| Venue: | WI SC |
| Facts: | Merritt Beattie has difficulty with speech, drooling problems, and some paralysis. The school doesn't like having him there and tries to get him re-allocated to a unit for the deaf, in spite of the fact that he seems to make more or less normal academic progress. |
| Posture: | After school board hearings go nowhere, Beattie petitions the court for admittance to the school. Judgment in his favor at jury trial. Appeal. |
| Issue: | Does Beattie have the right to attend the regular school?
Who should decide? |
| Holding: | No. Reversed. |
| Rule: | The right of a child to attend a given public school is subordinate
to the rights of the other attendees: if the presence of the
child is "harmful to the best interests of the school," that's
the governing concern.
Also, this is a matter for the board, not the trial court, and their failure to carry the motion should have been dispositive. |
| Reasoning: | The statutes empower the school board to supervise and manage the
schools. This includes transferring pupils from one department
to another.
And the facts alleged support a conclusion that his presence might have had ill effects. |
| Dicta: | Dissent: First off, whether Beattie's rights were violated is a question for the jury. Second, the school board doesn't have exclusive power where constitutional rights are at stake. |