Hanson v. Vermillion School Dist. # 13-1

• Decision Date: 17 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. 24014.,24014.
• Citation: 727 N.W.2d 459,2007 SD 9
• Parties: Sharon HANSON, Petitioner and Appellee, v. VERMILLION SCHOOL DISTRICT # 13-1 and Board of Education, Respondent and Appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

727 N.W.2d 459

2007 SD 9

Sharon HANSON, Petitioner and Appellee, v. VERMILLION SCHOOL DISTRICT # 13-1 and Board of Education, Respondent and Appellant.

No. 24014.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Considered on Briefs on October 2, 2006.

Decided January 17, 2007.

Anne Crowson Plooster, General Counsel, South Dakota Education Association, Pierre, South Dakota, Attorney for petitioner and appellee.

James E. McCulloch, McCulloch Law Office, Vermillion, South Dakota, Attorney for respondent and appellant.

GILBERTSON, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1.] On March 22, 2004, the Vermillion School District Board of Education (Board) voted to non-renew Sharon Hanson's professional employee contract with the Vermillion School District (District). The Vermillion Education Association (Association) filed a grievance on her behalf with the District that was rejected by the Board. The Association appealed the Board's decision to the South Dakota Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Management (DOL). An administrative law judge (ALJ) heard the appeal and affirmed the District's decision to non-renew Sharon Hanson's contract. The Association then filed an appeal with the South Dakota Sixth Judicial Circuit, which reversed. The District and Board now appeal. We reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

[¶ 2.] Due to a revenue shortfall and the voters' subsequent rejection of an optout proposal, the District eliminated several staff positions for the 2004-2005 term. The District applied its reduction-in-force (RIF) policy to determine which positions to eliminate. The RIF policy was part of the overall Negotiated Agreement for 2003-2004 (Agreement)¹ between the District and the Association, the collective bargaining group on behalf of teachers working for the District.

[¶ 3.] Among the positions the Board voted to eliminate at its March 8, 2004 meeting was high school computer education. This position was held by Cheryl Lessmann (Lessmann). Lessmann had taught for the District for over 30 years. At the time, she taught four sections of high school computer classes. The District determined that Lessmann met the RIF policy requirements necessary to invoke seniority, thus enabling her to "bump" into the position of a teacher with less seniority. See note 1 supra (setting out two requirements in paragraph three that must be met to invoke seniority). In order to allow her an opportunity to exercise the prerogative, the District delayed action to non-renew Lessmann's contract until March 22, 2004.

[¶ 4.] The District reached its determination that Lessmann was eligible to use seniority based on her certification² and the courses she had taught during the preceding seven years. Though Lessmann was certified to teach in subject areas other than computer science, she had not taught under these certifications during the preceding seven years. Therefore, Lessmann could only use her seniority to "bump" into another computer science position.

[¶ 5.] Besides Lessmann, the District employed three other individuals who taught computer courses. Sharon Hanson (Hanson) had taught for the District for 17 years. At the time, she was the elementary and middle school computer teacher.³ Marlys Larson (Larson) had taught for the District for 10 years. At the time, she was a part-time high school business teacher and part-time elementary computer teacher, who also taught a middle school computer class during the second semester of the 2003-2004 term.⁴ Erik Van Laecken (Van Laecken) was in his first year of teaching with the District. He was a part-time elementary computer teacher, part-time middle school science and technology modules instructor, middle school technology coordinator and head cross-country track coach. In addition to these duties Van Laecken also performed middle school Website work.⁵

[¶ 6.] The District determined that Lessmann could not "bump" either Larson or Van Laecken. Lessmann would have been able to "bump" in to teach Larson's middle school and elementary computer courses, but she could not "bump" into Larson's high school, business oriented courses. Although Lessmann had the certification required for teaching marketing & business and accounting by virtue of her business education teaching major, she had not taught in the high school business curriculum during the preceding seven years. Therefore with respect to the business courses in Larson's schedule, Lessmann satisfied the first RIF policy requirement to invoke seniority—certification. However, she could not satisfy the second requirement—recent teaching experience at the corresponding grade level under the applicable certification.

[¶ 7.] Lessmann was not able to satisfy either of the seniority requirements with respect to Van Laecken's position. The technology modules taught by Van Laecken were heavily weighted on math and science.⁶ Lessmann had neither the certification nor the teaching experience, in math or science, for her to exercise seniority under the RIF policy to "bump" into a position teaching those disciplines. Neither did Lessmann have any coaching experience or qualifications. Therefore, she was unable to "bump" into Van Laecken's cross-country coaching duties.

[¶ 8.] Lessmann was able to "bump" into Hanson's position because she was able to satisfy both of the RIF policy seniority requirements with respect to Hanson's schedule. Hanson taught computer science courses exclusively.

Lessmann was certified to teach those courses, thereby satisfying the first requirement. She had also taught courses under the computer science certification, within the grade span taught by Hanson, during the last seven years. This satisfied the second requirement. Lessmann notified the District that she intended to exercise her seniority to "bump" into Hanson's position. On March 23, 2004, the District gave Hanson notice that her contract would be non-renewed for the 2004-2005 term.

[¶ 9.] On April 12, 2004, the Association filed a grievance with the District on Hanson's behalf. The Association requested that Hanson's contract be renewed because she too should have been able to exercise seniority to "bump" into a different position. The Association argued that Hanson's certification⁷ and seniority qualified her to "bump" into either Larson's or Van Laecken's position. This argument was based in part on the claim that Hanson, Lessmann, Larson & Van Laecken all possessed the same experience because they all had been teaching computers within the K-12 grade span during the past seven years and had served on computer or technology committees. The Association also argued that no special qualifications were required to teach Van Laecken's technology modules and that the RIF policy was not being followed in the manner previously applied.

[¶ 10.] On April 14, 2004, the District formally rejected Hanson's grievance. The District pointed out several factors in making its determination. The vast majority of Van Laecken's responsibilities comprised teaching technology modules for which Hanson lacked sufficient qualifications. Hanson was not certified to take over Van Laecken's coaching duties. Though Hanson was certified to take over Larson's middle school computer and high school business courses, she had not taught business courses within the last seven years. Consequently, the District determined that Hanson could not satisfy the seniority requirements of the RIF policy.

[¶ 11.] Hanson appealed the District's decision to the DOL. On September 14, 2004 an ALJ heard the appeal. Hanson took the position that Van Laecken's position should have been "reduced-in-force" or "RIFed." Hanson supplemented her previous arguments in regard to "bumping" into Van Laecken's position by calling his coaching duties a "non-issue" since coaching certifications were no longer administered by the DOE.⁸

[¶ 12.] Hanson argued in the alternative that she should be able to partially "bump" into the positions of both Larson and Van Laecken. Hanson reasoned that if she could not teach Larson's business courses and was unqualified to teach Van Laecken's technology modules, she should be able to "bump" into the rest of their respective schedules. The District's policy was not to allow "partial bumping." The District asserted that Hanson could not "cherry-pick" classes she was qualified to teach because the responsibilities within a position were not severable. The District further noted that the purpose of the RIF was to save money by reducing staff. If "partial bumping" was allowed, optimum savings could not be achieved.

[¶ 13.] The ALJ issued a memorandum decision on April 20, 2005, affirming the District's decision to non-renew Hanson's contract. On May 18, 2005 the ALJ issued an order, together with findings of fact and conclusions of law, incorporating the earlier memorandum decision. The order dismissed Hanson's grievance with prejudice. The ALJ found that Hanson had not taught high school business courses during the previous seven years and therefore could not "bump" into Larson's position. The ALJ also found that the technology modules taught by Van Laecken and his coaching duties precluded Hanson from "bumping" into his position.

[¶ 14.] The ALJ found Van Laecken's 671 K-12 educational technology teaching major, coupled with his 5-8 middle level science qualifications and K-8 elementary education endorsement (qualifying Van Laecken to teach elementary math), certified him to teach technology modules. See note 6 supra. Conversely, the ALJ found that Hanson was not certified to teach technology modules because she only possessed a 6700 computer science certification and did not possess math or science qualifications. The ALJ noted the parties stipulated that coaching requirements still exist, albeit through SDHSAA rather than DECA. Since Hanson possessed no coaching credentials, the ALJ found she could not assume Van Laecken's coaching duties.

[¶ 15.] With regard to Hanson's alternative "partial bumping"...