Board of Education v. Ballou

[54]

WOOD, J.

—Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered upon the sustaining of defendant’s demurrer without leave to amend. The complaint was filed under the provisions of section 5.650 et seq. of the School Code wherein are provided proceedings for dismissal of permanent teachers. In its complaint the plaintiff board set forth that it is the governing board of the Los Angeles city high school district; that defendant is a permanent teacher of the district; that notice of incompetency had been served upon defendant and that written verified charges had been filed with the plaintiff board; that defendant had demanded a hearing upon the charges in accordance with the provisions of the School Code.

Defendant contends that the charges set forth in the complaint constitute mere conclusions and that they fail to give notice to defendant of the charges against him “with sufficient definiteness” to enable him to prepare a defense. It is charged in the complaint that defendant “demonstrated in the classroom a lack of knowledge of the subject matter of architectural drawing, which said subject he was assigned to 'teach, which lack of subject matter resulted in said defendant being rated as unsatisfactory as a teacher; . . . demonstrated a poor organization of the classroom materials, which lack of organization of the classroom materials resulted in the pupils getting far behind in the work assigned to the class and resulted in the home room work remaining uncompleted for several weeks; . . . lost control of the class, and the students caused confusion by their noise and failure to settle down to work, all of which was known to the defendant and not corrected by him; that defendant lacked ability to properly discipline the pupils under his control, and on frequent occasions indiscriminately penalized pupils without just cause, all of which resulted in dissatisfaction among the pupils and demonstrated his lack of ability to maintain proper classroom discipline . . . ; lost his temper in the presence of the class; . . . insulted pupils and harshly criticised them in the presence of their fellow pupils; . . . failed and refused ... to accept the suggestions and directions of the principals, assistant superintendents and supervisors of the work, who were his immediate superiors, in the manner in which he should present his subject to the pupils and in the method of proper handling of the classroom; . . . demonstrated such láck of self-control in the presence of the