State Ex Rel. Franceski v. Plaquemines Parish School Bd.

416 So. 2d 150, 5 Educ. L. Rep. 317, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 7339
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 11, 1982
Docket13075
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 416 So. 2d 150 (State Ex Rel. Franceski v. Plaquemines Parish School Bd.) 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
State Ex Rel. Franceski v. Plaquemines Parish School Bd., 416 So. 2d 150, 5 Educ. L. Rep. 317, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 7339 (La. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

416 So.2d 150 (1982)

STATE ex rel. Mary Dell Tinsley FRANCESKI
v.
PLAQUEMINES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD.

No. 13075.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

May 11, 1982.
Rehearing Denied July 16, 1982.

*152 John F. Ward, Jr., Robert L. Hammonds, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant.

Nathan Greenberg, Greenberg & Dallam, Gretna, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before GULOTTA, SCHOTT and GARRISON, JJ.

SCHOTT, Judge.

Plaquemines Parish School Board has appealed from a judgment of the district court reversing its action in dismissing Mrs. Mary Dell Tinsley Franceski from her position as supervisor of Special Education following a hearing before the Board pursuant to LSA-R.S. 17:443. In lengthy reasons for judgment the trial court held that the Board improperly overruled Mrs. Franceski's exception of vagueness with respect to three of sixteen charges the Board brought her; improperly failed to vote on each of the charges at the end of the hearing; and was arbitrary in dismissing Mrs. Franceski by a) failing to comply with the provisions of the Teacher Accountability Statute, R.S. 17:391.1 et seq.; b) failing to recognize the demands placed on the position of supervisor of Special Education as testified by others in like positions; c) offering Mrs. Franceski other responsible positions in the parish while charging her with wilful neglect of her duty and incompetency in her capacity as Supervisor of Special Education; and d) allowing a great period of time between the alleged infractions committed by Mrs. Franceski and the bringing of charges against her. In this court the Board specifies error in all of these rulings as well as in the trial court's taking additional evidence rather than simply reviewing the record of the proceedings before the Board.

Mrs. Franceski began her teaching career in 1963 and was appointed Supervisor of Special Education in 1975. On May 22, 1980, Superintendant Raymond Shetley attempted to remove her from her position without complying with the provisions of R.S. 17:443 on the theory that the statute did not apply to her position. She obtained an injunction against the Board from removing her on July 2, 1980. The Board did not appeal from that judgment but adopted a resolution on July 9, 1980, calling a tenure hearing on July 30 for the purpose of removing Mrs. Franceski based on sixteen charges against her which allegedly demonstrated her incompetency and/or wilful neglect of duty. Several of these charges were somewhat vague and general but Mrs. Franceski specifically challenged only the following three with an exception of vagueness filed with the Board before the hearing commenced. These are as follows:

"5.) Said Supervisor has failed to sign and submit Student referrals to the Competent Authority Team for significant periods of time resulting in a backlog, delay, and confusion in the evaluation process.
6.) Said Supervisor has failed to attend numerous meetings of importance conducted by the Louisiana Department of Education, has arrived late on numerous occasions at such meetings she did attend, and has at times departed such meetings she attended before adjournment.
7.) Said Supervisor did direct teacher aids to administer standardized tests to kindergarten and first grade students instead of such testing being administered by the regular kindergarten and first grade teachers.

After a prolonged hearing the five members of the Board recorded their conclusions by writing the following on separate sheets of paper:

1.) Abstained

*153 2.) Proposal for Dismissal

YES NO ABSTAIN X

3.) Proposal for Dismissal

YES NO ABSTAIN X
4.) I vote for dismissal of Mrs. Mary Dell Franceski on the grounds of wilful neglect of duty.

5.) Dismissal

1 - 2 - 4 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 15 - 16

Thus, one of the five abstained from voting; only one found specifically that she was guilty of wilful neglect of duty; one voted for dismissal listing some of the charges; and two others simply voted to dismiss her. A majority did not vote on the specific charges and a majority did not find her specifically guilty of wilful neglect of duty.

Mrs. Franceski then petitioned for judicial review of the Board's decision. The trial judge allowed Mrs. Franceski to call the director of Special Education for Jefferson Parish, supervisors of Special Education for St. Tammany and Acadia Parishes, the chief of Special Education for St. Charles Parish and representative of International Management System, Inc. He permitted the Board to call the present director of Special Education for Plaquemines Parish to rebut the evidence introduced by Mrs. Franceski but he refused to permit the School Board to call three members of the Board who participated in the hearing against Mrs. Franceski.

In this court the Board specified the following errors in the decision of the trial court:

SPECIFICATION OF ALLEGED ERRORS RELIED UPON
I. The trial court erred in its conclusion that the action of the School Board in dismissing Mrs. Franceski was null and void and of no force or effect because of the failure of the Board to vote on and record its holding with respect to the specific charges against her of willful neglect and/or incompetency.
II. Plaintiff-appellee waived her right to complain about alleged failure to make itemized findings of fact when she consented to such procedure at the tenure hearing.
III. The trial court erred by allowing the introduction of evidence at the trial which had not been presented to the School Board at the tenure hearing.
IV. The trial court erred by allowing the introduction at trial of evidence which was cumulative to and repetitious of evidence presented to the School Board at the tenure hearing.
V. The trial court erred by refusing to allow the School Board members to testify and clarify the record of the tenure hearing.
VI. The trial court erred when it reversed the decision of the School Board to terminate Mrs. Franceski rather than remanding the case to said School Board for it to make more specific findings of fact.
VII. The trial court erred in its conclusions that defendant-appellant failed to comply with the accountability statute and that such failure made the decision to terminate plaintiff-appellee an arbitrary one.
VIII. The trial court committed error when it concluded that the School Board had erred in rejecting the request by plaintiff-appellee for more detailed information with respect to Charges 5, 6, and 7.

We will first consider the eighth specification and then the others in the order presented.

EXCEPTION OF VAGUENESS WITH RESPECT TO CHARGES 5, 6, and 7

R.S. 17:443 A as presently written provides in part as follows:

"... At least twenty days in advance of the date of the hearing, the superintendent *154 with approval of the school board shall furnish the teacher with a copy of the written charges.

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

Related

Powell v. Rapides Parish Sch. Bd.
238 So. 3d 983 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)
Patricia Powell v. Rapides Parish School Board
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017
Rubin v. Lafayette Parish School Bd.
649 So. 2d 1003 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
Spurger v. Rapides Parish School Bd.
628 So. 2d 1317 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
Jones v. Rapides Parish School Bd.
634 So. 2d 1197 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
Abshire v. Lafayette Parish School Bd.
619 So. 2d 103 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
Gaulden v. Lincoln Parish School Bd.
554 So. 2d 152 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
Summers v. Vermilion Parish School Bd.
493 So. 2d 1258 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
Cunningham v. Franklin Parish School Bd.
457 So. 2d 184 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1984)
State ex rel. Franceski v. Plaquemines Parish School Board
421 So. 2d 907 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
416 So. 2d 150, 5 Educ. L. Rep. 317, 1982 La. App. LEXIS 7339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-franceski-v-plaquemines-parish-school-bd-lactapp-1982.