Moseley v. City of Dallas

17 S.W.2d 36
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 29, 1929
DocketNo. 1075—4716
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 17 S.W.2d 36 (Moseley v. City of Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moseley v. City of Dallas, 17 S.W.2d 36 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1929).

Opinion

CRITZ, J.

This case was originally filed in the district court of Dallas county, Tex., by Fred T. Moseley, et al., plaintiffs in error, against the city of Dallas, the board of education of the city of Dallas, R. B. Tompkins, auditor of said city, and Percy Davis, treasurer, defendants in error. The plaintiffs in error sued as taxpayers and prayed for an injunction against the defendants in error restraining them from maintaining and operating an alleged health department then being operated and conducted by said board of education in the public free schools of said city, and the expenses thereof paid out of the school funds of said city.

The pleadings of the plaintiff in error are very voluminous, but they in substance allege that the said health department is being maintained in the public free schools of said city without lawful authority, and by the illegal expenditure of large sums of money thus diverted from the legitimate purpose for which it was collected in taxes for the support of the public free schools of the city of Dallas. The plaintiffs further allege that the maintenance of said health department in the public free schools of said city is in contravention of and contrary to the Constitution and laws of this state, and the charter of said city.

The defendants in error answered by verified pleadings, setting up substantially the following:

A plea to the jurisdiction of the court because it affirmatively appeared from the petition that as a matter of law the plaintiffs had failed or refused to pursue or exhaust the remedies required by law governing appeals to the state superintendent a.nd .the state board of education before the filing of the plaintiffs’ suit. Subject to such plea the defendants filed a general demurrer and several special exceptions, all of which, including the said plea to the jurisdiction, were overruled.

The defendants in error further specially pleaded as follows:

That the city of Dallas is a municipality consisting of about 275,000 inhabitants. That the city constitutes an independent school district and is under the control of the board of education of the state and the superintendent of public instruction of the state and the local board of education. That the board of education, has under its control 51 public schools. That the schools furnish educational facilities for many thousand students coming from all classes and walks of life. That more than 40,000 students attend the public schools of the city per day. That in addition to the ordinary subjects such as reading, writing, and history, etc., the board of educa-. tion has deemed it expedient to include in the curriculum of the public school system of the city instructions in physical culture and health. That in pursuance of this purpose the board of education established and is maintaining a health department’ in the schools of the city. That the board of education has employed competent and efficient doctors and nurses and has prescribed a set of rules and regulations for the conduct of the said health department, a copy of which rules and regulations are attached to the said answer. That by virtue of the said rules periodical examinations of children are made in the schools, and an accurate and correct record of such examinations is kept and furnished to the parents of the children examined. That such doctors and nurses, by lectures and other proper' means, instruct the students in matters of health. That no examination is made of any child whose parents object thereto, nor are any of the records of examinations made public. That the doctors and nurses engaged only in health instruction, and at no time do they undertake to treat students save and except in cases of emergencies occurring at the school at which the said doctors .or nurses may happen to be. In the examinations given, boys and girls are examined separately and apart, the boys being examined by a man doctor and the girls by a woman doctor. At all times the parents of the children examined are invited to be present.

That in conducting the health educational work the board of education and the health department do not infringe upon the health authorities of the state nor conflict with thé work of the health authorities, but the health inspection work of the schools is conducted in harmony with the health authorities.

That the exercise of the discretion reposed in the board is lawful and is a sound exercise of the discretion required to maintain an efficient system of public schools of the city. That the object of modern public educational work is to develop the pupils of the public schools mentally and physically, and that the said work can be carried on only by ascertaining the physical condition of the students. That the experience of school authorities of the city has demonstrated that children who are not sound in health are not in such condition as to be susceptible to proper education. That many children who have been thought to be stupid have been merely suffering from some physical disability. That the health educational work has prevented such physical disabilities. That the physical condition of students bears a distinct and marked relation to the classification of the students for general educational work. That those pupils who are physically defective are unable to learn readily, and as a result are a drag upon their classes and require an undue amount of attention upon the part of the .teachers and are required to go over or repeat their classes or courses of study, thereby increasing the cost and expense of operating the schools of the city. That by the adoption of the physi-[38]*38eal examinations a great saving is made in the operation and conduct of the schools.

That the health instruction work provided •by the board of education of the city of Dallas is similarly conducted in the public school systems of the state 'of Texas as well as in-the United States. This work is being conducted and maintained in the public schools of Port Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, and more than 300 other cities and towns throughout the United States. That various commissioners’ courts throughout the state employ trained nurses to visit rural schools in Texas for the purpose of engaging in the same kind of health educational work and physical examinations. That the experience of the city of Dallas shows that out of 12,356 students examined by the health department up to March 20, 1926, 11,908, constituting 96.4 per cent., have been found with physical defects and in need of health instruction.

After hearing the evidence and pleadings of both parties, including the plea to the jurisdiction of the court, the trial court granted a temporary restraining order restraining the members of the board of education from maintaining a staff of physicians, dentists, and trained nurses out of the public free school fund of the city of Dallas for the purpose of conducting said health work in said schools, and also restraining the paying out of any money in connection therewith. The injunction was further granted upon the condition that the defendants in error execute a bond in the sum of $2,500 payable to the plaintiffs in error, conditioned that defendants in error will pay all costs of this appeal and any other damage that may result to the plaintiffs in error in case the temporary restraining order is dissolved. The order further provided that the temporary restraining order be suspended and held inoperative during the pendency of the appeal, and that the health work in said schools may continue in the same manner to abide the result of the appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
17 S.W.2d 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moseley-v-city-of-dallas-texcommnapp-1929.