Certification Contracts and Tenure Chapter 15 Teacher certification

Certification, Contracts, and Tenure Chapter 15

Teacher certification n All state legislatures have laws relating to teacher certification. Does not guarantee employment. Local school boards may additional requirements to state requirements as long as they are not arbitrary.

Teacher certification continued… n n Teacher certification rules and regulation vary from state to state. Most states require candidate to be of good moral character.

Ambach v. Norwick A state may require an individual to be a citizen or be in the process of seeking citizenship before he or she can be certified as a teacher. This rule does NOT violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14 th Amendment.

Points to Consider: 1. Distinction between citizens and aliens, is fundamental to the definition and government of a state. 2. Public school teachers perform tasks that go to the heart of representative government and help fulfill the broader school system function.

Points Continued… 3. The Constitution requires only that a citizenship requirement for teaching bear a rational relationship to a legitimate state interest. 4. Aliens who are eligible for US citizenship but refuse to seek naturalization MAY be excluded from teaching.

Wardwell v. Board of Ed. A teacher brought an action under federal civil rights statutes challenging the constitutionality of a school board rule requiring all teachers hired after a certain date to establish residence within the city’s school district within 90 days of employment.

Points to Consider: 1. The “compelling state interest” test is the applicable test in cases involving infringement of the right to interstate travel by durational residency requirements. 2. This case involves continuing employment residency requirements…the “rational basis” test should be used to determine validity of the requirement.

Points Continued… 3. Local school boards are free to impose additional qualifications and conditions of employment and to adopt standards higher than state minimum. 4. What reasons did the Cincinnati School Board give for establishing the residency rule?

Richardson v. North Carolina Dept. of Public Inst. Teacher’s “unethical conduct” in sending threatening and obscene letter to his supervisor constitutes “Immorality” justifying revocation of his teaching certificate.

Nexus A Showing of Nexus, or reasonable relationship between off-campus actions of a teacher and his/her fitness to teach, which has an adverse affect on the school community, is generally required before an action for “immoral or unprofessional conduct” can be taken.

In re Appeal of Timothy Morrill n n Nexus between a teacher/preacher’s “holy hugs and kisses” with minor sufficient to confirm revocation of teaching certificate. Actions were related to teachers ability and fitness to teach.

Teacher Contracts n A teacher contract must satisfy the same legal requirements as contracts in general. These are: (1) an offer and acceptance; (2) competent persons; (3) consideration; (4) legal subject matter; (5) proper form.

Offer and Acceptance n A contract is not valid unless an offer is made and the offer has been accepted.

Competent Persons n The parties who contract must be competent. If an individual is so insane or inebriated at the time he or she enters into a contract that he or she does not know what he or she is doing, the contract may be set aside because there was no meeting of the minds, which is essential in every valid contractual situation.

Consideration n Valid contracts must be supported by consideration--something of value. The consideration for the educator is the salary that the school board will pay.

Legal Subject Matter n In order to be considered valid, a contract must involve legal subject matter. Illegal subject matter, such as gambling, if prohibited by statute, would not allow a contract to be issued.

Proper Form n To be enforceable, contracts must be in the form required by law. In the case of teachers, most states require a written state contract.

Feldhusen v. Beach Public School District No. 3 A teacher who did not obtain necessary credit hours during a specified period was not entitled to contract renewal.

Points to Consider: 1. Teacher contracts can be nonrenewed for lack of qualification. 2. Nonrenewal of a teacher's contract can be based on failure to obtain the required 8 semester or 12 quarter hours of summer school and extension course attendance required by contract of teachers every five years.

The Tenure Contract Tenure is a statutory right to hold office or employment and to receive the benefits of a position. Tenure bestows a property right upon an individual that may only be removed for cause with appropriate due process procedures. The burden of proof is upon the school board to prove the charges before tenure may be withdrawn.

Grounds for Termination Tenure laws specify the grounds for and the manner by which a teacher's employment may be terminated. These vary from state to state but may include incompetency, insubordination, immorality, neglect of duty, or other good or just cause.

Code of Virginia, 22. 1 – 307 Dismissal A. Teachers may be dismissed or placed on probation for incompetency, immorality, noncompliance with school laws and regulations, disability as shown by competent medical evidence when in compliance with federal law, conviction of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude or other good and just cause. A teacher shall be dismissed if and after all rights to an appeal have be exhausted. The fact of such finding shall be grounds for the local school division to recommend that the Board of Education revoke such person’s license to teach. No teacher shall be dismissed or placed on probation solely on the basis of the teacher’s refusal to submit to a polygraph examination requested by the school Board.

Code of Virginia, 22. 1 – 307 Dismissal continued… B. For the purposes of this article, “incompetency” may be construed to include, but shall not be limited to, consistent failure to meet the endorsement requirements for the position or performance that is documented through evaluation to be consistently less than satisfactory.

Scheer v. Independent School District No. I-26 of Ottawa County Does a probationary teacher who has completed three years of service acquire tenure rights by working a fourth year under a temporary contract? In the third year of her probationary status, a teacher signed a temporary contract for her fourth year. When the school district did not hire her after her fourth year, she sued claiming that she had acquired tenure status. The court answered in the negative

Points to Consider: 1. In Oklahoma, a probationary teacher does not become a “career teacher” with expectancy of tenure after signing third consecutive one-year contract but before completing performance required under such contract. 2. The probationary teacher had no legally protectable right to tenure where, at the time she signed a temporary contract, she had not yet completed her third year of service. 3. Teachers employed on temporary contracts are statutorily exempt from tenure laws, and a teacher does not have tenure when he or she signs a contract for fourth year.

Collins v. Faith School District #46 -2 Incompetence is further defined in this case. Here a school board terminated a fourth grade teacher for indiscreetly answering questions following a sex education video with regard to homosexual activity. The court held for the teacher, ruling that the dismissal was arbitrary.

Points to Consider: 1. There was no showing that the teacher’s ability to teach had been impaired, that any children had been detrimentally affected, or that the teacher was likely to exercise poor judgment in a similar situation in the future. 2. In this case, the school board had abdicated total control over the sex education program to a health nurse; the teacher had been asked by the previous health nurse to answer questions after sex education videos, and had done so for 15 years without incident.

Points continued… 3. A single incident may be of such magnitude or far reaching consequences that a teacher’s ability to perform his or her duties will be permanently impaired and a finding of “incompetence” would be proper under a statute allowing for termination for incompetency; however such was not the situation here.

Gaylord v. Board of Education, Unified School District No. 218, Morton County Insubordination, as the basis for terminating a teacher, can be a single incident of willful and intentional disobedience. In this case, a teacher, Gaylord, was denied a day of personal leave to pursue other employment. Subsequently, Gaylord dishonestly reported he was ill and took sick leave. The court upheld the termination.

Points to Consider: 1. Here the insubordination of Gaylord, a tenured teacher, justified his dismissal, which was supported by evidence that he called in sick after his request for a day off had been denied. 2. As a purpose for terminating a teacher who has tenure, insubordination can be a single incident of willful or intentional disobedience which, when viewed in light of community standards and subject to judicial review, shows the teacher’s conduct was sufficiently serious or aggravated to warrant the sanction of dismissal.

In re Termination of James E. Johnson, a tenured teacher, was dismissed based on a finding by an independent hearing examiner that he was insubordinate and inefficient in teaching. The lower court upheld the termination and Johnson appealed, alleging that the decision was made without sufficient evidence. The upper court affirmed the decision.

Points to Consider: 1. The evidence supported dismissal for inefficiency in teaching. There was evidence of poor rapport with students and insufficient communication with parents. Some students had requested transfer out of his classes, and test scores in his classes indicated poor student progress.

Points Continued… 2. The board’s use of the high failure rate to justify dismissal of the tenured teacher did not constitute impermissible violation of the teacher’s First Amendment academic freedom rights. Moreover, Johnson had been terminated due to his inability to impart basic curriculum knowledge, not because of the specific grades he assigned. 3. Johnson committed insubordination warranting discharge when he made no effort to comply with a specific directive that he improve his relationship and rapport with students and parents.

Toney v. Fairbanks North Star Borough School District The pre-hiring conduct of a teacher may be grounds for dismissal from current employment. In this case, a teacher had a sexual relationship with a 15 -year-old student during his previous employment, which constituted adequate grounds for dismissal for immorality from his present employment.

Points to Consider: 1. For a teacher’s dismissal on grounds of immorality to be valid, there need not be a separate showing of a nexus between an act or acts of moral turpitude and the teacher’s fitness or capacity to perform duties. 2. The teacher’s engagement in a sexual relationship with a 15 -yearold constituted a crime of sexual abuse of a minor under both Alaska and Idaho laws as they existed at the time the crime was committed.

Points continued… 3. Accordingly, it was questionable whether a sexual abuse crime could ever be too remote to support a teacher’s dismissal. To limit a statute to post-hiring conduct would be against public policy, immunizing the teacher from dismissal and rewarding him for successfully concealing the conduct.

Board of Education of Hopkins County v. Wood Smoking marijuana off-campus with two 15 -year-old students is grounds for dismissal of a tenured teacher for immoral conduct.

Points to Consider: 1. The power of a school board to discipline teachers is not based on personal moral judgments by board members. Rather, it exists only because of legitimate interests of government in protecting the school, community and students from harm.

Points continued… 2. Contracts of tenured teachers may be terminated for conduct unbecoming a teacher or for immoral conduct with regard to offcampus activities involving students, notwithstanding written records indicating satisfactory teacher performance.

Points continued… 3. Immoral or unbecoming conduct sufficient to merit discharge of a tenured teacher must have some nexus to the teacher's occupation. Mere private shortcomings, which come to the attention of the school board but have no relation to the teacher's example to school and community, are not sufficient.

Elvin v. City of Waterville A female fourth grade teacher’s sexual relationship with a 15 -yearold high school boy, a neighbor, constituted unfitness to teach. The teacher admitted the relationship.

Points to Consider: 1. The teacher was indicted on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. The sexual abuse charges were dropped in exchange for her nolo contendere plea to one count of assault stemming from the sexual contact. The appellate review was based on the sole question of whether, based on all evidence, there was a rational basis for the board’s decision to dismiss.

Points continued… 2. The court further concluded that the boy’s affidavit, used as evidence against the teacher, was valid even though the teacher had no opportunity to confront and crossexamine him. Thus, her due process rights were not denied.

Cause or Good Cause Both common law and statute usually provide for dismissal of teachers for “cause” or “good cause”.

Board of Directors of the Lawton-Bronson v. Davies “Just cause” may be a reason for the termination of a teacher’s contract during the contract year. Shoplifting by a teacher may constitute “just cause. ” The court upheld the teacher’s dismissal.

1. A teacher must serve as a good role model for students. Needless to say, shoplifting does not enhance that image. Evidence presented in this case indicated that before her arrest for shoplifting, the teacher had exhibited bizarre conduct in the classroom and that she had not been a good role model.

2. A secondary issue of the case was the teacher’s claim that her compulsion to shoplift resulted from mental illness/disability. The court held that the board could not speculate on the causes of the teacher’s malady and whether acts were voluntary or involuntary; rather, it was the school board’s responsibility to determine whether she was fit to teach.

Reduction in Force A school may reduce the labor force due to declining enrollment, financial exigencies, reorganization, or the elimination of programs.

Zoll v. Eastern Allamakee Community School District A teacher sued for reinstatement and back pay following non-renewal of her contract, contending that she was non-renewed because of something she had said, which was protected free speech. The school district contended it was a reduction in force. The court found for the teacher.

Points to Consider: n n n There was sufficient evidence of an illicit motive to support a jury verdict of school liability. Because a teacher exercises his or her constitutional rights, that teacher cannot be removed under the pretext of a reduction in force. A reduction in force must be done in a fair and logical manner.

State v. Project Principle, Inc. The Texas state legislature passed statute that required all teachers to take standardized tests.

Points to Consider: 1. A teaching certificate is a license rather than a contract, and as such it is subject to any future restrictions that the state may reasonably impose. 2. Because a teaching certificate is not a contract, a constitutional prohibition against impairment of contracts is not violated by an additional requirement that public school educators complete literacy examination for the retention of a teaching certificate.

Points continued… 3. Since a teaching certificate was a license and conferred no vested rights, constitutional prohibition against retroactive laws was not violated by the additional requirement that educators pass a literacy test in order to continue their certification.

Points continued… 4. A statute requiring teacher literacy testing as a condition for maintaining teacher certification bore a rational relation to the legitimate state objective of maintaining competent teachers in the public schools, and, under the rational basis standard, did not violate equal protection clause of State Constitution.