McFarland v. Board of Ed. of Norwalk Community School Dist., 61861
| Decision Date | 25 April 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 61861,61861 |
| Citation | 277 N.W.2d 901 |
| Parties | James Joseph McFARLAND, Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the NORWALK COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
James L. Sayre, of Dreher, Wilson, Adams & Jensen, Des Moines, for appellant.
John R. Phillips and David H. Goldman, of Rogers, Phillips & Swanger, Des Moines, for appellee.
Considered by REES, P. J., and HARRIS, McCORMICK, ALLBEE and LARSON, JJ.
This plaintiff, a school teacher, appeals from an order of the district court sustaining a motion to dismiss his application for judicial review in a discharge action under section 279.27, The Code. We reverse and remand to the adjudicator.
The facts of the case are largely undisputed. James Joseph McFarland was a teacher and coach in the Norwalk Community School District. On September 10, 1977, he was coaching a freshman football game, and one of his players was ejected from the game for fighting. McFarland struck the player on his shoulder pad and helmet and, according to the player, threatened to "throw him into the stands" if he fought again.
On September 12, McFarland was notified that the superintendent was going to recommend to the district board that his contract be terminated "pursuant to the provisions of section 279.24, Code of Iowa, 1975." He was also notified that he was suspended without pay pending the board's decision on the recommendation for termination. 1 The sufficiency of these notices is not challenged by McFarland.
The recommendation for proposed termination was heard by the school board upon McFarland's request on September 26. The board met later in executive session to make its decision. It entered detailed fact findings and concluded that "while McFarland may have engaged in conduct ordinarily justifying discharge for 'just cause,' under all these circumstances we have elected not to terminate his contract . . . ." It ordered the matter to be included in McFarland's personnel file. In addition, it found "just cause" existed for his suspension without pay from September 12 to October 1, the date of its decision. It is from this suspension without pay that McFarland sought review by an adjudicator.
The adjudicator, selected pursuant to section 279.17, concluded he did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal and dismissed it. The trial court dismissed McFarland's petition for judicial review on the same grounds. Three issues are raised in his appeal from that ruling: (1) whether an appeal from the board's decision could properly be taken to an adjudicator and then to district court on judicial review under sections 279.17 and 279.18; (2) whether the board had authority to suspend him without pay prior to a dismissal hearing; and (3) whether the trial court erred in assessing certain hearing costs to him.
I. Iowa has two statutory procedures for a school district to sever its employment relationships with its teachers. One is a termination (or non-renewal) under sections 279.13-279.18; the other is a discharge for "just cause" under section 279.27 (previously 279.24). Hartman v. Merged Area VI Community College, 270 N.W.2d 822, 828 (Iowa 1978). The "termination" procedure is effective as of the end of the current school term, section 279.13; the "discharge" procedure is "effective immediately following a decision of the board." Section 279.27. Because of the manner of disposition of this case by the adjudicator and the district court, we do not decide whether the record supports the finding by the board of "just cause" for discharge under section 279.27.
The non-renewal provisions, sections 279.13 to 279.18, provide that when it is proposed to terminate a teacher's contract, certain procedures must be followed within specified time limits or the contract will be automatically renewed for an identical term. If the superintendent determines that a contract shall not be renewed, he must notify the teacher no later than March 15 that this recommendation is to be made at a board meeting to be held no later than March 31. Section 279.15(1). This notice is required to be in writing and shall contain "a short and plain statement of the reasons" for the recommendation. Section 279.15(2).
Within five days of receipt of this notice the teacher may request a "private hearing" with the board. This hearing shall be held no sooner than ten nor later than twenty days after the request.
Section 279.17 provides for an appeal by the teacher in these terms:
If the teacher is no longer a probationary teacher, the teacher may, within ten days, appeal the determination of the board to an adjudicator by filing a notice of appeal with the secretary of the board. The notice of appeal shall contain a concise statement of the action which is the subject of the appeal, the particular board action appealed from, the grounds on which relief is sought and the relief sought.
That section also provides for the method of selecting an adjudicator and for procedures to be followed in reviewing the action. It provides further that:
The adjudicator may affirm board action or remand to the board for further proceedings. The adjudicator shall reverse, modify, or grant any appropriate relief from the board action if substantial rights of the teacher have been prejudiced because the board action is:
1. In violation of a board rule or policy or contract; or
2. Unsupported by a preponderance of the competent evidence in the record made before the board when that record is viewed as a whole; or
3. Unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious or characterized by an abuse of discretion or a clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion.
Both parties have the right under section 279.18 to seek judicial review of the adjudicator's decision.
These procedures are initially provided for a "non-renewal" or termination proceeding not for a summary discharge for "just cause" under section 279.27, such as is involved in this case. However, the discharge statute incorporates the procedures of the termination statute, and also provides for suspension during the pendency of the hearing in the following language:
A teacher may be discharged at any time during the contract year for just cause. The superintendent or the superintendent's designee, shall notify the teacher immediately that the superintendent will recommend in writing to the board at a regular or special meeting of the board held not more than fifteen days after notification has been given to the teacher that the teacher's continuing contract be terminated effective immediately following a decision of the board. The procedure for dismissal shall be as provided in sections 279.15(2) to 279.19. The superintendent may suspend a teacher under this section pending hearing and determination by the board. (Emphasis added.)
The ruling by the adjudicator that he had no jurisdiction was premised on the fact that sections 279.13 to 279.18 apply only to a disposition by the board in favor of a superintendent's recommendation to terminate a teacher's contract. If the board did not follow the recommendation to terminate, he concluded, the teacher had no right to appeal to an adjudicator. The district court concluded it had no jurisdiction to review the adjudicator's decision, because the teacher sought review of a matter "which was not properly, in the first instance, appealable to an adjudicator pursuant to section 279.17." By its disposition of the case, the district court, in effect, affirmed the finding of the adjudicator that he had no jurisdiction of the subject matter.
It is true, as the adjudicator points out, that parts of the termination statute seem to limit the board's options to either accepting or rejecting the superintendent's recommendation of termination. For example, section 279.16 provides that "(t)he evidence at the private hearing shall be limited to the specific reasons stated in the superintendent's notice of recommendation of termination;" and that "it shall convene in open meeting and by roll call vote Determine the continuance or discontinuance of the teacher's contract." (Emphasis added.)
To conclude as the adjudicator did, however, that no appeal could be taken from the board's action to an adjudicator, because the board did not act to terminate the contract, is an unduly restrictive view of the applicability of the termination provisions to discharge proceedings under section 279.27. Faced with a potential disciplinary situation, the school administrator chose to send the matter to the school board via a recommendation to discharge. The administrator, having proceeded on this course of action, invoked statutory procedures which explicitly include the right of appeal to an adjudicator from the board's "determination." There is no question that the board's decision to only suspend McFarland rather than discharge him was a "determination," within the common understanding of that term. See § 4.1(2), The Code. There is no explicit limitation of the right to such an appeal to those situations where termination or discharge, rather than some lesser sanction, E. g., suspension, is imposed. Nor do we believe that a fair reading of the statute implies such a limitation.
We agree that a teacher in McFarland's situation could avail himself of the provisions of appeal to the state board of public instruction under section 290.1, The Code. However, we do not believe that under these circumstances those appeal provisions are exclusive. Limiting the right of appeal in this manner would result in the loss of a substantial procedural right without clear direction or authority to do so.
The adjudicator had jurisdiction to consider McFarland's appeal and the district court had jurisdiction to grant further review because his claim that the adjudicator erroneously dismissed his appeal falls within the statutory basis for review, I. e., that he had been prejudiced by action which is "(i)n violation of constitutional or statutory...
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