Morgan v. Pizzino, 14493
| Decision Date | 17 July 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 14493,14493 |
| Citation | 256 S.E.2d 592,163 W.Va. 454 |
| Parties | Jesse W. MORGAN, Gerald Short, Ronald Lee Cook and Loetta C. Morgan v. James PIZZINO, Superintendent of the Wyoming County Board of Education, Morris L. Meadows, et al., etc. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. School personnel regulations and laws are to be strictly construed in favor of the employee.
2. W. Va. Code, 18A-2-7 provides for notice and hearing before an employee's placement on a transfer or reassignment list is approved by a board of education. It must be complied with strictly.
Warren R. McGraw, Pineville, for petitioners.
D. Grove Moler, Mullens, for respondents.
Jesse W. Morgan, Ronald Lee Cook, Gerald Short and Loetta C. Morgan seek mandamus to compel the Wyoming County Board of Education and Wyoming County School Superintendent James Pizzino to either place their names on the regularly employed personnel list for the 1979-80 school year or remove their names from the transfer and reassignment list.
James W. Morgan is Coordinator of Federal Programs; Ronald Lee Cook is Social Studies Supervisor; Gerald Short is Mathematics Supervisor; and, Loetta C. Morgan is Early Childhood and Elementary Supervisor. All four were notified on March 13, 1979 that they had been placed on the transfer and reassignment list for the 1979-80 school year. The notice provided:
Consistent with West Virginia Code 18A-2-7 authorizing statutory procedures for assignment and transfer, you are hereby noticed that your name Has been submitted to the Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 12, 1979 for transfer and subsequent reassignment. The basis for your transfer is that:
Where Title I Project for fiscal 1980 and funds to operate the program have not been approved and based upon the need to reorganize the Administrative Staff for the purpose of providing a more effective supervisory program with greater emphasis in the area of elementary education grades K-8, you are hereby recommended for transfer and made available for subsequent reassignment.
Should you desire a formal hearing as to the above transfer and basis thereof, you must make a request in writing within ten days of the receipt of the notice herein. (Emphasis ours)
However, the Board had already approved the transfers and reassignments.
A letter dated March 26, 1979 advised:
Consistent with West Virginia Code 18A-2-7 authorizing statutory procedures for assignment and transfer at a regular meeting of the Board of Education held on March 12, 1979 The Superintendent recommended you for transfer and subsequent reassignment. By a vote of 3 to 0 the Board approved the Superintendent's recommendation. . . .
The next scheduled meeting of the Wyoming County Board of Education will be Monday, April 9, at 7:00 p. m. at which time you may appear before the Board for a hearing on the proposed transfer. (Emphasis ours)
A hearing was held on April 9, 1979, at which the four employees contended they had not been properly notified but consented to the hearing without waiving their notice claim. The Superintendent explained that all Title I employees, including these four, were placed on the "transfer and reassignment" list because of federal funding problems and a desire to shift emphasis from secondary to elementary education.
On May 2, 1979, the Board again approved the Superintendent's "transfer and reassignment" list and tried to vacate its earlier approval by stating that it did not intend it.
W. Va. Code, 18A-2-7 applies:
The superintendent, subject only to approval of the board, shall have authority to assign, transfer, promote, demote or suspend school personnel and to recommend their dismissal pursuant to provisions of this chapter. However, an employee shall be notified in writing by the superintendent on or before the first Monday in April if he is being considered for transfer or to be transferred. Any teacher or employee who desires to protest such proposed transfer may request in writing a statement of the reasons for...
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State ex rel. Bd. of Educ. of Kanawha County v. Casey
...has held that the notice and hearing provisions of W.Va.Code 18A-2-7 [1977] "must be complied with strictly." Syl.Pt. 2, Morgan v. Pizzino, 163 W.Va. 454, 256 S.E.2d 592 (1979). In Lavender v. McDowell County Bd. of Education, 174 W.Va. 513-, 327 S.E.2d 691 (1984), we The statute [ W.Va.Cod......
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Clarke v. West Virginia Bd. of Regents, 14773
...transfers that "(s)chool personnel regulations and laws are to be strictly construed in favor of the employee." Syl. pt. 1, Morgan v. Pizzino, W.Va., 256 S.E.2d 592 (1979). We have also held that "(a)n administrative body must abide by the remedies and procedures it properly establishes to ......
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Board of Educ., Lincoln County v. MacQueen
...of adverse school board decisions, all as a result of the lack of any comprehensive statutory guidelines. In Morgan v. Pizzino, 163 W.Va. 454, 458, 256 S.E.2d 592, 595 (1979), we sought to discourage the use of an original mandamus in this Court by stating: "However, in the future we will n......
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Carvey v. West Virginia State Bd. of Educ.
..."`[s]chool personnel regulations and laws are to be strictly construed in favor of the employee.' Syl. pt. 1, Morgan v. Pizzino, 163 W.Va. 454, 256 S.E.2d 592 (1979)." Syl. pt. 4, Miller v. Board of Educ. of Boone County, 190 W.Va. 153, 437 S.E.2d 591 (1993). In keeping with this liberal co......