State ex rel. Johnson v. Board of Ed of Hancock Co.

24 Ohio Law. Abs. 193, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1197
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 27, 1937
DocketNo 375
StatusPublished

This text of 24 Ohio Law. Abs. 193 (State ex rel. Johnson v. Board of Ed of Hancock Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Johnson v. Board of Ed of Hancock Co., 24 Ohio Law. Abs. 193, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1197 (Ohio Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

OPINION

By THE COURT

This is an appeal on questions of law from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Hancock County granting the relators J. Pearl Johnson and others, electors resident of Marion Township School District in said county, a writ of mandamus against the Board of Education of Hancock County commanding said board to transfer the territory in said school district to the Findlay City School District in said county.

The petition for writ of. mandamus was filed in the lower court by the relators on June 19th, and an amended and supplemental petition was filed in said cause on August 17th, 1936. The answer of the respondent was filed August 17th and the reply of the relators thereto was filed September 1st; and following the submission of all the evidence in said cause in the lower court on September 3rd, the respondent on leave granted by the court amended its answer by interlining immediately before the prayer a denial of the statements and averments in the amended petition contained not specifically admitted to be true in the answer, which was journalized in entry under date of September 11, 1936.

"Upon the trial of the cause in the Common Pleas Court the court found upon the issues joined, for the relators and that a peremptory writ of mandamus should issue against the respondent, and, motion for new trial having been duly filed and overruled, judgment was entered upon this finding and it is from this judgment that this appeal is prosecuted.

The material facts in the case as shown by the pleading, record and bill of exceptions are as follows;

On the 23rd day of April, 1936, there was filed with the respondent County Board of Education, a petition containing the signatures of three hundred fifty-four (354) resident electors, being 83% of all the qualified electors of Marion Township School District, Hancock county, requesting the transfer of the territory comprising said township school district to the Findlay City School District in said county. The districts adjoined and were contiguous, and none of the territory sought to be transferred had been transferred during the period of five years prior to the date of the filing of said petition.

For some time prior to the filing of this petition, which will be hereafter referred to as the first petition, the respondent board had commenced its study of, and had been working upon, a tentative plan of organization of the school districts of the county under the new reorganization law .(§§7600-1 to 7600-9 GC, inclusive). A number of meetings had been held wherein the question of the proper redistricting of the school districts of the county had been discussed.

Petitions from electors of school districts other than Marion Township School District and from electors of parts of Marion Township School District contiguous to Allen, Mt. Blanchard and Washington Township School Districts had been filed with the board indicating the school district to which the several signing petitions desired the territory of which they were resident to be assigned.

And the board of education pursuant to the provisions of §7600-3 GC, had called a meeting of all the members of boards of education of rural and village school districts within the county school district, as well as of interested persons, for the purpose of laying said proposed plan before them for advice and suggestion to be held on the 23rd day of April, 1936, which meeting had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of said section, and was held at the time and place and for the purpose designated in said advertisement.

It was at this meeting that Marcus Downing, an attorney of Findlay, representing the Board of Education of Marion Township School District and the signers of the first petition, appeared before the [196]*196County Board of Education in opposition to the proposed plan of reorganization and presented the petition hereinbefore mentioned, to the board, together with map of the territory sought to be transferred and the written consent of the Board of Education of the Findlay City School District to accept the transfer of territory provided for in said petition.

The county board, speaking through its secretary, limited Mr. Downing to ten minutes in which to present his argument against the proposed reorganization plan and in favor of the petition presented by him, and called time on him at the expiration of that period, and then told him that he and his clients were excused and the secretary then opened the door in invitation for them to leave. The meeting lasted all day.

No action was taken by the county board at this meeting nor at subsequent meetings held prior to May 16, 1936, on the petition with reference to the adoption of the proposed plan of reorganization; and following the meeting of April 23rd, the secretary of the board with the knowledge of two members of the board, prepared and furnished to a number of persons resident of Marion Township School District for eirculátiori by them, forms of a petition to withdraw signature from the petition presented to the board by Mr. Downing, and a withdrawal petition composed of these forms was circulated in Marion Township School District and the signatures of certain of the signers of the original petition secured thereto, and on or about May 16th was filed with the county board. This withdrawal petition withdrew certain of the signers off of the first petition of relators filed April 23rd, and at the regular meeting of the county board on May 16th the first petition and the withdrawal petition were canvassed and checked in the presence of the attorney for the relators. The board determined that after deducting the number of qualified withdrawals found on the withdrawal petition, the first petition filed April 23rd was rendered ineffective in so far as the mandatory provisions of the statute requiring the board to make ihe transfer on the petition of seventy-five per cent of the electors resident of the school district is concerned, as the number of petitioners was reduced to less than seventy-five per cent of such electors. The board then proceeded at the same meeting to adopt a plan of reorganization providing for the division. of Marion Township School -District into six separate parts and the combining of one of said parts with the school district then known as Allen Township School District, and further providing that the remaining five parts, respectively, should become parts of the following school districts, to-wit: Washington Township School District; Findlay City School District; Liberty Township School District; Mr. Blanchard School District, and Vanlue School District.

After the adoption of the plan at the meeting of May 16th the acting county school superintendent, with some of the members of the county board, on May 21st took the plan, together with a map, to the State Director of Education and he directed that the plan be changed by eliminating the transfer of territory from Marion Township District to Liberty Township District and including that territory in the territory to be transferred to the Findlay City School District, and this directed change was accordingly made prior to June 4th.

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Related

State ex rel. Dennison v. Board of Education
17 Ohio Law. Abs. 478 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
24 Ohio Law. Abs. 193, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-johnson-v-board-of-ed-of-hancock-co-ohioctapp-1937.