McCurdy v. Board of Public Instruction

388 F. Supp. 599, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8255
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMay 31, 1974
DocketNo. 73-77-Civ-NCR
StatusPublished

This text of 388 F. Supp. 599 (McCurdy v. Board of Public Instruction) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCurdy v. Board of Public Instruction, 388 F. Supp. 599, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8255 (S.D. Fla. 1974).

Opinion

PERMANENT INJUNCTION

ROETTGER, District Judge.

The court entered a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiff, a black school principal, on his claim he was unconstitutionally deprived of the right to be the principal at Glades Central High School. 367 F.Supp. 747 (S.D.Fla.1973). Although the Fifth Circuit had not disposed of the School Board’s appeal from the preliminary injunction, the court set this matter down for final hearing because of the imminence of the 1974-1975 school year and in fairness to plaintiff, the school administrators, the incumbent principal, the teachers and students of the schools involved, and the Court of Appeal. DiGiorgio v. Causey, 488 F.2d 527, 528 (5th Cir. 1973).

FINDINGS OF FACT

The court adopts the findings of fact previously set forth in its preliminary injunction and supplements them with the following findings.

The various school administrators called by defendant testified to a pattern of complexity involved in administering integrated schools in Palm Beach County. The witnesses were unanimous that administering a unitary school is more difficult than being the head of an all-black or all-white school. In addition, the difficulties increase as the students get older. This is borne out by the fact that of the twelve senior high school principals in Palm Beach County ten have left for various reasons since the unitary school system was implemented pursuant to an order of Judge Eaton of this court in August, 1970. In that same period of time the turnover has only been 50% for middle school principals and 29% for elementary school principals. The evidence showed an additional pattern of older school administrators being [601]*601replaced by younger administrators who seem to be able to cope with the problems more effectively than their older counterparts.

The county superintendent testified, and the court so finds, that the Lake-shore Junior High School principalship is more difficult than it was for plaintiff to be principal of the all-black Lakeshore Junior-Senior High School four years ago.

In the plaintiff's twenty-ninth year as school principal in this system- — the longest tenure of any school principal in the county — the annual evaluation by the area superintendent conducted in April of this year now judges him to be “unsatisfactory.” Only last year on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being unsatisfactory, plaintiff was rated at slightly above 3— or satisfactory plus. This new rating of unsatisfactory was based upon the judgment that plaintiff is deficient in a number or matters such as program planning, program implementation and follow through, and that there was not sufficient improvement in these areas over the previous evaluation. In addition, he was thought to be unsatisfactorily deficient in utilization of staff, the lack of student control and scheduling, and because of a number of disruptive students — described as “most insulting in the area.” Additionally, he was criticized for failing to utilize his plant by using portable classrooms, which were in short supply throughout the system, at the same time he had two or three empty classrooms. Further, he is charged with reporting forty racial incidents to the area superintendent while the next highest school, Pahokee Junior High, only had ten in the same period of time. Plaintiff explained away some of the criticisms such as plant utilization and utilization of staff. In addition, the court finds there seems to be some confusion in the definition of just what constitutes a reportable racial incident.

Plaintiff is a diabetic who goes home each day for a special-diet lunch. His home is about 3 to 5 minutes away from the school and he normally takes about an hour for lunch. The area superintendent acknowledged that principals are not obligated to stay at school during the lunch hour. However, it seems somewhat incongruous that plaintiff requires his own teachers to remain at school during their 25-minute lunch period.

The county superintendent, Dr. Carroll, has occupied this position since January, 1973. The school system comprises 70,000 students and 6,000 employees of whom 1,800 are teachers. In defendant’s system one area superintendent is black and two principals are black. Dr. Carroll has implemented a number of management techniques and he feels they support the area superintendent’s appraisal of the plaintiff as unsatisfactory — a rating concurred in by all of the defendant’s witnesses.

One of the tools used by the School Board is a teacher questionnaire and in 74 of the 84 schools over 80% of the teachers responded. There were only two schools in the county with lower than a 60% response rate and the lowest was a 42% response rate at Lakeshore Junior High School, where plaintiff is principal. The county superintendent feels that a low response rate results either from a “fear syndrome” among the faculty or the matter was not properly administered by the principal.

The profile from the teachers’ responses indicates in some critical areas that Lakeshore Junior High compares very unfavorably with other Junior High Schools in the county. For example, of the sixteen middle schools it ties for thirteenth in the area of the administration giving good support to the teachers; it ties for fourteenth in the area of program planning; it ranks fifteenth in the area of assistance in improving instruction; it ranks sixteenth in the area of working relationship with principal and ranks in a tie for the last place in freedom in expressing opinions. The court required the School Board to provide the court after the hearing with a listing of the high schools which ranked as low [602]*602or lower in these specific statistical categories.

The court also required that if any school appeared below Lakeshore Junior High in more than one column the court be furnished with the evaluation reports made on that school’s principal both in 1973 and 1974. Curiously, there was a school which managed to rank below Lakeshore Junior High in three categories. It gets “curiouser and curiouser”: that school’s principal was not rated unsatisfactory in 1974; further, in 1973 that principal, who is white, received nothing but 5’s and 4’s — outstanding and above average — in the evaluation. The court must observe that the disparities in these ratings underscore plaintiff’s claim of discrimination.

An examination of the entire statistical profile reveals that there are several other areas in which Lakeshore Junior High does not rank so poorly, especially when one compares the student responses and the parent responses. Both of those responses rank Lakeshore Junior High very high among the middle schools of Palm Beach County.

The testimony of several present and former teachers who served under plaintiff’s direction indicates he has generated both loyalty and respect in the minds of these teachers and others who have worked with him.

Teacher retention seems to be a particularly difficult matter in the Glades area of the county; expectably, there is a greater turnover there than in the coastal areas. It is understandable as the testimony revealed 126 teachers drive into Belle Glade and Pahokee daily from the coastal areas over 40 miles away. As can be expected, many of them desire transfers in order to eliminate such a lengthy commuting distance.

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388 F. Supp. 599, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccurdy-v-board-of-public-instruction-flsd-1974.