Fernald v. City of Ellsworth Superintending School Committee

• Citation: 342 A.2d 704,78 A.L.R.3d 108
• Parties: Jeanne FERNALD v. CITY OF ELLSWORTH SUPERINTENDING SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
• Decision Date: 30 July 1975
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (US)

Page 704

342 A.2d 704

78 A.L.R.3d 108

Jeanne FERNALD v. CITY OF ELLSWORTH SUPERINTENDING SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

July 30, 1975.

Silsby, Silsby & Walker, by Herbert T. Silsby, II, Ellsworth, for plaintiff.

Drummond, Wescott & Woodsum, by Hugh G. E. MacMahon, Harry R. Pringle, Portland, for defendant.

Before DUFRESNE, C. J., and WEATHERBEE, POMEROY, WERNICK, ARCHIBALD and DELAHANTY, JJ.

DELAHANTY, Justice.

Defendant School Committee dismissed plaintiff Jeanne Fernald from her tenured position as a music teacher in the Ellsworth Public Schools. Plaintiff, alleging that her dismissal was unfounded and contrary to law, brought an action before the Superior Court (Hancock County) under M.R.Civ.P. 80B. The Superior Court dismissed her action, and she appealed. We deny the appeal.

The following sequence of events led to plaintiff's dismissal. On March 2, 1973, plaintiff wrote a letter to the Superintendent of Schools for her school district:

Dear Supt. Higgins:

This letter is to inform you that I plan to take a one-week leave from school dating from March 26 to March 31. During this time my husband and I will be taking a trip to Jamaica sponsored by the Grand Lodge of the State of Maine. Mrs. B_ _ M_ _ will substitute for me and I am sure my classes will be very capably covered.

On March 8, 1973, the Superintendent answered plaintiff by letter, stating

'(y)our plans to be away from school during the week of March 26 and have your classes covered by a substitute are not approved.'

There occurred no further communication between plaintiff and defendant. As March 26, 1973, drew near, it became clear to defendant through various informal channels that plaintiff intended to disregard the disapproval conveyed by the Superintendent's letter of March 8. On Monday morning, March 26, plaintiff was absent from school. She did not appear during the course of that day and did not convey to defendant any message concerning her absence. Plaintiff was absent under similar circumstances on the following day, Tuesday, March 27.

Acting on its belief that plaintiff had embarked for Jamaica and would not return for the duration of the school week, as was in fact the case, defendant undertook disciplinary sanctions against plaintiff, commencing with a notice of suspension issued on March 27, 1973. The notice informed plaintiff that on a certain date a hearing would be held to determine whether plaintiff should be dismissed from her teaching position. Plaintiff was informed of her right to be represented by counsel. A copy of the charge against plaintiff, prepared and signed by the Superintendent, was enclosed with the notice of suspension.

The hearing was held on April 11, 1973. Plaintiff and her counsel were present. The hearing was conducted with careful regard for plaintiff's procedural rights, and plaintiff lacked no opportunity to develop an extended record. All statutory requirements pertaining to the hearing were satisfied.

Pursuant to the hearing, defendant School Committee determined that the charges preferred by the Superintendent were true and that plaintiff's acts in absenting herself from school after she was notified in writing that her plans were disapproved constituted unauthorized absence and insubordination. Defendant concluded that plaintiff was unfit to teach and her services unprofitable to the Ellsworth Schools. On April 24, 1973, defendant issued a certificate of dismissal, discharging plaintiff from her position as a tenured teacher; the discharge was based on each and both of the statutory grounds provided for teacher dismissal under 20 M.R.S.A. § 473(4).

On May 17, 1973, plaintiff duly initiated proceedings under Rule 80B in the Superior Court to test the validity of defendant's act. The Superior Court dismissed her action. Plaintiff's appeal to this Court presents three major questions:

(1) whether the existence of a collective bargaining agreement between the defendant School Committee and the Teachers Association of the District impairs the right of the School Committee on the facts of this case to dismiss plaintiff by statutory proceedings under § 473(4);

(2) what are the standards by which courts of law may review actions of administrative bodies such as school committees under M.R.Civ.P. 80B; and

(3) whether defendant's present dismissal of plaintiff under § 473(4) may be sustained upon its merits as a matter of law.

I. Role of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

At the time of the above described incident there existed between the defendant School Committee and the Teachers Association of the School District a collective bargaining agreement the terms of which purported to govern the rights of teachers. But at the hearing before the School Committee, the trial in Superior Court, and on the present appeal, plaintiff has neither sought arbitration nor requested that the statutory proceedings be stayed pending arbitration. The plaintiff's conduct belies her contention that the collective bargaining agreement provides the exclusive procedural route for teacher dismissal. Rather, plaintiff has attempted to invoke an asserted right to arbitration in the abstract so as to generally void the School Committee's action taken under § 473(4). But it appears that no court has stayed its judicial proceedings or ordered arbitration without a request from the party seeking relief that the matter be arbitrated. See Annot., 26 A.L.R.3d 604 (1969); Annot., 25 A.L.R.3d 1171 (1969). Here, plaintiff has spurned recourse to her claimed right to arbitration. Therefore, in this instance, we have no need to consider the role of an unexercised right of arbitration, if indeed such right existed.

II. Scope and Standards of Judicial Review.

In Wright v. Superintending School Committee, Me., 331 A.2d 640 (1975), this Court considered a teacher's appeal from a dismissal by the local school committee under § 473(4) in the context of an appeal from an administrative body under M.R.Civ.P. 80B. The Wright case suggests a two-fold test for judicial review of a § 473(4) dismissal. 331 A.2d at 646. First, facts found by the school committee will be upheld by the courts if supported by substantial evidence. There should be a causal or reasonable relation of the facts found to the statutory grounds for dismissal. The relationship of the facts to the statute is a matter of evidentiary proof, see 331 A.2d at 647 (concurring opinion), also to be measured, on a Rule 80B appeal, by the substantial evidence test. Secondly, under Wright, courts may review the school committee action for error of law. Id. at 646. Such review would include construction of the relevant statutory grounds as a matter of law and would also include, as bases for error of law, such grounds as arbitrariness or abuse of discretion by the school committee. See Frank v. Assessors of Skowhegan, Me., 329 A.2d 167, 170 (1974).

In the present case, defendant School Committee found that plaintiff absented herself from school without authority on March 26 and 27, 1973; that she was absent from her teaching stations at that time because she took an unauthorized trip to Jamaica; and that she took said trip despite the fact that her plans to be away from school at the time had been expressly disapproved in writing by the Superintendent of Schools, by his letter to her dated March 8, 1973. An examination of the testimony before the school committee and of the record in this case persuades us that there was substantial evidence to support the school committee in these findings of fact and that they are therefore final.

Whether the facts found by the school committee establish, as a matter of evidentiary proof, that the conduct of the plaintiff was causally or reasonably related to the policy or language of the statute under which plaintiff was dismissed, is here a question of law to be reviewed under our application of the statute to the facts presented. We note, however, that the certificate of dismissal does not purport to find as fact or to establish by factual argument that the plaintiff's conduct impaired her usefulness as a teacher, or that the good of the school actually required her dismissal. In the present case these omissions are not fatal, because the plaintiff's willfulness and defiance axiomatically establish these points. But it is highly desirable, under the statutory grounds for dismissal, that school committees prove insofar as possible by factual demonstration the deleterious consequences of the alleged teacher misconduct. A failure to prove a relation to the statutory grounds risks misapplying the law to the facts of the case. See Wright, supra, 331 A.2d at 646-47; cf. id. at 647-48 (concurring opinion).

III. Review of the Present Dismissal as a Matter of Law under § 473(4).

20 M.R.S.A. § 743(4) reads, in pertinent part:

After investigation, due notice of hearing, and hearing thereon, they shall dismiss any teacher, although having the requisite certificate, who proves unfit to teach or whose services they deem unprofitable to the school; and give to said teacher a certificate of dismissal and of the reasons therefor, a copy of which they shall retain. Such dismissal shall not deprive the teacher of compensation for previous services.

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