Holliday v. West Point Mun. Sep. Sch. Dist.

401 So. 2d 1296
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 5, 1981
Docket52754
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 401 So. 2d 1296 (Holliday v. West Point Mun. Sep. Sch. Dist.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holliday v. West Point Mun. Sep. Sch. Dist., 401 So. 2d 1296 (Mich. 1981).

Opinion

401 So.2d 1296 (1981)

Mae Rosie HOLLIDAY
v.
WEST POINT MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

No. 52754.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

August 5, 1981.

*1297 Bennie L. Turner, Randolph Walker, Walker & Turner, West Point, for appellant.

Thomas M. Tubb, Tubb, Stevens & Morrison, West Point, for appellee.

Before PATTERSON, C.J., and SUGG and BROOM, JJ.

BROOM, Justice for the Court:

Reassignment of appellant Mae Rosie Holliday from the position of school principal to the position of administrative assistant in the office of the superintendent of West Point Municipal Separate School District (appellee herein) forms the background to this case appealed from the Chancery Court of Clay County, Mississippi. On appeal she argues (1) that she was deprived of her constitutional due process and statutory rights, and (2) that the evidence presented by the school was insufficient to support her reassignment. We affirm.

On September 18, 1979, school district superintendent Griffin notified Holliday that she was being relieved of her duties as principal and reassigned as an administrative assistant in the superintendent's office continuing at her present salary. One day previously the school board had approved Holliday's reassignment. She sued in federal court for a preliminary injunction prohibiting her removal until she was granted an impartial hearing, which court ordered that she receive a due process hearing pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-9-59 (Supp. 1980). By letter dated January 21, 1980, Griffin notified Holliday that the hearing officer would be the University of Mississippi's Dr. Joseph Blackston who set the public hearing for February 6 and 7 in the Clay County Courthouse. The charges alleged that she was incompetent and derelict in her duties in the following areas: (1) in preparing for the opening of the school term, specifically her: (a) failure to schedule the sixth grade students according to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Guidelines, (b) failure to issue textbooks until after the second week of classes began, and (c) failure to provide prompt lunch service to qualified students; (2) in resolving parents' complaints, more particularly a charge against one of the teachers, her sister, for not adequately testing the students; (3) in failing to use correct grammar in speaking and writing and in communicating with parents and students; and (4) in failing to maintain the standard of education at Central School.

The school district presented testimony from Griffin that Holliday was assistant principal of Central School when he became superintendent in 1976. In 1977 the principal's office at Central School became vacant and he recommended Holliday for the position primarily because of a federal court order in effect which required that any administrator or principal "who was demoted under the desegregation court order ... be offered and have the opportunity to turn down the first like position that became available."

In a letter dated March 8, 1977, however, Griffin and the board appointed Holliday to the vacancy provided:

Our recommendation of you for the position and the election of you by the Board of Trustees provides that you display marked improvement in the following areas:
1. Oral and written communication;
2. Recognizing, diagnosing, and prescribing methods of improving ineffective teachers and teaching techniques;
*1298 3. Staff development;
4. Recognizing and demanding high standards of education; and
5. Working harmoniously with the school community, staff, and administration.

At the conclusion of the termination hearing, Dr. Blackston rendered his opinion on March 19, 1980, affirming Holliday's removal and reassignment. On August 11, 1980, Chancellor Brand affirmed the action of the Board of Trustees and the hearing officer and Holliday appeals.

There is only one issue presently before us: DID THE CHANCELLOR, BASED UPON THE RECORD COMPILED AT THE TERMINATION/REASSIGNMENT HEARING, AND UPON HOLLIDAY'S CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT, COMMIT REVERSIBLE ERROR IN UPHOLDING THE HEARING OFFICER'S AFFIRMANCE OF THE BOARD'S DECISION TO REMOVE AND REASSIGN HOLLIDAY? Deciding this issue requires a review of the testimony and charges raised at the hearing. According to Griffin, prior to the school board's action on September 17, he had received numerous letters from concerned sixth grade parents (Central School has all of the sixth grade students for the entire school district) protesting the conditions at Central School. The parents complained that textbooks had not been issued, and that their children's schedules had been repeatedly changed. After reviewing the complaints, the board approved Holliday's removal and reassignment as an administrative assistant for administrative services in the superintendent's office.

Testimony given at the hearing established at least by substantial evidence that Holliday did not properly cope with the problem of scheduling students.

Rev. John Bacot, a Presbyterian minister in West Point, also testified. Of Rev. Bacot's three children, a daughter was in the sixth grade at Central School. Although his daughter was preregistered for Central School in the spring of 1979, Holliday had no record of such registration, and the registration procedure had to be repeated that August. When Holliday testified, she responded to Rev. Bacot's complaints and stated that the records were requested in the spring of 1979, but, as in so many cases, the request for the records had to be made again. According to Holliday, Mrs. Blair, Holliday's former secretary, told her that she had sent off for the records. On registration day, Rev. Bacot accompanied his daughter and made the following observation:

A. Blaaa [sic]. It was pandemonium, it was chaos. I have never seen a school like that.
Q. Well, specifically what are you talking about?
A. People were bananas. Students were milling around, the teachers were milling around, half the people didn't know where they were, not to, all right, not to exaggerate, but I simply asked, you know, my child is new, she is a sixth grader, where can I find out where she is supposed [sic] to be. I don't know. I said to a teacher. I asked another teacher. I don't know. And another teacher, you know, as I mentioned, told me to go look on the board. I go look on the board, finally I went in and Mr. Fortera got my daughter registered or whatever was suppose [sic] to take place. I mean, he got her in a classroom.

Rev. Bacot also complained that his daughter had not been issued textbooks during the first couple weeks of school and was using encyclopedias to do her assignments. When Holliday was asked why textbooks had not been issued, she explained:

A. Teachers received their textbooks two or three days prior to the opening of school. The two years during my administrative position teachers have always issued their textbooks when they felt that the student was ready. Some teachers orientate and teach lesson skills before they issue their textbooks. Teachers and students are geared in activities that are geared to textbook instruction. This is not wasted *1299 time. Six years prior to my administrative position teachers never issued a textbook for the entire school year. Teachers kept one or two sets of books in the classroom and issued the students as they would come in for their class period.

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401 So. 2d 1296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holliday-v-west-point-mun-sep-sch-dist-miss-1981.