403 U.S. at 25, 91 S.Ct. of Educ. See also James, 461 F.2d at 568-69. at 573-74. Sterling, Ky., for defendants-appellants, cross-appellees. Finally, we must determine whether plaintiff's conduct constituted "conduct unbecoming a teacher" within the meaning of Ky.Rev.Stat. (dicta indicating that standard of "conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts" was sufficiently clear to put judge on notice that criminal, potentially impeachable offenses would trigger investigation), cert. Defendants, The Board of Education of Lincoln County, Kentucky, individual board members, and the Superintendent of the Lincoln County Schools, appeal from the judgment of the district court awarding reinstatement and damages to plaintiff Jacqueline Fowler on the ground that her employment was terminated in violation of her First Amendment rights. 1977) ("immorality" standard not vague as applied to teacher discharged for making sexual advances toward his students). She lost her case for reinstatement. Defendants, The Board of Education of Lincoln County, Kentucky, individual board members, and the Superintendent of the Lincoln County Schools, appeal from the judgment of the district court awarding reinstatement and damages to plaintiff Jacqueline Fowler on the ground that her employment was terminated in violation of her First Amendment rights. 322 (1926). Healthy. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 285-87, 97 S.Ct. The district court concluded that Fowler's conduct was protected by the First Amendment, and that she was discharged for exercising her constitutionally protected rights. Joint Appendix at 291. 1782, 1797, 52 L.Ed.2d 261 (1977) ("But our cases have never suggested that expression about philosophical, social, artistic, economic, literary, or ethical matters to take a nonexhaustive list of labels is not entitled to full First Amendment protection."). Id., at 863-69, 102 S.Ct. 106 S.Ct. For the reasons that follow, we vacate the judgment of the district court and dismiss plaintiff's action. denied, 411 U.S. 932, 93 S.Ct. 2799, 73 L.Ed.2d 435 (1982). One particularly controversial segment of scenes is animated in which flowers appear on the screen, are transformed into the shape of male and female sex organs and then engage in an act of intercourse. Sec. In Minarcini, this court held that this "right to know" was violated by the removal of library books solely on the basis of the social and political tastes of the school board. The students in Fowler's classes were in grades nine through eleven and were of the ages fourteen through seventeen. 319 U.S. at 632, 63 S.Ct. However, the fact that Fowler's conduct was unrelated to the educational process does remove it from the protection afforded by the concept of academic freedom. At the administrative hearing, several students testified that they saw no nudity. In January, 1993, Mr. Fowler received a letter from District's director that advised him to get a dairy specialist and a chemist to check the water and feed and have tests run. See also Abood v. Detroit Bd. The board viewed the movie once in its entirety and once as it had been edited in the classroom. Ms. Fowler later told school officials she believed the movie has significant value because it deals with personal alienation and the dangers of repressive educational systems. board could dismiss a tenured high school teacher with 14 years of experience for insubordination and conduct unbecoming an educator for showing Pink Floyd: The Wall on the last day of the academic year considered a noninstructional day (Fowler v. Board of Education of Lincoln County, Ky. 1987a, 1987b). Joint Appendix at 265-89. Many courts have recognized that a teacher's First Amendment rights encompass the notion of "academic freedom" to exercise professional judgment in selecting topics and materials for use in the course of the educational process. 1976), for the proposition that students in a public school have a constitutionally protected right "to receive information which they and their teachers desire them to have." The court rejected plaintiff's vagueness challenge on the ground that his behavior "was sufficiently odd and suggestive that the ordinary person would know, in advance, that his image as an elementary school teacher would be gravely jeopardized." of Tipp City, No. at 576. Healthy cases of Board of Educ. 126, 127, 70 L.Ed. As the District Court correctly found, the school board in this case had to negate the testimony of its own members that the determinative causative factor in Mrs. Fowler's discharge was her decision to allow "antieducation, antifamily, antijudiciary, and antipolice" views to be expressed in her classroom. One student testified that she saw "glimpses" of nudity, but "nothing really offending." I at 101. Advanced A.I. Another shows the protagonist cutting his chest with a razor. She believed the movie portrayed the dangers of alienation between people and of repressive educational systems. Joint Appendix at 83, 103, 307. Judge H. Ted Milburn said Ms. Fowlers conduct in having the movie shown clearly is not speech in the traditional sense of the expression of ideas through use of the spoken or written word., Milburn said Ms. Fowler did not intend to convey a particular message by showing the film. a statute that required state employees, including teachers, to take a loyalty oath forswearing communism); Fowler v. Bd. 1178, 1183, 87 L.Ed. Fraser, 106 S.Ct. 1968), modified, 425 F.2d 469 (D.C. Healthy City School Dist. The justices, without comment, let stand a ruling that the teachers free- expression rights were not violated. at 1648 (quoting Meehan v. Macy, 392 F.2d 822, 835 (D.C. Cir. Healthy set the standard that once the plaintiff had shown that his conduct was constitutionally protected and that his conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the Board's decision to discharge or not to rehire, the school board then must show that it would have reached the same decision even in the absence of the protected conduct. For similar reasons, plaintiff's reliance on Pratt v. Independent School District No. v. Fraser further supported the school board's authority to take action against conduct it considered vulgar and offensive and disruptive of the educational process. However, for the reasons stated below I would hold that the school board properly discharged Ms. Fowler. The basis for this action was that she had an "R" rated movie, Pink Floyd The Wall, shown to her high school students on the last day of the 1983-84 school year. Plaintiff Jacqueline Fowler was a tenured teacher employed by the Lincoln County, Kentucky, school system for fourteen years. She believed the movie portrayed the dangers of alienation between people and of repressive educational systems. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209, 231, 97 S.Ct. 529, 34 L.Ed.2d 491 (1972). Plaintiff cross-appeals from the holding that K.R.S. United States Courts of Appeals. It is undisputed that Fowler was discharged for the showing of the movie, Pink Floyd The Wall. (Education Code 60605.86- . School board must not censor books. at 2730. Other segments involving a violent rape, nudity, a suggestion of oral sex, and a naked woman and naked man in bed engaging in foreplay and intercourse were also shown in the morning. 675, 683-84, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 (1967) (discussing importance of academic freedom). Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Pickering v. the Draft" into a courthouse corridor. 161.790(1)(b) is not unconstitutionally vague. Sterling, Ky., F.C. 161.790(1)(b) is not unconstitutionally vague. On cross-examination, Charles Bailey testified that Mrs. Fowler told him to open the file folder while editing after Candler entered the room. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has long recognized that certain forms of expressive conduct are entitled to protection under the First Amendment. Healthy, 429 U.S. at 287, 97 S.Ct. . 1628 (1943) (flag salute), are inapposite because they involve examples of symbolic expression, not verbal communication, and articulate guidelines for determining what symbolic acts may constitute expression. . Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 last June to overturn the trial judge and uphold the firing. At the bench trial in the district court, Fowler repeated her contention that she believed the movie contained important, socially valuable messages. 161.790(1)(b) was not vague or overbroad, apparently for the reason that, because Fowler's conduct was protected by the First Amendment, such conduct, "as a matter of fact and law did not constitute conduct unbecoming a teacher.". In my view this case should be decided under the "mixed motive" analysis of Mt. Fraser, 106 S.Ct. 3159, 3164, 92 L.Ed.2d 549 (1986) (quoting Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68, 76-77, 99 S.Ct. 2849, 2859, 53 L.Ed.2d 965 (1977) ("no doubt that entertainment . In the present case the district court concluded that Mrs. Fowler was entitled to the protection of the First Amendment while acting as a teacher. Counts v. Cedarville School District Books put on reserve in the library must be so because of clear violation of obscenity rules. Mr. Fowler had already sent samples of the feed, hay, water from the well and water from the lake for testing on November 10, 1992, and the results "came back clean." Moreover, there is testimony supporting the fact that more editing was done in the afternoon showing than in the morning showing. In the present case, plaintiff Fowler had a fifteen-year-old student show a controversial, highly suggestive and somewhat sexually explicit movie to a group of high school students aged fourteen to seventeen. Decided: October 31, 1996 District Court Opinion at 23. The school board was also motivated by the poor judgment used by the teacher in not previewing an R-rated film and in the cavalier manner in which she allowed the film to be shown and "edited" by a student. 777, 780-81, 96 L.Ed. Another shows the protagonist cutting his chest with a razor. See 3 Summaries. Cf. Fisher v. Snyder, 476375 (8th Cir. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974), the Court concluded that the term "such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service" was not an unconstitutionally vague standard for employee discharge. of Lincoln Cty .. 1985) (nonexpressive dancing constitutes conduct not entitled to protection of the First Amendment). 2727, 2730, 41 L.Ed.2d 842 (1974). She testified that, despite the fact that she had never seen the movie before having it shown to her students, and despite the fact that she was posting grades on report cards and left the room several times while the movie was being shown, she believed it had significant value. Plaintiff Jacqueline Fowler was a tenured teacher employed by the Lincoln County, Kentucky, school system for fourteen years. The basis for this action was that she had an "R" rated movie, Pink Floyd--The Wall, shown to her high school students on the last day of the 1983-84 school year. Such conduct, under the circumstances involved, clearly is not "speech" in the traditional sense of the expression of ideas through use of the spoken or written word. Joint Appendix at 308-09. They also found the movie objectionable because of its sexual content, vulgar language, and violence. at 3165. Joint Appendix at 198, 200, 204, 207, 212, 223, 249-50, 255. She also alleged that the factual findings made in support of her discharge were not supported by substantial evidence. Joint Appendix at 113-14. October 16, 1986. 693, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979) (holding that a conversation by a teacher and principal in the principal's office, a private expression by a public employee, was protected speech). Joint Appendix at 82-83. She has lived in the Fowler Elementary School District for the past 22 years. Fowler testified that she left the classroom on several occasions while the movie was being shown. Joint Appendix at 137. She was discharged in July, 1984 for insubordination and conduct unbecoming a teacher. Bd. Spence, 418 U.S. at 411, 94 S.Ct. On the afternoon of May 31, 1984, Principal Jack Portwood asked Fowler to give him the video tape, and she did so. Fowler v. Board of Education of Lincoln County, (1978) 819 F.2d 657 Management Resources: . In fact, Mrs. Fowler was not discharged because she entertained her students: she was discharged because the school board did not like the content of the movie. I agree with both of these findings. Therefore, I would affirm the judgment of the District Court. Id., at 1193. This court need not go as far as the Court did in Pico and Bethel because those cases respectively involved school library and a school assembly and did not have the captive audience factor with the teacher acting in loco parentis that is present in this case. Fourteen years dismiss plaintiff 's reliance on Pratt v. Independent School District.. 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