Western Grove School Dist. v. Terry, 93-1271
| Decision Date | 17 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1271,93-1271 |
| Parties | , 95 Ed. Law Rep. 764 WESTERN GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellant, v. Joe TERRY, II, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
William Clay Brazil, Conway, Thomas A. Martin, Jasper, for appellant.
David L. Ivers, Little Rock, for appellee.
This case concerns the reinstatement of a teacher/coach, appellee Joe Terry, II, according to the terms of his 1992-93 contract with appellant Western Grove School District. The School District attempted to change that contract both as to services and pay for the 1993-94 school year. The circuit court ordered the reinstatement. The School District now appeals and asserts two points of error: (1) the circuit court erred in applying the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act (Ark.Code Ann. § 6-17-1501, et seq. (Repl.1993)) to the facts of this case; and (2) Terry failed to avail himself of a hearing before the School Board which was his exclusive remedy. We disagree that these points constitute error, and we affirm the reinstatement order of the circuit court.
On March 11, 1992, Terry entered into a Teacher's Contract with the School District for the 1992-93 school year. At the time Terry was a non-probationary teacher/coach who was certified as a teacher. His contract described these services to be performed:
Teacher of Physical Ed. and Health and High School Social Studies
The time period for the contract was August 24, 1992, to June 4, 1993, and the compensation to be paid was $28,550.
For the 1992-93 school year, Terry taught one elementary physical education class, one health class, and four additional physical education classes which in actuality were basketball practices for a girls' senior and junior team and a boys' senior and junior team. In November 1992, Terry was approached about giving up the two girls' basketball teams with a concomitant reduction in pay. He refused. A girls' basketball coach was hired, nonetheless, in December 1992 and assumed the coaching of the two girls' teams. Terry's compensation was not reduced at that time.
On March 11, 1993, the Western Grove School Board met and voted to divest Terry of his coaching responsibilities for the 1993-94 school year and to reduce his pay by $6,000. According to minutes of the board meeting, the $6,000 represented coaching stipends of $1,500 per basketball team. The next day, March 12, 1993, Superintendent Jack C. Robinson notified Terry of the School Board's action by certified letter and enclosed a new Teacher's Contract for the 1993-94 school year. That contract specified Terry's services to be:
Secondary Ed
The time period covered was from August 12, 1993, to May 16, 1994, and compensation was to be $22,750.
On April 12, 1993, Terry wrote to the superintendent that he intended to be employed by the School District as a teacher/coach the following school year. Superintendent Robinson wrote back the next day that he deemed Terry's letter to be a resignation. Terry replied in writing on April 16, 1993, that he had not resigned. Additional correspondence ensued between the two men along the same lines.
On May 12, 1993, Terry filed a petition for writ of mandamus to compel the School Board to reinstate him "on at least the same salary and on at least the same terms as in the 1992-93 school year" pursuant to the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. He included a prayer for declaratory relief and for damages. The School Board responded that Terry's exclusive remedy was to request a hearing on the matter before the board, and the board also moved to dismiss the petition for failure to exercise that exclusive remedy. Following a hearing, the circuit court entered an order denying the motion to dismiss and granting the writ of mandamus, declaratory relief, and reinstatement. In doing so, the court found that the nonrenewal of Terry's contract violated the terms of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and was arbitrary and capricious.
The School District argues as its first point on appeal that its action against Terry was merely a reassignment of duties--not a nonrenewal--and that the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act was not applicable. The facts do not bear this out.
We first observe that Terry was a teacher holding a teaching certificate as a condition of his employment. Ark.Code Ann. § 6-17-1502(a)(1) (Repl.1993). His contract combined his teaching and coaching duties and provided for a total salary. Indeed, his teaching and coaching duties merged in basketball practice where the student/athletes received physical education credit. No separate provision for "extracurricular activities" was provided in the contract. Terry, as a teacher/coach, fell within the ambit of Teacher Fair Dismissal Act protection. Lamar Sch. Dist. No. 39 v. Kinder, 278 Ark. 1, 642 S.W.2d 885 (1982).
We turn next to the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act itself which provides in part:
(a) Every contract of employment made between a teacher and the board of directors of a school district shall be renewed in writing on the same terms and for the same salary, unless increased or decreased by law, for the next school year succeeding the date of termination fixed therein, which renewal may be made by an endorsement on the existing contract instrument, unless by May 1 of the contract year, the teacher is notified by the school superintendent that the superintendent is recommending that the teacher's contract not be renewed or, unless during the period of the contract or within ten (10) days after the end of the school year, the teacher shall deliver or mail by registered mail to the board of directors his or her resignation as a teacher, or unless such contract is superseded by another contract between the parties.
(b) Termination, nonrenewal, or suspension shall be only upon the recommendation of the superintendent. A notice of nonrenewal shall be mailed by registered or certified mail to the teacher at the teacher's residence address as reflected in the teacher's personnel file. The notice of recommended nonrenewal of a teacher shall include a simple but complete statement of the reasons for such recommendation.
Ark.Code Ann. § 6-17-1506 (Repl.1993).
The School District's proposed 1993-94 Teacher Contract for Terry was not on the same terms or for the same salary as the contract for the previous year. The salary was reduced by about 20 percent and the duties were curtailed. Because of this, the case differs markedly from Chandler v. Perry-Casa Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 2, 286 Ark. 170, 690 S.W.2d 349 (1985). In that case, the teacher wanted an assignment as a secondary math teacher but was assigned as a computer instructor. No reduction in compensation was at issue. We noted that a teacher could not always be assigned to duties of that teacher's preference and that the assignment by the school district appeared to be reasonable. In the case at bar, we agree with the circuit court that what took place was not a reassignment of duties but a nonrenewal of Terry's contract.
The issue then...
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