Bishop v. Keystone Area Ed. Agency No. 1, 60728
| Decision Date | 21 February 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 60728,60728 |
| Citation | 275 N.W.2d 744 |
| Parties | Lewis D. BISHOP, Appellant, v. KEYSTONE AREA EDUCATION AGENCY NUMBER 1 and the Individual Members of the Board, Raymond Bodensteiner, Kenneth J. Schultz, Bill Withers, Marybeth Jaggard, Reuben A. Hoth, James K. Cramer, Eugene J. Tully, Edward R. Duesing, and John F. Ganshirt, Appellees. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
James L. Sayre of Dreher, Wilson, Adams & Jensen, Des Moines, for appellant.
William C. Fuerste and Allan J. Carew of Fuerste, Carew, Coyle, Juergens & Sudmeier, Dubuque, for appellees.
Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and LeGRAND, UHLENHOPP, HARRIS, and ALLBEE, JJ.
This appeal involves the right of an individual employed by a former joint county school system to preference in employment by an area education agency (AEA) under 65 G.A. ch. 1172, § 11.
In 1974 the legislature enacted a statute which supplanted county and joint county school systems with geographically larger area education agencies. 65 G.A. ch. 1172. See Code 1977, ch. 273. The legislature did not grandfather staff members of the former systems into the AEAs in the conventional way, yet it did not leave staff with no protection at all. It included § 11 as part of the Act (this section, being temporary, was not codified):
Employment of county school system and joint county system personnel. In employing personnel, the area education agency board shall give preference to qualified personnel who seek employment with the area education agency because their employment by county school systems and joint county systems will be terminated on July 1, 1975. Sick leave and vacations accrued by the employee shall be carried over to his employment by the area education agency board. Any employee of an area education agency who was a member of a public retirement system of a school district or county system, other than the Iowa public employee's retirement system established in chapter ninety-seven B (97B) of the Code, shall, if the employee elects in writing to the area education agency board, continue to be a member of that retirement system. Employer contributions required by the retirement system shall be made by the area education agency board.
In § 3 the Act created boards with authority to govern the AEAs. Section 4(12) of the Act provided that each board shall
Employ such personnel as may be required, if any, to carry out the functions of the area education agency . . . .
That section also provided:
The provisions of section two hundred seventy-nine point thirteen (279.13) of the Code shall apply to the area education agency board and to all certificated school employees of the area education agency.
(At the time § 279.13 provided the procedure for nonrenewal of public school teachers' contracts.)
Mr. Lewis D. Bishop was a veteran staff member of the Fayette-Chickasaw Joint County School System, practicing his profession as a hearing clinician. Under the record no one could question Mr. Bishop's extraordinary competency as a hearing clinician. Several witnesses testified to this. One witness, a former colleague, testified, Mr. Bishop holds a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in his field, and proper certificates from the Iowa Department of Public Instruction. He has had a number of years' experience as a hearing clinician, and he is an energetic worker.
Evidence was introduced that Mr. Bishop possesses a distressing personality trait that he is undiplomatic, impolitic, and completely direct. According to this evidence he sees his view on an issue very clearly and he presents it forcefully; he sometimes polarizes colleagues causing dissension, whereas the work of the county systems and now the area systems requires team effort in helping children; he occasionally cuts across or ignores regular administrative channels; and he thus upsets his superiors and causes resentment and personnel problems.
Fayette and Chickasaw Counties merged with other counties in northeast Iowa to form AEA 1, called Keystone Area Education Agency. Upon establishment of the agency its line of administration ran, so far as a hearing clinician is concerned, like this as nearly as we can ascertain from the record: from the board to the Administrator, Richard L. Hansen (below him was Administrative Assistant Steven Bobst), to the Director of Special Education, Eugene Pratt (below him was Assistant Director of Support Services Ray DeNeve), to the Supervisor, Clayton Johnson, and to the hearing clinicians. Mr. Hansen had been county superintendent and Mr. Bobst had been an administrative officer in the Fayette-Chickasaw system.
When the merger was in process, this prospective administrative staff established a procedure for interviewing staff members of merged county systems and others who desired to go with Keystone. Mr. Bishop formally applied for employment by Keystone as a hearing clinician. The application contained the required documentation as well as commendations. Keystone had a hearing clinician position open and indeed has kept it open awaiting the outcome of this litigation.
Evidence was adduced that Messrs. Hansen and Bobst had experienced problems with Mr. Bishop in the Fayette-Chickasaw system. Considerable feeling existed between Mr. Bobst and Mr. Bishop, perhaps originating when Mr. Bobst sought and obtained an administrative post in that system to which Mr. Bishop aspired.
As prospective administrator of Keystone, Mr. Hansen drafted a document, later approved by the board, regarding application of § 11 of the Act on preference for employment. The document read:
Personnel employed by a county or joint county school system within the boundaries of Area Education Agency # 1 during 1974-1975 shall be subject to the provisions of Section 11 of Senate File 1163, as enacted by the 65th General Assembly and interpreted by this policy.
An individual employed heretofore by a county or joint county school system shall be given preference as a candidate for a position authorized by the Board of Directors for 1975-1976 over an equally qualified candidate who had not been employed by a county or joint county school system during 1974-1975. The Administrator shall provide the Board of Directors with information regarding the qualifications of the candidates and shall advise as to the criteria utilized in administrative determinations regarding the qualifications.
The Board of Directors shall decide the qualifications of any candidate for an authorized position and whether the candidate's qualifications establish eligibility for preferential consideration. The Board of Directors shall not be precluded from selecting the candidate for a particular position who is determined to be the most qualified for the position, and preference shall only be applicable to a candidate who is equally or more qualified than another candidate for the position.
Two other employment criteria which were used were the applicant's relationship with his prior employer and his qualities of "cooperation-coordination". The board later approved cooperation-coordination "as one of the criteria for determining an AEA employee's qualifications."
In connection with Mr. Bishop's application for employment by Keystone, Mr. Johnson interviewed Mr. Bishop and he also conferred with Messrs. Hansen and Bobst about Mr. Bishop. Mr. Bobst endorsed upon Mr. Bishop's application, A form was also attached to Mr. Bishop's application in the interview period. On the form was written:
1. Lack of ability to work with fellow staff members.
2. Reported difficulty accepting administrative decisions.
Subsequently Mr. Johnson wrote a letter to his superior, Mr. Pratt, of which the following is pertinent:
Mr. Bobst and Mr. Hansen report that Mr. Bishop defines his role in a rather limited manner. Mainly, they report a history of difficulty in working as a team member with fellow special education professionals. Mr. Hansen has documentation of a history of these difficulties. Because of these serious reports from his present employer, I would have to question Mr. Bishop's effectiveness as a working team member in the Area Educational Agency. Because I have not had opportunity to observe him as a team member I do not feel I am qualified either to recommend or not recommend him for employment with our Agency. I am asking you to evaluate his credentials and discuss these serious complaints with his present employer and make your recommendation to the Area I administrator based on your judgments.
Thereafter Mr. Pratt wrote his superior, Mr. Hansen, in relevant part as follows:
You should be advised that Mr. Johnson has conferred with both Mr. DeNeve and I on the matter of Mr. Bishop's employment. Based upon his review of the interview data, and subsequent professional impressions, I must concur with his statement regarding Mr. Bishop's effectiveness as an AEA team member. I ask that you seriously consider informing Mr. Bishop that he has not received a positive recommendation for AEA employment for the 1975-76 school year; and, further, I recommend that he not be considered for employment in the Special Education Division in AEA 1.
Mr. Bishop was informed that he would not be recommended by the administration.
At the board's May 1975 meeting Mr. Hansen presented a list of applications for staff positions in Keystone. Several of these including Mr. Bishop's were "subject to further information or consideration," and action on these was tabled until the June board meeting.
The board did not reach the agenda item on personnel until its July meeting. Meanwhile Mr. Bishop had contacted the Iowa State Education Association...
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