In Re Hayes

In In re Hayes, 261 N.C. 616, 622, 135 S.E.2d 645, 649 (1964), the parents of a school child requested that their child be reassigned to another high school for the coming school year. The Fremont City Board of Education denied their request, and the parents appealed to the Wayne County Superior Court. By consent of the parties, a referee was appointed to hear the evidence, make findings of fact, state his conclusions of law arising from the facts, and report to the Court. The referee held an extensive hearing, and found, among other things, that the student seeking reassignment needed certain courses for college admission not available to her at the school to which she was originally assigned, and concluded that her reassignment would "be for her best interest, and that her reassignment will in nowise interfere with the proper administration of said school . . . ." In re Hayes, 261 N.C. 616, 619, 135 S.E.2d 645, 647 (1964). The Board of Education excepted to both the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of law, but the superior court found that "the findings of fact and conclusions of law found by the referee are correct and based upon competent evidence and the law applicable thereto." Id. at 620, 135 S.E.2d at 648. On appeal, our Supreme Court noted that the then-applicable statutory provision (N.C. Gen. Stat. 115-179) provided that upon appeal from a Board of Education to the superior court the matter was to be heard "'de novo in the superior court before a jury in the same manner as civil actions are tried and disposed of therein.'" Hayes, 261 N.C. at 622, 135 S.E.2d at 649. That provision, according to the Supreme Court, "vests the superior court with full power to make the requested reassignment if permitted by law." Id. In Hayes, the Supreme Court did not question the de novo nature of the review by the superior court, including the right to a jury trial, but explained that in that case the parties waived the right to a jury trial by consenting to a reference. Had the parties not consented to a reference, they would have been entitled to a "decision . . . reached through trial of the matter by a jury in the superior court . . . ." In re Varner, 266 N.C. 409, 418, 146 S.E.2d 401, 409 (1966).