Vigo County School Corp. v. Crockett

307 N.E.2d 510, 159 Ind. App. 420, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 1137
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 26, 1974
DocketNo. 1-973A165
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 307 N.E.2d 510 (Vigo County School Corp. v. Crockett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vigo County School Corp. v. Crockett, 307 N.E.2d 510, 159 Ind. App. 420, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 1137 (Ind. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Roberts on, P.J.

The defendant-appellant Vigo County School Corporation (hereinafter referred to as VCSC) is appealing the granting of a temporary injunction which prohibits VCSC from implementing certain plans to build schools and close other schools, among other things. The plaintiffsappellees (the approximately 1200 plaintiffs will hereinafter be collectively referred to as Crockett) commenced this cause of action under the provisions of the Public Lawsuits Act, IC 34-4-17-1 et seq. Ind. Ann. Stat. § 3-3301 et seq. (Burns 1968). A preliminary injunction was granted on the day the complaint was filed. After resolving questions involving a change of judge (Crockett v. Vigo County School Corporation (1973), Ind., 295 N.E.2d 621), a second trip to the Indiana Supreme Court produced an order which, inter alia, required the court to make findings pursuant to TR. 52(A)1 and to [422]*422expeditiously conduct other required hearings and/or trials. An interlocutory hearing, as contemplated by IC 34-4-17-5, Ind. Ann. Stat. §3-3305 (Burns 1973), was held.2 The findings of the court, entered on the 5th of September, 1973, were:

“FINDINGS OF FACT
1. This is a class action brought pursuant to the public Lawsuits Act (Burns 3-3301 et seq. IC 34-4-17-1 et seq.) based upon a theory of constructive fraud and waste of the resources of the Vigo County School Corporation and misuse of public funds.
2. Prior to the filing of this lawsuit, it was the announced plan of the Board of Trustees of the Vigo County School Corporation to build an elementary school near Prairie-ton to accommodate eight hundred fifty-five (855) students, to build an elementary school near the present Sugar Grove School to accommodate eight hundred fifty-five (855) students, to build additions to Fayette, Fuqua and Meadows Elementary Schools, and to close Fairbanks, Rea, Collett, Consolidated, Cruft, Lange, Greenwood, Maple Avenue, Montrose, Pimento, Rankin, Sandison, Thornton, and the present Sugar Grove Elementary Schools.
3. With the exception of Consolidated and Pimento Elementary Schools, all elementary schools planned to be closed by the Board of Trustees of the Vigo County School Corporation are located within the City of Terre Haute, the new school planned to be built to be built near Prairieton is outside the city limits of Terre Haute as is the addition planned for Fayette Elementary School; the planned new Sugar Grove School and the planned additions to Fuqua Elementary School are on the periphery of the limits of the City of Terre Haute.
4. The said plan announced by the Board of Trustees of the Vigo County School Corporation is arbitrary and ca[423]*423pricious in that it is not supported by facts or a reasonable attempt to ascertain facts. In this regard, the Court further finds;
(a) The Board of Trustees and its Administration has given no consideration to the continued utility of the elementary schools planned to be closed.
(b) Neither the Board of Trustees nor anyone on its behalf consulted with the Fire Department of the City of Terre Haute, the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Area Planning Department, the Health Department, the Police Department, the Sheriff of Vigo County’s Office, the office of the Building Inspector of Terre Haute, the City Engineer, or the office of the Board of Sanitary Commissioners in arriving at its decision to close said elementary schools.
(c) Neither the Board of Trustees nor anyone acting on its behalf investigated studies or results of studies done with respect to correlation of delinquency and the propensity for delinquency and elementary school size.
(d) The Board of Trustees and its Administration have given no consideration to the number of additional buses that would be required to transport the children attending the said schools planned to be closed, virtually all of whom would require busing under the Board of Trustees’ plan.
(e) The Board of Trustees has given no consideration to the additional cost of such additional buses or the cost of their operation and maintenance.
(f) The Board of Trustees has given no consideration as to how school district boundaries would be altered under their said plan and the affect of any such alterations upon the community and the areas to be served.
(g) The Board of Trustees has given no consideration with respect to the adequacy of roads to handle safely the transportation of the additional children that would be required to be bused to outlying areas of the City of Terre Haute under the Board of Trustees’ said plan.
(h) The Board of Trustees and its Administration have given no consideration to the availability and adequacy of water or of police and fire protection for the planned new schools.
(i) The Board of Trustees has given no consideration to the problem of sewage treatment and drainage at the site of the planned school near Prairieton.
[424]*424(j) The Board of Trustees has given no consideration to the relative merits and costs of renovating the schools planned to be closed as compared to the relative merits and costs of the planned new schools and additions.
(k) The specifications for the construction of the planned new schools are so vague as to discourage competitive bidding by contractors.
(l) The Physical Facilities Assessment Survey and Recommendations, said to be the basis for the plan announced by the Board of Trustees of the Vigo County School Corporation is not being followed by the Board of Trustees and does not reasonably resemble the announced plan of the Board of Trustees.

5. The Board of Trustees of the Vigo County School Corporation has disregarded its duty to the citizens and taxpayers of Vigo County and violated public and private confidence and injured the public interests in that:

(a) It hired a Superintendent of Schools, who is its chief executive officer, who did not meet the Board of Trustees’ own minimum requirements;
(b) It failed to advertise or take applications for the job of Superintendent of Schools, but instead chose to hire Mr. C. Kenneth Cottom who had not applied for the job, did not want the job, and who at the time of his hiring did not meet the minimum requirements of either the Board of Trustees or the State of Indiana for the said job.
(c) It abdicated and abused its power and authority and also abused its discretion to make decisions regarding the closing of schools, the building of schools and additions thereto, the size of schools, determination of attendance districts for schools, methods of teaching to be employed in elementary schools, and the location of schools to be built by relying solely upon the recommendations of its Superintendent without consideration or investigation of the bases in fact, if any, for such recommendation.
(d) It has arbitrarily and capriciously disregarded petitions signed by hundreds and some by more than a thousand citizens and taxpayers of Vigo County.

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Related

Huber v. Franklin County Community School Corp. Board of Trustees
507 N.E.2d 233 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1987)
Claudio v. School City of Gary
448 N.E.2d 1212 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
307 N.E.2d 510, 159 Ind. App. 420, 1974 Ind. App. LEXIS 1137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vigo-county-school-corp-v-crockett-indctapp-1974.