Missouri National Education Ass'n v. New Madrid County R-1 Enlarged School District

606 F. Supp. 25, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 177, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15891
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedJune 14, 1984
DocketNo. S82-161C(D)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 606 F. Supp. 25 (Missouri National Education Ass'n v. New Madrid County R-1 Enlarged School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Missouri National Education Ass'n v. New Madrid County R-1 Enlarged School District, 606 F. Supp. 25, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 177, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15891 (E.D. Mo. 1984).

Opinion

JUDGMENT

WANGELIN, District Judge.

This action came on for trial before the Court and a jury, Honorable H. Kenneth Wangelin, District Judge presiding and the issues having been duly tried and the jury having rendered its verdict.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that judgment be and hereby is entered in favor of plaintiffs Jo Alexander and Arvil Skinner on their claims for deprivation of their first amendment rights and against defendants New Madrid County R-l Enlarged School District and Ray Melton in the amount of $0.00 (zero dollars).

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that judgment be and hereby is entered in favor of defendants New Madrid County R-l Enlarged School District and Ray Melton and against plaintiffs Lynn Bahr, Jerry Bailey, Virginia Nace, Vicki T. Nelms, Gail Schmelzer, Nancy Whatley and Mary Jane Wilson.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that costs shall be accessed at %% (two-ninths percent) of total costs against defendants and lk% (one-ninth percent) of the total against each of the non-prevailing plaintiffs.

ON MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL

This matter is before the Court upon plaintiffs’ motion for declaratory and injunctive relief. Trial was had on the issue of damages and the jury returned a verdict in favor of two plaintiffs, but awarding no damages, and against the other seven plaintiffs.

Presently before the Court is the motion of individual plaintiffs Alexander and Skinner for declaratory and injunctive relief. Also before the Court is the motion by plaintiff Missouri National Education Association for the same relief.

The Court is hesitant to decide these issues, however, without first examining the propriety and the wisdom of engaging in deliberation on these arguments. The Court questions whether it has the jurisdiction to decide the wholly equitable claims of the organizational plaintiff. Moreover, the Court questions whether it would be' better, now that the legal claims have been decided, to allow further proceedings in this matter to be addressed by a tribunal specifically established for such a purpose as, for example, the National Labor Relations Board. These issues have not been addressed by the parties and the Court would appreciate their thoughts in this regard.

Accordingly,

[27]*27IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that a decision on plaintiffs’ motions for declaratory and injunctive relief be and is STAYED pending further briefs; and

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall have twenty (20) days from the date of this Order to provide briefs concerning issues raised in this Memorandum.

ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs’ motion for new trial be and is DENIED.

ON MOTION FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

This matter is before the Court upon the motions of plaintiffs Alexander, Skinner, and the Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) for declaratory and injunctive relief. This Court’s jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).

This case was originally filed on behalf of eleven (11) individual teachers and the Missouri National Education Association against defendants the New Madrid R-l Enlarged School District and Superintendent Ray Melton. Prior to trial two of the plaintiffs dismissed their claims against defendants.

This cause was tried before a jury which rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiffs Alexander and Skinner, but did not award any damages, and against the seven other individual plaintiffs. Plaintiff MNEA and the individual plaintiffs reserved their claims for declaratory and injunctive for a decision by the Court. Further briefs were requested from the parties concerning whether, in its pure injunctive and declaratory state, the claims of the organizational plaintiff would be more appropriately adjudicated before the National Labor Relations Board. After a review of plaintiff’s briefs regarding this issue the Court finds that resolution of this dispute may properly and appropriately be made at this time. Accordingly, the Court will now address plaintiffs’ claims for declaratory and injunctive relief.

Plaintiff’s Skinner and Alexander seek declaratory and injunctive relief as follows:

1. That the Court enter a Declaratory Judgment that the defendants’ policies, practices and/or acts of harassing, intimidating and/or coercing plaintiffs Alexander and Skinner for either belonging to New Madrid National Education Association and Missouri National Education Association or simply not belonging to Missouri State Teachers Association was and is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

2. That the Court enter a Declaratory Judgment that the defendants’ policies, practices and/or acts of granting privileges to teacher members of New Madrid Community Teachers Association and Missouri State Teachers Association while at the same time denying these privileges to plaintiffs’ Alexander and Skinner, who were and are members of Missouri National Education Association, was and is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

3. That the Court order defendants to return plaintiff Jo Alexander to teaching the same level of math courses she taught up through the 1981-82 school year either at Portageville High School or the School District’s Central High School complex. That at a minimum, these classes include the same or similar number of geometry and algebra sections that plaintiff Alexander taught during the 1981-82 school year at Portageville High School.

4. That in consideration for any future transfers, reassignments or the filling of vacancies, defendants will be required to credit plaintiff Alexander with teaching the same level and number of algebra and geometry classes in the 1982-83 and 1983-84 school years that she had taught in the 1981-82 school year at Portageville High School.

5. That in returning plaintiff Alexander to the teaching position she would have occupied but for the defendants’ violations [28]*28of her Constitutional rights, the Court will order defendants to return to Alexander the expenses she incurred in travelling on a daily basis between her home in Portage-ville, Missouri and the West Campus of Central High School in Howardville, Missouri during the 1982-83, 1983-84, and 1984-85 school years.

6. That the Court will order defendants to return plaintiff Arvil Skinner to his former high school counseling position at Portageville High School.

7. That, in consideration for any future transfers, reassignments or the filling of vacancies, defendants will be required to credit plaintiff Skinner as though he had served in the high school counseling position at Portageville High School for the 1982-83 and 1983-84 school years. .

8. That, in returning plaintiff Skinner to the counseling position that he would have occupied but for defendants’ violation of his Constitutional rights, the Court will order defendants to compensate plaintiff Skinner with the additional wages that he would have earned had he been employed as a high school counselor during the 1982-83, 1983-84, and 1984-85 school years.

9.

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Bluebook (online)
606 F. Supp. 25, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 177, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-national-education-assn-v-new-madrid-county-r-1-enlarged-school-moed-1984.