State, ex rel. Luckey, v. Etheridge

• Decision Date: 22 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-1203,90-1203
• Citation: 583 N.E.2d 960,62 Ohio St.3d 404
• Parties: , 71 Ed. Law Rep. 878 The STATE, ex rel. LUCKEY, v. ETHERIDGE et al.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Page 404

62 Ohio St.3d 404

583 N.E.2d 960, 71 Ed. Law Rep. 878

The STATE, ex rel. LUCKEY, v. ETHERIDGE et al.

No. 90-1203.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted Oct. 15, 1991.

Decided Jan. 22, 1992.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

Pursuant to R.C. 3319.02(C), a board of education must provide written notice of its intention not to reemploy an assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal or other administrator on or before the last day of March of the year in which the contract of employment expires. (State, ex rel. Brennan, v. Vinton Cty. Local Bd. of Edn. [1985], 18 Ohio St.3d 208, 18 OBR 271, 480 N.E.2d 476, followed.)

This is an original action in mandamus filed by relator, Dr. Evelyn Luckey. Named as respondents were the Columbus Public Schools, Columbus Public Schools Board of Education ("board of education"), Superintendent of Columbus Public Schools Dr. Ronald Etheridge, and the individual members who comprise the Columbus Board of Education. In her amended complaint filed July 23, 1990, relator alleged that she had been employed as an assistant superintendent for the Columbus public school system for thirteen years, and that her contract was not renewed for the 1990-1991 school year. Relator further alleged that she received a letter from Etheridge dated January 10, 1990, instructing her that " * * * your contract as an Administrator will expire on July 31, 1990, and that you may request a meeting with the Board [of Education] to discuss the Board's reasons for considering the renewal or non-renewal of your current contract * * *." Relator also alleged that at a school board meeting on March 21, 1990, she requested that the reasons underlying the non-renewal of her contract be discussed, but this request was denied.

On March 23, 1990, the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators obtained a temporary restraining order ("TRO") in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to prevent the board of education from carrying out the plan not to renew the contracts of approximately thirty administrators, including relator. Subsequently, the court of common pleas held a hearing on April 6, 1990, at which the court ruled that the TRO, not having been extended, had lapsed by operation of law. In its entry, the court stated that the board of education shall have until April 30, 1990 to either reemploy the aggrieved administrators or to give them written notice of its intention not to reemploy them. The entry further purported to waive the statutory written-notice requirement set forth in R.C. 3319.02, that would have necessitated that any such action to renew or not renew the administrators' contracts take place on or before March 31, 1990.

At a special meeting of the board of education on April 11, 1990, the board approved a resolution not to renew relator's contract as an administrator and directed the treasurer to notify her of that action in writing on or before April 30, 1990.

Thereafter, relator filed the instant amended petition seeking a writ of mandamus (1) to compel respondents to reinstate her to the position from which she was non-renewed; (2) to compel respondents to pay her back wages and reasonable attorney fees; and (3) for other proper relief including her costs and expenses in maintaining the action.

Spater, Gittes, Schulte & Kolman and Alexander M. Spater, Columbus, for relator.

Lawrence H. Braun, Columbus, for respondents.

SWEENEY, Justice.

The determinative issue before us is whether relator received proper notice from the board of education of its decision not to reemploy her in her position as an assistant superintendent. For the reasons that follow, we hold that relator did not receive proper notice pursuant to R.C. 3319.02.

R.C. 3319.02(C) provides in pertinent part:

"An assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator is, at the expiration of his current term of employment, deemed reemployed at the same salary plus any increments that may be authorized by the board of education, unless he notifies the board in writing to the contrary on or before the first day of June, or unless such board, on or before the last day of March of the year in which his contract of employment expires, either reemploys him for a succeeding term or gives him written notice of its intention not to reemploy him. * * * " (Emphasis added.)

In State, ex rel. Brennan, v. Vinton Cty. Local Bd. of Edn. (1985), 18 Ohio St.3d 208, 209, 18 OBR 271, 272, 480 N.E.2d 476, 477, this court stated that under the plain-meaning rule stipulated in R.C. 1.42, the foregoing statutory provision ¹ must be viewed as mandating written notice whenever the board of education chooses not to reemploy administrators. R.C. 3319.11 sets forth a similar standard with regard to teachers who are eligible for continuing contract status. State, ex rel. Lee, v. Bellefontaine City Bd. of Edn. (1985), 17 Ohio St.3d 124, 17 OBR 271, 477 N.E.2d 1135 (construing former R.C. 3319.11).

Additionally, Brennan, supra, holds that R.C. 3319.02 is remedial in nature and that, therefore, the statute must be liberally construed in favor of relator. R.C. 1.11.

A careful review of the record reveals that written notice was not tendered to relator within the time frame contemplated in R.C. 3319.02(C). While the record indicates that in a letter dated January 10, 1990, respondent Etheridge informed relator of his intention to recommend to the board of education that her contract not be renewed, such letter does not satisfy the strictures of R.C. 3319.02(C). Not only was Etheridge's letter not written on behalf of the board; the letter gives a clear implication that the renewal or non-renewal of relator's contract had not yet been decided. The Etheridge letter stated in relevant part that relator " * * * may request a meeting with the Board to discuss the Board's reasons for considering the renewal or non-renewal of your current contract * * *."

The record further reveals that relator almost immediately responded to Etheridge's letter in writing,...