Finot

This is an appeal from a judgment denying a writ of mandate to appellant under which respondents would have been compelled to rescind their assignment of him to home teaching and to restore him to his former classroom teaching assignment. The basis of the appeal is that such reassignment violated various of appellant’s constitutional rights.

Shortly after the commencement of the school year of 1963-1964, appellant, a male teacher, holding permanent tenure, who had been teaching government to high school seniors in the Pasadena city school system for seven years and who was a challenging and effective classroom teacher was transferred by respondent board to home teaching because he insisted on wearing, while teaching, a freshly grown beard.

Appellant’s conduct in this respect was in violation of the administrative policy of the principal of the John Muir High School where appellant, while clean-shaven, had been teaching for the last three years. This administrative policy had been initiated by the principal upon his becoming principal on July 1, 1960. Authority to originate this policy had been delegated to the principal by respondents’ superintendent. The policy itself…