State ex rel. Bd. of Educ. of Kanawha County v. Truby, 15592

• Citation: 301 S.E.2d 862,171 W.Va. 772
• Decision Date: 31 March 1983
• Docket Number: No. 15592,15592
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: , 10 Ed. Law Rep. 864 STATE ex rel. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF KANAWHA COUNTY v. Roy TRUBY, State Superintendent of Schools and Blakely Boggs.

Page 862

301 S.E.2d 862

171 W.Va. 772, 10 Ed. Law Rep. 864

STATE ex rel. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF KANAWHA COUNTY v. Roy TRUBY, State Superintendent of Schools and Blakely Boggs.

No. 15592.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

March 31, 1983.

Syllabus by the Court

"The State Superintendent of Schools may review a decision by a county board of education on appeal by an employee. Certiorari will lie to a circuit court from the State Superintendent's decision." Syllabus Point 1, Jones v. Board of Education, County of Lincoln, 170 W.Va. 310, 294 S.E.2d 113 (1982).

John O. Kizer and Hunter C. Quick, Love, Wise, Robinson & Woodrow, Charleston, for appellee.

Marianne Hoover, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jacqueline A. Kinnaman, W.V.E.A., Charleston, for appellants.

PER CURIAM:

Blakely Boggs appeals from an order of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County granting the writ of prohibition sought by the Kanawha County Board of Education prohibiting State Superintendent of Schools Roy Truby from hearing Boggs' appeal of a grievance against the board. The circuit court ruled that the superintendent was without authority to hear the appeal. Boggs contends that Jones v. Board of Education, County of Lincoln, 170 W.Va. 310, 294 S.E.2d 113 (1982) clearly establishes his right to appeal to the superintendent. We agree, and the order of the circuit court granting the writ of prohibition is reversed.

At all times relevant to this case, Boggs was employed by the Kanawha County Board of Education as the principal of Alum Creek Elementary school. In August of 1977 he completed college coursework sufficient to qualify him for certification at the master's degree plus thirty hours level established by W.Va.Code, 18A-4-1 [1977]. W.Va.Code, 18A-4-2 [1977] established a new state minimum salary schedule and provided that "[o]n and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven, each teacher shall receive the amount prescribed." ^*

Boggs contends that the Kanawha County board interpreted 18A-4-2 to apply only to those administrators whose applications for advanced certification were on file with the board as of July 1, 1977, whereas non-administrative teaching personnel were accorded the certification raises regardless of whether their applications were filed July 1. Boggs sought the difference between his salary for the 1977-78 school year and the salary he would have received had he been credited with the master's degree plus thirty hours certification.

We need express no opinion on the merits of Boggs' claims. The matter was treated as a grievance under Kanawha County Board of Education Policy IV-C-1, and was appealed by Boggs to the state superintendent under State Board of Education Rule 1340.

The Kanawha County school board filed a motion to dismiss with the superintendent alleging that he lacked authority to hear appeals from grievance matters. The superintendent denied this motion. The board then sought a writ of prohibition in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County to prevent the superintendent from hearing Boggs' appeal. The writ was granted, and this appeal followed.

The board's position, succinctly stated in the motion to dismiss filed with the superintendent, is that the superintendent has no "authority to review upon appeal the actions or decisions of a county board of education other than a decision which is not unanimous to dismiss or suspend an employee for the reasons set forth in W.Va.Code § 18A-2-8." Boggs argues, however, that Jones v. Board of Education, County of Lincoln, supra, established that grievance matters may be appealed to the superintendent pursuant to State Board of Education Rule 1340.

In Jones we allowed an appeal to the state superintendent. Jones had been demoted from her position as principal and transferred as a teacher by the Lincoln County Board of Education. She appealed the board's decision to the state superintendent. The superintendent ruled that Jones' demotion was improper, but that her transfer was permissible. Jones petitioned for certiorari in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, which certified the following question to this Court: "Whether the State Superintendent of Schools of West Virginia has authority or jurisdiction to hear and decide the appeals of school employees from the decisions of county boards of education made pursuant to West Virginia Code, 1931, § 18A-2-2 and § 18A-2-8, as amended, and ...