Pitcher v. Iberia Parish School Board

280 So. 2d 603
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 12, 1973
Docket4213
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 280 So. 2d 603 (Pitcher v. Iberia Parish School Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pitcher v. Iberia Parish School Board, 280 So. 2d 603 (La. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

280 So.2d 603 (1973)

Mrs. Helen PITCHER et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
IBERIA PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 4213.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

July 10, 1973.
Rehearing Denied July 30, 1973.
Writ Refused October 12, 1973.

*604 Shaw & Shaw by William M. Shaw, Homer, for plaintiff-appellant.

Sargent, Pitcher, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.

Leon E. Roy, Jr., New Iberia, for defendant-appellee.

Before SAVOY, MILLER, and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

SAVOY, Judge.

Plaintiff, Mrs. Helen Pitcher, was discharged from her position as a classroom teacher in the Iberia Parish Schools, by the School Board of that parish. The dismissal of plaintiff was a consequence of her failure to comply with a newly instituted policy of the School Board that required all classroom teachers to submit to an annual physical examination, by a physician of their choice, and to have the physician forward to the School Board his opinion of the teacher's fitness to teach.

Plaintiff and her husband filed suit on March 4, 1969, against the School Board seeking her reinstatement, damages and attorney's fees, and in addition they brought a class action on behalf of all classroom teachers in Iberia Parish seeking a declaration of the invalidity of the physical examination requirement above referred to, plus damages, attorney's fees and costs. Defendant filed numerous exceptions, all of which were overruled. It then filed an answer. Following a trial on the merits, the District Court rejected plaintiff's contentions on all points and dismissed both their individual and their class action at their costs. They appealed to this court.

The first issue to be determined by us is that of whether plaintiff was a tenured teacher or a probationary teacher, as if she was a tenured teacher her dismissal is conceded by the School Board to have been improper in any case. In this connection the facts show that plaintiff, who had previously taught in East Baton Rouge Parish and had acquired tenure there, began her teaching career with the Iberia Parish Schools in September of 1961. She taught there continuously until 1966, and therefore under LSA-R.S. 17:442, she became a tenured teacher in Iberia Parish. In July of 1966, however, plaintiff withdrew from the Iberia Parish Schools, signing two written statements to the effect that she was withdrawing from teaching in the public schools of Louisiana and had no intention of returning to that profession. The statements referred to were signed in connection with the withdrawal of her accumulated contributions in the Louisiana School Employee's Retirement System, and read as follows:.....

I am not now employed and do not now expect to be employed again in the public schools of Louisiana. I inclose my certificate of membership.

Signed Helen S. Pitcher (Mrs.)

Dear Superintendent:

I am not now employed and do not intend to be employed again in the public schools of Louisiana. Therefore, I desire to withdraw the accumulated contributions to my credit in the Louisiana School Employees Retirement System. In order for me to do this, it is necessary that you complete, sign, and mail to the office of the Retirement System this form. I shall very much appreciate it if you will do this for me promptly.

Signed Helen S. Pitcher (Mrs.)

Nevertheless, plaintiff did return to teaching in the Iberia Parish School System in January of 1967, from which time she taught continuously until January 23, 1969, when the discharge now under consideration took place.

*605 It is plaintiff's contention that under LSA-R.S. 17:442 once tenure is acquired by a school teacher it is retained by such teacher for life, and she cites the case of Hayes v. Orleans Parish School Board, 225 So.2d 131 (La.App. 4th Circuit, 1969) as authority for her view. The Hayes case had nothing to do with a situation such as the one before us where a tenured teacher has resigned her position stating her intention never to return thereto, but rather deals with a situation in which a tenured teacher was promoted to a higher level and salary and was later demoted. Our brothers of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, after stating that the problem before them was a determination of whether there is simply an initial three-year probationary period before acquiring tenure as a permanent teacher or there is a three-year probationary period for each new level or position attained, concluded that once a teacher has acquired tenure he is not required to serve a three-year probationary term in each new level of promotion attained. (We should note here that LSA-R.S. 17:444 and 17:463 were amended in 1968 to, in effect, legislatively overrule the holding of the Hayes case.) We have been cited no cases, and have found none, which encompass the type of situation presently before us, where a teacher had voluntarily left the school system after acquiring status as a permanent or tenured teacher. Nevertheless, at 78 C.J.S. verbo, Schools and School Districts § 180, at page 1029, we find the following:

"Where a teacher who has acquired classification as a permanent teacher resigns and leaves the school system, the classification does not survive, and the teacher is not thereafter entitled to be classified as a permanent teacher by reason of prior service."

That, we think is the proper rule to be followed in cases such as this. The undesirable consequences to which any other holding could lead are evident. In view of the stringent requirements set out in LSA-R.S. 17:443 for the removal of such, it could well be argued that once a teacher has acquired tenure she could voluntarily terminate her employment with the School Board and then, after a period of time of any length, demand to be reinstated in her former position. Is the School Board then to make room for such a returning teacher, or principal, by discharging or demoting others of its employees who may themselves have acquired tenure in the meantime? Or we could ask whether a School Board has no right to test the ability of the teacher rehired after a period of perhaps twenty years, during which time she has done no teaching, simply because prior to her period of absence she enjoyed tenure in the schools of that parish. The havoc that affirmative answers to such questions would work on the school systems of our State and the consequent impairment of their function, are obvious, and we therefore conclude that when plaintiff voluntarily retired from the school system in 1966, and withdrew her share of the accumulated retirement benefits, she lost her tenure.

The second issue to be dealt with is plaintiff's contention that even if she was a probationary teacher she was not discharged in accordance with law. LSA-R.S. 17:442 provides in relevant part that:

"... During the probationary term the parish or city school board, as the case may be, may dismiss or discharge any probationary teacher upon the written recommendation of the parish or city superintendent of schools, as the case may be, accompanied by valid reasons therefor...."

It is true as contended by plaintiff that the letter to her from Claude O. Duhon, Superintendent of the Iberia Parish School Board, dated January 21, 1969, informing her that her employment would be terminated as of January 23, 1969, was not sufficient compliance with the above quoted statute as to make her discharge thereunder valid. The erroneous procedure, however, was of short duration as on January 29, *606

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Wirt v. Parker School District 60-4
2004 SD 127 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2004)
Capital City Press v. Metro. Council
696 So. 2d 562 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1997)
Labrosse v. St. Bernard Parish School Bd.
483 So. 2d 1253 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
Bratt v. International Business MacHines Corp.
467 N.E.2d 126 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1984)
Parish Nat. Bank v. Lane
397 So. 2d 1282 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Jaubert v. Crowley Post-Signal, Inc.
375 So. 2d 1386 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1979)
Cox v. Perkins
585 S.W.2d 590 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1979)
Pitcher v. Iberia Parish School Board
283 So. 2d 496 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
280 So. 2d 603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitcher-v-iberia-parish-school-board-lactapp-1973.