Flaherty ex rel. Flaherty v. Conners

319 F. Supp. 1284, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9222
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedDecember 10, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-1641-C
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 319 F. Supp. 1284 (Flaherty ex rel. Flaherty v. Conners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flaherty ex rel. Flaherty v. Conners, 319 F. Supp. 1284, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9222 (D. Mass. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

CAFFREY, District Judge.

This is a civil action in which suit has been brought on behalf of plaintiff, a fifteen year old retarded child, by his mother as next friend, against the five elected members of the Boston School Committee, the Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, the Principal of the Peter Faneuil School, the Acting Director of the Department of Special Classes in the Boston Public Schools, the Commissioner of the State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the head of the Division of Special Classes of the State Board of Education of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Jurisdiction of this court is invoked on the basis of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, 2201 and 2202, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The complaint alleges that this is a class action. The matter came before the court for hearing on plaintiff’s application for a preliminary injunction on that portion of the complaint seeking an order directing those defendants employed by the City of Boston to re-admit the infant plaintiff, Jack Flaherty, to special classes conducted at the Peter Faneuil School until such time as a proper hearing regarding his suspension is afforded him by the School Committee, pursuant to Mass.G.L. c. 76, sec. 17. At the hearing, defendants orally moved for dismissal of the action on the bases of the doctrine of exhaustion of state remedies and abstention.

A number of witnesses testified at the evidentiary hearing. They included Mrs. Ann Flaherty, mother of the plaintiff; Miss Sarah McLaughlin, the Special Class teacher in charge at the Peter Faneuil School; Dr. Alice Casey, an Associate Superintendent of the Boston Schools who has responsibility for special students and special classes; Dr. Vincent P. Conners, Director of Special Classes for the Boston School Department; and Mrs. Edith W. Fine, Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Boston.

The first point to be resolved on the basis of the evidence of these witnesses is that there is no foundation for the allegation that this is a class action, and it is obvious from the tenor of the testimony given that this case solely concerns the infant plaintiff, Jack Fla[1286]*1286herty. Consequently, I hold that this ease cannot properly be ruled a class action under Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

With regard to the motions to dismiss, it should be noted that plaintiff has made no showing of any attempt on his part to exhaust either his state administrative or judicial remedies. It is clear that subsequent to his receipt of notice of suspension, on October 23, 1970, plaintiff was not afforded a hearing before an assistant superintendent “within six school days of the original suspension,” as required by Section 215.3 of the Amended School Committee Rules. (See Appendix A to plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law.) However, Section 215.3 goes on to provide for a review by the superintendent of any decision of the assistant superintendent and, if the former is unable to settle the case “within five additional school days * * * the pupil or his parent or guardian may request that the school committee review the matter. * * * ” Furthermore, given the fact that “a school committee shall not permanently exclude a pupil from the public schools for alleged misconduct without first giving him and his parent or guardian an opportunity to be heard,” Mass. Gen.Laws, c. 76, sec. 17, and assuming, arguendo, that plaintiff and the school he attends are covered by this statute, plaintiff appears to possess adequate and, as yet, unexhausted administrative remedies. In this regard, the court finds significant plaintiff’s allegation in his memorandum of law, at p. 2, that “no school official has indicated a willingness to hold a hearing * * and yet, counsel for plaintiff has proffered no correspondence whatsoever between plaintiff’s mother and the school superintendent or the school committee requesting a hearing under Rule 215.3.

Moreover, even assuming the fact that the school committee refused to adhere to the procedures provided for after plaintiff had properly requested a formal hearing, then redress for plaintiff’s grievances clearly seems to be provided for under the State Administrative Procedure Act, Mass.Gen.Laws, c. 30A, sec. 14, which offers appeals from administrative decisions to the state courts and, ultimately, to the Supreme Judicial Court.

The same is true, too, with regard to any contested regulation promulgated by the State Department of Education under Mass.Gen.Laws, c. 71, sec. 46, e. g., the regulation providing for the exclusion of an educable child if his presence is detrimental to members of his class or his school. The appropriate forum to decide such issues is the state Superior Court. See Mass.Gen.Laws, c. 30A, sec. 1 et seq.

Thus, this case falls without the rule of cases such as Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961), McNeese v. Bd. of Education, 373 U.S. 668, 83 S.Ct. 1433, 10 L.Ed.2d 622 (1967) , and Houghton v. Shafer, 392 U.S. 639, 88 S.Ct. 2119, 20 L.Ed.2d 1319 (1968) , and more properly comes under the rule enunciated by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Eisen v. Eastman, 421 F.2d 560 (1969), and Armsden v. Cataldo, 315 F.Supp. 129 (D.Mass. 1970).

In a somewhat similar situation visa-vis the exhaustion of available state remedies, the Court of Appeals for this Circuit, in Keefe v. Geanakos, 418 F.2d 359 (1969), made it clear that normally available and adequate state rights in a school controversy of this nature must be taken advantage of, the Court noting (p. 361, n. 6): “ * * * Under the circumstances we accept jurisdiction as a matter of discretion.” The circumstances referred to were the fact that the defendant in the Keefe case had, in effect, waived the prematurity of resort to the federal forum without exhausting state administrative and court remedies.

That the doctrine of abstention until the exhaustion of adequate and available state rights has become well-established in this Circuit appears from Needel v. Scafati, 412 F.2d 761, 765 (1 Cir. 1969); Lamoureux v. Commonwealth, 412 F.2d 710 (1 Cir. 1969); Lofland v. United States, 412 F.2d 767 (1 Cir. 1969), and [1287]

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Bluebook (online)
319 F. Supp. 1284, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flaherty-ex-rel-flaherty-v-conners-mad-1970.