Bertolini v. Whitehall City School District Board of Education

744 N.E.2d 1245, 139 Ohio App. 3d 595, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 4401
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 26, 2000
DocketNo. 99AP-1374.
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 744 N.E.2d 1245 (Bertolini v. Whitehall City School District Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bertolini v. Whitehall City School District Board of Education, 744 N.E.2d 1245, 139 Ohio App. 3d 595, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 4401 (Ohio Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Brown, Judge.

Joseph L. Bertolini, appellant, appeals a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Civil Division. The trial court affirmed a decision of the Whitehall City School District Board of Education, appellee, terminating appellant as associate superintendent for Whitehall City Schools. We reverse and remand.

In May 1997, appellant was hired by the Whitehall City School District Board of Education (“board”) to be the associate superintendent for Whitehall City Schools (“Whitehall”). Appellant previously held the position of superintendent of the Leetonia School District (“Leetonia”). While working at Leetonia, appellant became acquainted with Patti Woods, who was also employed by Leetonia. Even though appellant and Woods were married to other individuals, from July 1997 to November 1997, the two began a sexual relationship. After the board hired appellant, Woods applied for the position of secretary to appellant. She was interviewed by several individuals but was not interviewed by appellant. The individuals responsible for hiring determined that Woods was overqualified to be a secretary, so she was offered the position of EMIS coordinator with Whitehall. As EMIS coordinator, Woods’s supervisor was Donald Moore. Moore’s supervisor was appellant. Woods moved to. Columbus, but her husband remained in Columbiana County. Woods and her husband later divorced.

Woods stated in a hearing held before a referee that she had a good relationship with appellant and his family when she first began working for Whitehall. Woods had a key to appellant’s home and took appellant’s daughter home from school. Appellant had a key to Woods’s condominium. Woods testified that around November. 3, 1997, she attempted to end the romantic relationship with appellant but desired to remain good friends. Woods agreed with the statement that her “relationship with [appellant] and his family continued to be fairly close after [their] physical relationship ceased, at least for a period of time.” On November 9, 1997, shortly after Woods ended the romantic *599 relationship with appellant, a conference was held for Ohio school superintendents and school board members. At the conference, appellant was required to assist Dr. James Crawford, the superintendent of Whitehall. However, appellant became drunk the first night and failed to attend the remainder of the conference.

Appellant’s performance as an associate superintendent was later evaluated by Dr. Crawford. The results of Dr. Crawford’s evaluation were expressed in a letter to appellant dated January 5,1998, which stated:

“Let me begin by stating how pleased I am to have you as a member of our administrative team. You certainly join our district with much expertise in the area of school administration. Some of your administrative skills that have impressed me the most at this point are:

“• Your knowledge of how to handle potential, volatile situations, particularly in processing complaints from parents and/or staff members. You have always addressed these situations in a very professional, very appropriate, and very fair manner. In the future, I hope you will continue to handle all situations as successful as you have up to this point.
“• Your strength in the area of school/community relations. Although, as we addressed when you first came to Whitehall that your role and responsibilities were primarily not in this area, I must tell you that I am impressed at the amount of district sporting events and other social events that you have attended on your own and the relationships that you have built with community members. It is certainly a strong statement of your desire to serve this community and school district to the best of your ability. Keep up the good work!
“• You seemed to have developed a good working relationship with the WEA in spite of this being a very difficult area. I see the role of the associate superintendent being a buffer between the association and the superintendent, thus making this an area of consistent challenge. Maintaining your loyalties to the superintendent and still maintaining a good working relationship with the WEA is many times like walking a tightrope, but this is an area in which you seem extremely comfortable and confident. I hope you continue processing and working closely with the WEA and at the same time maintaining the direction and maneuverability that I have designed as our approach for management of the school district.
“In most evaluations, there are always some areas of concern; however, at this particular time, I do not see any area in which I have a concern.
“I hope you continue to blend into the community and school district, working through the day-to-day situations (as you have done so very well up to this point). *600 I am looking forward to a long working relationship with you not only as superintendent/associate superintendent, but also as your friend.
“I would hope that you accept this evaluation as nothing less than a report of outstanding performance as associate superintendent of the Whitehall City Schools. Thank you for all your hard work and efforts.” (Emphasis added.)

Even though their romantic relationship ended in November 1997, appellant continued to stay in contact with Woods by sending her e-mail messages through Whitehall’s computer system. Woods testified that most of the e-mails she received from appellant concerned employment positions for Woods with other school districts. Woods also stated that she felt that appellant was sending the emails about the positions as an excuse to contact her because it “was like an outside way of getting me to read the E-mails, getting me to communicate with him.” Some of appellant’s e-mails to Woods included references to their prior romantic relationship. Woods made copies of nineteen e-mails appellant sent her from January 6, 1998 to February 6, 1998. Woods added that she found the emails “[offensive, agitating” because she was “trying to get as far away from any type of personal relationship.” Appellant sometimes visited Woods at her office and at her condominium. In February 1998, Woods told appellant that his emails were driving her crazy and to “back off.” When asked at the hearing before the referee whether appellant’s e-mails were causing her “problems at work,” Woods answered “[n]o.” Woods also stated that Whitehall did not have a policy against receiving personal e-mails. Woods also agreed with the statement that she “never thought [she] was being sexually harassed by [appellant], but she thought that he was pestering [her].”

On February 20, 1998, Moore resigned from his position with Whitehall and appellant was temporarily given Moore’s duties. The change also meant that appellant would be Woods’s direct supervisor. That day, Woods asked if she could be placed under a different supervisor. Woods testified that she wanted the change because “I didn’t want my career or my future to be at stake based on his relations or his reviews” and “there had been some instances in which I was uncomfortable working with [appellant] in the recent past.”

On February 21, 1998, Woods met with Dr. Crawford and told him about her relationship with appellant.

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Bluebook (online)
744 N.E.2d 1245, 139 Ohio App. 3d 595, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 4401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bertolini-v-whitehall-city-school-district-board-of-education-ohioctapp-2000.