), testified about the incident. In June, 1977, Willard and Seth sneaked into the basement where Rob was living to see if they could "catch [684]*684him doing something”. Willard testified that he saw petitioner lying partially on top of Rob on Rob’s mattress, kissing Rob, when they walked in. Rob was partly covered by this sleeping bag. His chest was bare. Petitioner was fully clothed. Willard described the kiss as a "French” kiss. Seth testified that he entered the door behind Willard and saw Rob and petitioner sitting on Rob’s mattress, kissing. He testified that they stopped as soon as the two boys entered. Seth admitted on cross-examination that he did not actually see the kissing because he could only see the back of petitioner’s head when he walked in, but that he assumed that that was what they were doing because they were so close together. Seth mentioned the incident to his father, who, he knew, did not like petitioner "a long time after it happened”. Seth admitted that he did not get along well with Rob and that they were not fond of each other.

Rob testified that petitioner was sitting near him, but not on the mattress, when Willard and Seth walked in. He testified that petitioner awakened him by knocking on the door and that he let her in. He admitted that he was naked under the sleeping bag. However, he denied that they were kissing. Petitioner also denied that she was kissing Rob when the boys walked in. Richard Churchman, a building contractor, testified that he went into the basement on June 1 or 2, 1977, at about 7:30 a.m. to see if Rob wanted to do some work for him and to pick up some tools kept in the basement. He saw Rob lying on a sleeping bag with a quilt over himself. Petitioner was leaning up against him.

By her own admission, petitioner established the basis for a charge that she had spent a night at [685]*685Rob’s basement apartment. Petitioner testified that she did not remember Churchman walking in. She testified that Rob and another student, Polly, spent an evening celebrating Polly’s birthday at petitioner’s home. Later, petitioner drove Polly first and then Rob home. Her car would not start when she was ready to leave Rob’s house. Petitioner testified that she was upset over her car and a fight she had had with a friend earlier in the evening, so she went into Rob’s apartment. Rob gave her a back massage and she fell asleep. Both were fully dresssed. Petitioner testified that she did not know where Rob slept. Petitioner later testified at the commission hearing that she did not walk the two miles to her home because Rob’s apartment was in a bad neighborhood. Petitioner admitted to having been in Rob’s apartment two or three times in the summer of 1977.

Rob and petitioner also admitted that they took a two-week trip to the west. They stated they were accompanied by another student for all but the last two days, when they were driving nonstop back to Ann Arbor.

Petitioner testified that she allowed Rob to drive her car on the trip and later in Ann Arbor even though she knew that he did not have a driver’s license and was on probation.

Respondent found all of the charges established and voted to discharge petitioner. On appeal, the tenure commission was unable to find sexual misconduct existed between petitioner and Rob. However, the commission found petitioner’s actions, viewed in total, displayed a total disregard for her special responsibilities as an educator. Her conduct established a serious breach of her duty to her employer and her students, constituting just and reasonable cause for discharge. The circuit court [686]*686reversed on the ground that respondent had not shown any adverse effects, as required under Beebee v Haslett Public Schools, 66 Mich App 718; 239 NW2d 724 (1976).

MCL 38.101; MSA 15.2001 provides that a tenured teacher may only be discharged for reasonable and just cause:

"Sec. 1. Discharge or demotion of a teacher on continuing tenure may be made only for reasonable and just cause, and only after such charges, notice, hearing, and determination thereof, as are hereinafter provided.”

The circuit judge stated that, under the Beebee case, evidence of adverse effects of a teacher’s conduct on students and the schools must be shown not only in cases involving the teacher’s classroom performances, but "in every case” including cases of teacher misconduct like the instant case. Since the record in this case, the circuit judge observed, "is void of any proof that Ms. Clark’s actions had a deleterious outcome on the students or other teachers”, reversal of the tenure commission’s decision was required.

In Beebee, the Court of Appeals stated that it intended to require "discharges of tenured faculty based on curriculum policy to be rationally and specifically related to a detrimental effect on the school and its students”. 66 Mich App 728. In Beebee, a tenured teacher was discharged for what the Court of Appeals found to be a disagreement with the school district over teaching philosophy. The Court of Appeals held that the school district must show that the teacher’s activities adversely affected students, other teachers, and the school.

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Clark v. Ann Arbor School District
344 N.W.2d 48 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
344 N.W.2d 48, 130 Mich. App. 681, 16 Educ. L. Rep. 270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-ann-arbor-school-district-michctapp-1983.