Bond v. Lavaca School District

64 S.W.3d 249, 347 Ark. 300, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 702
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 20, 2001
Docket01-303
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 64 S.W.3d 249 (Bond v. Lavaca School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bond v. Lavaca School District, 64 S.W.3d 249, 347 Ark. 300, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 702 (Ark. 2001).

Opinions

w .H. “Dub” ARNOLD, Chief Justice.

Joyce Bond appealed from the order of summary judgment entered in favor of her employer, appellee Lavaca School District. The Arkansas Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and remanded the case. Appellee petitioned this Court for review; petition was granted. We now affirm the trial court, thereby reversing the court of appeals’ decision.

The facts of the case are as follows. Appellant is employed by appellee in two capacities. She teaches in certified areas as defined by the school’s administration. She also serves as appellee’s Chapter One Coordinator, an administrative position involving eighteen different major duties, but the primary function is to “insure adherence to and compliance of the regulations and guidelines set by the Federal and State government” for the Chapter One program. Appellant’s teaching contract runs from July 1 through June 30, states that the grade or subject to be taught is “Chapter I Lab,” requires her to teach in certified areas as assigned by administration and any other reasonable and relevant duties as assigned by the principal, indicates that her salary will be paid in twelve installments, and provides that the length of her term of employment is 205 days. The salary schedule attached to her annual contract states that “[e]xtended contracts will result in an increase of .005 per day for each day beyond one hundred [and] eighty five days.” The salary schedule also indicates that certain duties performed by certified personnel will be compensated at a specified rate. However, the salary schedule does not include a special rate of compensation for the Chapter One Coordinator position, a position that is not certified.

On June 22, 1998, appellant filed a complaint in Sebastian County Circuit Court, alleging that for the school years 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, and 1997-98, appellee failed to pay her as required under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-807 (Repl. 1999) and § 6-17-204(b)(2) (Repl. 1999). Appellant subsequently amended her complaint to include the years 1998-99 and any time through trial. Specifically, appellant alleged that the Chapter One Coordinator position requires her to work the equivalent of twenty additional days beyond the 185-day standard school year, but that appellee did not pay her proportionately for additional days worked based on her daily rate for tbe regular school year as required under § 6-17-807. She also alleged that appellee violated § 6-17-204(b) by fading to include the Chapter One Coordinator position on its salary schedule and by failing to pay her for additional duties performed.

Appellant and appellee filed competing motions for summary judgment. Appellee asserted that appellant’s action was barred by the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act under Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-17-1506 and -1510 (Supp. 1999). Appellee also argued that § 6-17-807 only applied when additional days are added to a teacher’s contract from one year to the next, which was not the case here; it maintained that it complied with § 6-17-204(b)(2); and it asserted that appellant waived any complaints she had under her contract when she renewed her contract each year without complaint. In her motion for summary judgment, appellant raised the same arguments as alleged in her complaint, specifically disputed appellee’s waiver argument, and denied that the statute of limitations found in the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act precluded her complaint because this case did not involve nonrenewal of a contract or dismissal.

The trial court found that appellee had not violated the above statutes because the salary schedule provided for an additional increment for days worked beyond the regular school year. The court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment. It is from this order that the instant appeal now comes. We affirm.

I. Standard of Review

On a petition for review, this Court reviews the case as if the appeal had originally been filed in this Court. Thompson v. State, 342 Ark. 365, 28 S.W.3d 290 (2000); Muhammad v. State, 337 Ark. 291, 988 S.W.2d 17 (1999); State v. Brunson, 327 Ark. 567, 570, 940 S.W.2d 440 (1997); Mullinax v. State, 327 Ark. 41, 938 S.W.2d 801 (1997). The law is well settled that summary judgment is to be granted by a trial court only when it is clear that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and the party is entided to judgment as a matter of law. Dodson v. Taylor, 346 Ark. 443, 57 S.W.3d 710 (2001); Wallace v. Broyles, 331 Ark. 58, 961 S.W.2d 712 (1998), supp. opinion on denial of reh’g, 332 Ark. 189, 961 S.W.2d 712 (1998). Once the moving party has established a prima fade entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. Id. On appellate review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion leave a material fact unanswered. Id. We view the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was filed, resolving all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Id. Our review focuses not only on the pleadings, but also on the affidavits and other documents filed by the parties. Id.

II. Compensation Rate

The crux of this case is whether appellant was compensated fairly according to her contract. It is undisputed that appellant contracted to work 205 days and was compensated for 205 days; the question is whether the number of days appellant worked in excess of the 185-day standard school year (i.e., twenty days) should have been compensated on a daily-rate-of-pay basis as defined by § 16-17-807 or on a fixed .005 times her base salary per day for each day beyond 185 days, as specified in her contract pursuant to the supplemental salary schedule prescribed by Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-204.

The first issue is whether the trial court erred in ruling as a matter of law that appellant’s contract did not violate Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-807, which governs teachers’ compensation for days worked in addition to the regular school year. This statute provides:

If additional days are aided to a teacher’s contract or if the teacher is required to work more days than provided for under the teacher’s contract, then the teacher’s pay under the contract shall be increased proportionately so that the teacher will receive pay for each day added to the contract or each additional day the teacher is required to work at no less than the daily rate paid to the teacher under the teacher’s contract.

[Emphasis added.]

Appellant argues that the statute mandates that if additional days are added to a teacher’s contract, then the teacher is entitled to be paid the same for each extra day worked as she was paid for each day worked during the standard portion of the contract.

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Bond v. Lavaca School District
64 S.W.3d 249 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
64 S.W.3d 249, 347 Ark. 300, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bond-v-lavaca-school-district-ark-2001.