Eckroth v. Flasher Public School District No. 39

436 F. Supp. 942, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 266, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14092
CourtDistrict Court, D. North Dakota
DecidedSeptember 9, 1977
DocketNo. A77-1030
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 436 F. Supp. 942 (Eckroth v. Flasher Public School District No. 39) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. North Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eckroth v. Flasher Public School District No. 39, 436 F. Supp. 942, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 266, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14092 (D.N.D. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM and ORDER

VanSICKLE, District Judge.

Plaintiff claims that she has been discriminated against by reason of her sex in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 2000e-2:

(a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer—
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s . . . sex . . .; or
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s . . . sex . ..”

The gravamen of the charge is that she was denied employment as a primary principal by Flasher Public School District No. 39, solely because of her sex.

Flasher is a North Dakota city with a population of 467.

Flasher Public School District No. 39 is an employer within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b). Hutchison v. Lake Oswego School District, 374 F.Supp. 1056 (D.C.D.Or.1974) p. 1056 at 1059. Alice Eckroth is an employee within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(f). Hutchison, supra.

This Court has jurisdiction under 42 U.SU. § 2000e-5(f)(3), and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(l) is also satisfied in that the requisite notice of right to sue was given (Exhibit 3).

At the time of trial the Plaintiff was 65 years old, approximately five feet tall, weighing about 250 pounds, and evidencing difficulty in walking. At the time of her employment by the Flasher Public School District she had a Bachelor and a Master degree in Education and had approximately twelve hours of credit beyond her Master’s degree. From 1955 to 1970 she had taught first and third grades at St. Mary’s Grade School in Bismarck, North Dakota, and in the course of her entire teaching experience had some experience teaching junior high school mathematics. In 1970 she applied for a teaching position in the Flasher School System. At that time she suggested to the Superintendent that she might be interested in the position of primary school principal, but she did not formally apply for it, and she did accept a teaching position for the third grade for the 1970-71 school year. In the 1971-72 school year she again taught third grade. Toward the end of the 1971-72 school year she was offered a position as a special education teacher. This position would have compelled her to leave her self-contained classroom situation and to move between the two schools in the system in order to handle students in both schools, which were situated three city blocks apart. She elected not to accept the position, and gave as her reason at the trial that she did [944]*944not want to get in and out of the car to drive that far. She served again as third grade teacher during the 1972-73 school year. In March of 1973, she was notified in compliance with North Dakota Statute that the Board was contemplating non-renewal of her contract. She requested a hearing and appeared with a representative of the North Dakota Educational Association as her representative at that executive session. According to her representative at that executive session, a Mr. Forester, the reasons discussed included the need for staff reduction (from two third grades to one third grade); the possibility that she might have difficulty going to higher grades where increased discipline control was needed; and problems of her mobility when doing playground duty. According to the testimony of administrative officers she had problems of discipline arising out of the sedentary nature of her teaching techniques, and these had been discussed with her. According to one School Board member who met with her in the executive session where the contemplated non-renewal was discussed, non-mobility and related disciplinary problems, and staff reduction, and concern by the Board members that she would not be able to exercise sufficient leadership to make effective use of a Teacher’s Aide, were all discussed with her. The “leadership” problem was really an observation by the Board members that the Plaintiff was “domineering”. That is, she lacked administrative finesse and adaptability.

She was reemployed as a fourth grade teacher for the 1973-74 school year, but no Teacher’s Aide was assigned to her. At the conclusion of that year, and on March 19, 1974, she was notified that the School Board was again contemplating non-renewal of her contract. About the same time, that is in March of 1974, Mr. Kraft, who was suffering from ulcers, gave notice of his resignation as primary principal and teacher of mathematics, effective at the end of the school year. Again, Mrs. Eckroth requested a hearing in executive session of the Board, and again NDEA representative Wade Forester was present to plead her cause at the hearing. Mr. Forester recalled, after reviewing the notes of the report made to the NDEA, that the Board and Mrs. Eckroth discussed the fact that she would have to move to a higher grade, whether she continued as a teacher and they reduced the number of fourth grades, or whether she was carried as a primary principal who filled the mathematics positions in the Junior High School. They also discussed the Board’s fear, based on their experience with her, that she did not have the administrative abilities to handle a Teacher’s Aide. They discussed with her her excessive weight, health problems and “handling students and those kind of things” (testimony of Mr. Forester). Mr. Forester also testified that while he defined his mission as dealing only with the contemplated non-renewal of the teaching contract, the conference did get into discussion of her application for primary principal. The Board’s feeling that the teacher could not continue was so strong that despite a strongly worded letter of protest to the Board from the Professional Rights and Responsibilities Commission of the NDEA (Exhibit 8), the School Board held to its decision that it could not renew the Plaintiff’s contract. That decision, of course, rendered her application for a principalship moot.

In June 1974, before another principal could be found, Mr. Kraft, without any urging by the administration, elected to reverse his decision to resign, and reapplied for his prior position. Upon receipt of that application the School Board, having prior experience with him, and knowing his level of administrative performance, elected to rehire him.

Names and positions of various persons at various times and, separately, the weight of the Plaintiff at various times became important as the evidence unfolded. To ease my handling of that material, I used this schedule:

[945]*945SCHOOL YEAR SUPERINTENDENT 7 & 8 GRADE MATH PRIMARY PRINCIPAL ECKROTH WEIGHT GRADE TAUGHT
3rd 1970- 71 Johnston Vetter 250 lbs.
1971- 72 Johnston Vetter 250 lbs. 3rd
1972- 73 Johnston Kraft 200 lbs. 3rd
1973- 74 Johnston Kraft 185 to 200 lbs. 4th

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Bluebook (online)
436 F. Supp. 942, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 266, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eckroth-v-flasher-public-school-district-no-39-ndd-1977.