Foreman v. School District No. 25

159 P. 1155, 81 Or. 587, 1916 Ore. LEXIS 304
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 26, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 159 P. 1155 (Foreman v. School District No. 25) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Foreman v. School District No. 25, 159 P. 1155, 81 Or. 587, 1916 Ore. LEXIS 304 (Or. 1916).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Harris

delivered the opinion of the court.

1, 2. The important problem presented by this litigation arises out of two subdivisions of Section 1, - Chapter 172, Laws of 1913, and for that reason both subdivisions are here set down in full:

Subdivision 22. “The board shall dismiss teachers only for good cause shown, and in case the board shall pass an order to dismiss, the material reason therefor shall be spread upon the record by the district clerk.”

Subdivision 23. “If a teacher is unjustly dismissed, he may take an appeal from the action of the board in dismissing him to the county superintendent and thence to the superintendent of public instruction, but for a breach of contract of teaching the teacher or the district shall have their ordinary legal remedies. In the trial of a teacher, when it is sought to dismiss him, as above provided, the board, the county superintendent, or the state superintendent, as the case may be, shall give the teacher due and legal notice of the charges against him and an opportunity to be heard in his own defense in person or by attorney.”

The plaintiff takes the position that the dismissal, of a teacher is wrongful, unless (1) charges are made with notice and an opportunity for a hearing, and (2) for good cause shown; that the existence of one element alone does not justify the dismissal of a teacher; and that therefore, even though a teacher is discharged, for “good cause,” the dismissal is nevertheless wrong[591]*591ful, and is not a defense unless it has been preceded by the filing of charges, the giving of notice, and an opportunity to be heard. The defendant argues, however, that if a teacher breaches any of the terms of the contract of teaching, then the school board has the power summarily to dismiss the teacher. When examining this statute to ascertain which contention is correct, it must be borne in mind all the while that, “where there are several provisions or particulars, such construction is, if possible, to be adopted as will give effect to all” (Section 715, L. O. L.), and that, “when a general and particular provision are inconsistent, the latter is paramount to the former” (Section 716, L. O. L.).

The words “but for a breach of contract of teaching the teacher or the district shall have their ordinary legal remedies,” found in the first sentence of subdivision 23 of Section 1, Chapter 172, Laws of 1913, have brought about the variant contentions made by the litigants concerning the effect of the statute. If the quoted words had been omitted, then a dismissal for any cause whatsoever would be wrongful in the absence of charges, notice and an opportunity to be heard: School Dist. v. McComb, 18 Colo. 240 (32 Pac. 424); Hull v. Independent Dist. of Aplington, 82 Iowa, 686 (46 N. W. 1053, 48 N. W. 82,10 L. R. A. 273); People ex rel. v. Board of Education, 174 N. Y. 169 (66 N. E. 674); Kellison v. School Dist., 20 Mont. 153 (50 Pac. 421); Butcher v. Charles, 95 Tenn. 532 (32 S. W. 631); Arnold v. School Dist., 78 Mo. 226; Richards v. School Dist. Board, 78 Or. 621 (153 Pac. 482, L. R. A. 1916C, 789). The language employed by the statute is broad and sweeping, and includes more than mere breaches of the contract of teaching. The words “but for a breach of contract of teaching the teacher or the dis[592]*592trict shall have their ordinary legal remedies” of necessity imply that the power to dismiss is not limited to breaches of the contract of teaching; and therefore the statute includes delinquencies which may with propriety be divided into two classes: (1) Acts which breach the contract of teaching; and (2) acts which render a person objectionable or undesirable as a teacher, although the contract of teaching is not breached.

"When the school board hires a teacher, a written contract must be made and filed specifying “the wages, number of months to be taught, and time employment is to begin, as agreed upon by the parties,” and, “unless otherwise provided in the teacher’s contract, it shall be understood that the branches provided' for in the state course for the first eight grades shall be taught excepting school law and theory and practice of teaching”: Subdivision 7, Section 1, Chapter 172, Laws 1913. The state board of education, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it by Section 3950, L. O. L., among other rules and regulations for the general government of public schools, has prescribed rule XXX which commands that “teachers in the public schools shall, to the utmost of their ability, inculcate in the minds of their pupils correct principles of morality, and a proper regard for the laws of society, and for the government under which they live”: Oregon School Laws 1913, Compiled by J. A. Churchill, Superintendent of - Public Instruction, p. 171. The contract of teaching is made with reference to the provisions of the statute, so that the contractual obligations of the teacher are not necessarily limited to the words found in the written contract, and therefore the contract of teaching includes not only the duties enumerated by the written paper, [593]*593■which for convenience is called the contract, bnt it also embraces those duties which are imposed under a then existing statute; and if the teacher breaches this contract of teaching, one of the ordinary legal remedies available to the school board, unless some statute declares to the contrary, would be found in the right summarily to discharge the teacher: 26 Cyc. 987.

Assuming, but not deciding, that moral misconduct outside the schoolroom will generally of itself be sufficient to terminate the contract of teaching (26 Cyc. 990), it would nevertheless not be difficult to go further and suggest many acts which, when done outside the schoolroom by the individual, as distinguished from the teacher, would not constitute a breach of the contract of teaching, and yet would be so objectionable that the individual might no longer be desirable as a teacher. For the misconduct of the teacher as such there always has been a legal remedy, but generally for what is done by the individual outside the schoolroom not amounting to a breach of the contract there is ordinarily no legal remedy in the absence of legislation. For the purpose of protecting the public schools, the power to dismiss has therefore been enlarged, and at the same time, for the purpose of protecting the teacher, a mode has been prescribed for the exercise of the enlarged power, so that the school district now has a remedy for a class of misdoings where before no relief was ordinarily available, and the teacher is at the same time afforded ample protection; and consequently an act may now be “good cause” for a dismissal under the statute notwithstanding no legal remedy existed before the statute. Having in mind the two classes of delinquencies, the rights arising out of them, and the remedies existing or created for them, and following the guidance offered [594]*594by Sections 715 and 716, L. O.

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Bluebook (online)
159 P. 1155, 81 Or. 587, 1916 Ore. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foreman-v-school-district-no-25-or-1916.