Diggs v. Orleans Parish School Board

161 So. 2d 433, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1400
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 2, 1964
DocketNo. 1324
StatusPublished

This text of 161 So. 2d 433 (Diggs v. Orleans Parish School Board) 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
Diggs v. Orleans Parish School Board, 161 So. 2d 433, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1400 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

McBRIDE, Judge.

By original and supplemental petitions plaintiff sued the Orleans Parish School Board for a judgment declaring that he is now and has been a supervisory principal and as such is entitled to all the emoluments paid to one in such classification, and, alternatively, that there be judgment in plaintiff’s favor decreeing that he had acquired tenure in his position as teacher-in-charge at Milne Municipal Boys’ Plome and ordering-defendant to continue paying him the same annual salary he had earned in that position at said institution. His demands were rejected, and he has appealed from the judgment.

Plaintiff has served the Orleans Parish School Board continuously since 1928. In 1946 he was appointed as teacher-in-charge of the classes for colored boys at Milne Municipal Boys’ Home where he remained until 1950 when he was transferred to the Seabrook School as teacher-in-charge. In 1950 he was re-transferred to the Milne Municipal Boys’ Home in the same category and there served until 1962. Effective November 1962, plaintiff was assigned to Rivers Frederick Junior High School with the classification “ranking teacher-in-charge” to serve under a principal.

For the six years preceding his transfer to Rivers Frederick Junior High School plaintiff was paid twelve pay periods (of four weeks each) @ $765 per day period, or an annual salary of $9,180. In his present assignment his pay rate is the same per pay period but with only ten pay periods each year. Thus plaintiff earns $1,530 per year less than he formerly did due to the smaller number of pay periods.

It is argued on appellant’s behalf that by having been in complete charge of the [435]*435classes at Milne Municipal Boys’ Home and at the Seabrook School for a span of seventeen years, all the while exercising all of the rights and duties and assuming all of the responsibilities of a principal, he has acquired tenure as a principal under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 17:442 (Teachers’ Tenure Act) reading in part as follows:

“ * * * all teachers in the employ of any parish or city school board as of July 31, 1946 who hold proper certificates and who have served satisfactorily as teachers in that parish or city for more than three consecutive years, are declared to be regular and permanent teachers in the employ of the school board of that parish or city.”

The contention is made that said statutory provision has for its object the protection of worthy teachers and that the act is entitled to liberal construction in favor of the class of persons designed to be its primary beneficiaries. We are cited to Lewing v. DeSoto Parish School Board, 238 La. 43, 113 So.2d 462. We might state here that, LSA-R.S. 17:442 relied on by appellant applies to all parishes in Louisiana except the Parish of Orleans. However, similar provisions which are applicable to the Parish of Orleans are to be found in LSA-R.S. 17:461.

The attorney for defendant School Board admits that if plaintiff had served as a principal for a period of three years, he would have acquired tenure as such and be entitled to recognition as a principal and to receive the emoluments of that office, but it is argued by the School Board that appellant has never been selected to serve nor has he ever served as principal.

At the time suit was filed appellant was teacher-in-charge at the Milne Municipal Boys’ Home. The record shows that as long ago as 1906 the Orleans Parish School Board has conducted special classes in said institution which are designed to furnish education for children committed there. These classes were established at the instance of the authorities charged with the administration of the institution under LSA-R.S. 17:151, which authorizes parish school boards to establish such classes as may be necessary to meet all special or exceptional requirements. Plaintiff held classes under the supervision of the Department of Special Services of the Orleans Parish School Board. There were only two or three other teachers as the number of pupils at Milne Municipal Boys’ Home was much less than that in the conventional public schools. The Seabrook School was also-a small institution.

The record shows that, including appellant herein, there are only seven teachers-in-charge (a classification below the rank of principal and carrying a lesser rate of pay) remaining in the school system, since no appointments to that category have been made in recent years. Five of the seven, including appellant, are presently serving under principals, but since they have acquired tenure as teachers-in-charge, they as such are paid the emoluments according to the salary schedule established by the Board for teachers-in-charge. One of the other two teachers-in-charge in the system is now holding special classes for white children at the Milne Municipal Boys’ Plome, and one is the teacher-in-charge of the Board’s Educational Unit at Charity Hospital.

Appellant, it seems to us, has always recognized the fact that he was not a principal. He was never appointed or served in such capacity. In January 1949, April 1951, October 1952, December 1954, November 1955 and January 1958, appellant requested the School Board to select him as a principal. On the first two occasions his qualifications were considered and he was eliminated and advised to that effect. By the date of his third application, the School Board had adopted a new principal’s selection procedure, one of the requirements of which was that all applicants for principalship must have a Master’s Degree which appellant did not then possess. In 1954 and 1955, then [436]*436equipped with a Master’s Degree, appellant participated in the Board’s selection procedure but failed to meet the minimum score required to attain the list of eligibles. Finally in 1958, although he applied for participation in the selection procedure and was authorized to compete in the written •examinations, he failed to report for same.

The reason for appellant’s final transfer from Milne Municipal Boys’ Home to Rivers Frederick Junior High School appears in the record. This transfer was made after appellant had filed his petition in the instant suit. It seems the Orleans Parish School Board was notified in writing by the Director of the Department of Public Welfare, City of New Orleans (which supervises and operates Milne Municipal Boys’ Home — see Sec. 68.4 of the Code of the City ■of New Orleans) that from and after November 9, 1962, appellant would be denied access to the Home. The Director’s letter reads in part as follows:

“The Department of Public Welfare of the City of New Orleans is responsible for the operation of the Milne-Municipal Boys’ Home, 5420 Franklin Avenue, together with all facilities at the Home.
"The Home presently houses some ninety-seven (97) boys, all of whom are inmates of the Home because of special problems affecting them. The Plome consists of two residences or dormitories, two gymnasiums, two schools, an administration building, a chapel, recreation ground and various associated small buildings. For many years the School Board has furnished teachers to handle the boys in the two schools on the Milne ground. Only Milne boys attend the schools in question and under an arrangement between our Board and yours, you furnish six (6) teachers at Milne. Our school year at Milne runs from September 1st to August 1st of each year.
“Your files will indicate that for some time certain problems have arisen in connection with schooling at Milne due to the presence of a Mr. Armand P.

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Related

Lewing v. De Soto Parish School Board
113 So. 2d 462 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
161 So. 2d 433, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diggs-v-orleans-parish-school-board-lactapp-1964.