Staffel v. San Antonio School Board of Education

201 S.W. 413, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 143
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 6, 1918
DocketNo. 6008.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 201 S.W. 413 (Staffel v. San Antonio School Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Staffel v. San Antonio School Board of Education, 201 S.W. 413, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 143 (Tex. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

SWEARINGEN, J.

This is a suit by five residents of San Antonio, Bexar county, Tex., viz. Ferd Staffel, W. M. Pardue, A. D. Zueht, A. A. Burger, and Ira Calder, to have the court cancel and amend a resolution adopted by the San Antonio board of education in control of the San Antonio independent school district, and to enjoin the enforcement of said resolution.

The plaintiffs, who are appellants, alleged that they were the parents of children of scholastic age in attendance upon the public schools of San Antonio, and alleged that they brought this suit in their own behalf and as citizens of the city of San Antonio, Bexar county, Tex., and as constituent persons residing within the said San Antonio independent school district, and also in behalf of all other persons and all other children who are similarly situated to themselves and are in like manner subject to the said resolutions of the said San Antonio board of education.

The defendants, appellees, are the San Antonio independent school district, a corporation, the trustees of said corporation, Nat Washer, Winchester Kelso, Charles Ger-lach, Dr. E. O. Evans, Mrs. E. W. MeCamish, Miss Elvira Pizzini, Mrs. Dan Leary; and C. S. Meek, the superintendent, and Paul H. Scholz, the secretary. The city of San Antonio intervened in its own behalf.

A temporary restraining order was granted, but on a hearing upon the amended petition and the amended answer of the defendants and the intervention of the city the restraining order was dissolved and the temporary injunction denied.

This appeal is from the decree of the trial court denying the temporary injunction.

The portion of the resolution of the board of education the enforcement of which was sought to be enjoined was that which instructed the superintendents and teachers of the schools of the San Antonio independent school district to refuse admission to the schools of said district, and to prevent fur *414 ther attendancé thereat, of children not complying with the vaccination ordinance of the city of San Antonio. The particular part of the city vaccination ordinance referred to is:

“Sec. 25. No child or other person shall be permitted to attend any of the public schools, or any place of education within this city, unless such child or other person sha[l first present a certificate from some duly qualified physician to the city physician that such child or other person has been successfully vaccinated within six years preceding the time at which such child or other person desires to attend school.”

The allegations showing a violation of public rights by the San Antonio board of education are that the board has passed the aforementioned resolution and will enforce it unless enjoined. The allegations are, substantially: That the said resolution is void; or, if not void, that the resolution is an unreasonable exercise of the vested power. The reasons alleged which show the said resolution is void are: (1) The charter conferred no authority on the San Antonio board of education to pass or enforce such a resolution. (2) If the charter did pretend to delegate such power, the charter provision itself was void, because forbidden: (a) By Const, art. 1, § 19; (b) by Const, art. 7, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; (c) by 'articles 2899, 2900, and 2901 of the statutes; and (d) by the Compulsory Education Law (chapter 49 of Laws' 34th Leg. [Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1918, arts. 2779a-2779h]).

The alleged reasons why the resolution was an. unreasonable exercise of a given power were: That there was no epidemic of smallpox raging in San Antonio at the time, nor was there any imminent danger of any such epidemic; that vaccination is not a preventive of smallpox; that the process called vaccination was loathsome, terrible, and dangerous, because likely to permanently impair the health or cause loss of the member of the body vaccinated or even result in the death of the vaccinated person.

The individual danger threatened to appellants alleged is that appellants fear that the resolution of the San Antonio board of education will be enforced and their children excluded from the public free schools in the San Antonio independent school district, inasmuch as all of their children will persist in their refusal to be vaccinated.

In connection with the allegations that there was imminent danger of the children being excluded from the schools because they refused to be vaccinated, the petition alleges the following reasons for the refusal to be vaccinated: That plaintiffs and their children are conscientiously opposed to vaccination; that their faith, religion, and consciences forbid them to submit to vaccination.

By their Sjnswer appellees admit the resolution was passed, and that they will enforce it unless prevented by injunction. The answer claims the authority to pass the resolution is conferred by the charter creating i the school corporation and deny that the authority therein granted is forbidden by the Constitution either in article 1, § 19, or by article 7, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; deny that the authority is forbidden by the statutes (articles 2899, 2900 and 2901); and deny that it is rorbidden by the Compulsory Education Law. Appellees further deny that the resolution is an unreasonable exercise of their power, and to that end aver:

“That there is smallpox in the city of San Antonio at the present time, and within the limits of the said school district, and there is danger of the smallpox spreading and being communicated from one person to another in the city of San Antonio and in said independent school district at this time, and it is necessary for the preservation of the public health, and the preservation of the welfare of the city of San Antonio and its citizens, and the children thereof, that proper precaution should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease of smallpox, and the way to accomplish this end is to vaccinate the children attending the public schools of the city of San Antonio.”

It is alleged that vaccination prevents the contagion of smallpox and is the only preventive.

It is not necessary to our opinion to mention the allegations' of the intervener, the city of San Antonio.

We will consider the contentions of appellants in the order in which we have stated the facts pleaded: Was the resolution void? Did the board of education have the power to pass the assailed resolution?

[1] San Antonio independent school district was created a corporation by the act of the Thirty-Fifth Legislature of the, state of Texas (Sp. Acts 35th Leg. c. 49), and in the charter thus granted the boundaries of the district were made coextensive with the limits of the city of San Antonio; and it was therein provided in section 3 that the management and control of the said school district should be vested in nine trustees, who shall be called San Antonio board of education. Again in section 6 this language is used:

“The board shall establish, manage, and control all public free schools within said district.”

By these charter provisions the Legislature, in so far as it could, delegated to the San Antonio board of education the authority to control and manage the public schools in San Antonio.

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Bluebook (online)
201 S.W. 413, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/staffel-v-san-antonio-school-board-of-education-texapp-1918.