Hanlon v. Board of Education of the Parkway School District

695 S.W.2d 930, 27 Educ. L. Rep. 991, 1985 Mo. App. LEXIS 3502
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 13, 1985
Docket49289
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 695 S.W.2d 930 (Hanlon v. Board of Education of the Parkway School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanlon v. Board of Education of the Parkway School District, 695 S.W.2d 930, 27 Educ. L. Rep. 991, 1985 Mo. App. LEXIS 3502 (Mo. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

SMITH, Presiding Judge.

Mercedes Hanlon appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court affirming the action of the Parkway School District Board of Education in terminating Mrs. Hanlon as a tenured teacher. We affirm.

Mrs. Hanlon was first employed by the District in 1972 as an elementary school counselor. She had previously taught for four years as an elementary teacher in Indiana and Michigan, then discontinued teaching to raise a family until the death of her husband. In 1981 Mrs. Hanlon’s principal urged the superintendent to find her a classroom assignment as she was suffering from “counselor burn-out.” She was placed into a junior high school teaching position in 1982. She admittedly did poorly in that position and requested, and was granted, an unpaid leave of absence to take additional college courses in elementary education. In the summer of 1983 she requested an elementary assignment in grades one through five. She was as *932 signed to Sorrento Springs School as a second grade teacher. The principal there was Dr. John Morris.

During the first quarter of the school year Mrs. Hanlon experienced difficulties in this position. This resulted in an October 31 warning letter to her from the superintendent setting out her deficiencies and giving her at least thirty days to correct those deficiencies or face the threat of termination. The letter detailed with considerable precision her deficiencies and included examples. The letter appointed Dr. Morris as the representative of the Superintendent to meet and confer with Mrs. Hanlon in an effort to improve her performance. The areas of incompetency and inefficiency detailed in the letter included organization of instruction, assignments, instruction, team teaching, supervision and control, relationship with roommothers and volunteers, communication with parents, grading, and record keeping.

From October 31 until December 5, Dr. Morris closely monitored Mrs. Hanlon’s performance including eleven occasions when he attended her classroom. He prepared written evaluations of these observations which were given to Mrs. Hanlon. In addition a principal from another elementary school, Ms. Warner, came to the school on three occasions to observe Mrs. Han-lon’s performance. During the school year prior to December 5, Dr. Morris assigned district experts in reading and mathematics to assist Mrs. Hanlon and reassigned two of her three reading groups to other teachers. On December 5, Dr. Morris prepared an “Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness" on Mrs. Hanlon. This evaluation found improvement in some areas but found unsatisfactory deficiencies remained in most areas. On December 14, Dr. Morris and Ms. Warner prepared a concluding evaluation on Mrs. Hanlon which was transmitted to the Superintendent. That evaluation found Mrs. Hanlon to be unsatisfactory in organization of instruction, assignments, team teaching, communication with parents, and grading. On January 3, 1984, the Superintendent advised Mrs. Hanlon by letter that he was recommending her termination. Attached to the letter was a notice of charges which further referred to the December 5 and December 14 evaluations. Those documents were also attached to the January 3 letter. Mrs. Hanlon requested and received a public hearing before the Board. After the hearing the Board unanimously terminated Mrs. Hanlon’s indefinite contract. As part of its decision the Board made findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Mrs. Hanlon raises four points on appeal. The first challenges the adequacy of notice of her deficiencies and the absence of a reasonable opportunity to improve. Mrs. Hanlon received a detailed statement of her deficiencies in the warning letter and in the written evaluations made after the warning letter. She was accorded more than the thirty day period provided in Sec. 168.116.2 RSMo 1978, to remedy these deficiencies prior to service of the detailed written charges. The warning letter and the written charges did not contain “non-informative allegations” of a vague and general nature. Blue Springs Reorganized School District v. Landuyt, 499 S.W.2d 33 (Mo.App.1973) l.c. 36. The specific written charges dealt with the same matters as the warning letter and were not “new and different” charges. Blue Springs Reorganized School District v. Landuyt, supra, [3]. The thrust of the teacher’s argument on this point is an attack on the objectivity of the principal and the cooperation of the other members of her teaching team. We will discuss that later. Mrs. Hanlon had adequate notice of her deficiencies and more than the statutory period to correct those deficiencies. Rafael v. Meramec Valley R-III Board of Education, 569 S.W.2d 309 (Mo.App.1978).

The teacher also challenges the Board’s refusal to grant her discovery of documents and discovery of the substance *933 of testimony of the Superintendent’s witnesses and the Board’s refusal to subpoena Ms. Warner. Under Chapter 536, RSMo 1978, only three modes of discovery are provided for—depositions, subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum. Sec. 536.073, 536.077, RSMo 1978. See. 168.118 provides for subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum. There is no statutory authorization permitting production of documents on motion or by interrogatory. Miller v. Whaley, 581 S.W.2d 916 (Mo.App.1979) [3-5]; National Advertising Co. v. State Highway Commission, 549 S.W.2d 536 (Mo.App.1977) [6, 7]. Due process (a concern raised by the teacher) requires that the teacher be apprised of the charges in order to prepare a defense. Sec. 168.116 affords that protection and that section was followed here. There is no due process requirement that the teacher be furnished the material she sought. There was no error in refusing production of documents.

The request for a subpoena for Ms. Warner was untimely. It came on the second night of a two night hearing and was made only after the superintendent stated he would not call Ms. Warner because she was ill. Ms. Warner’s participation in the evaluation of Mrs. Hanlon was considerably less than that of Dr. Morris, and was contained in the report signed by both Ms. Warner and Dr. Morris about which Dr. Morris was extensively cross-examined. Her classroom observations were contained in lengthy “formal observation reports” admitted into evidence without objection at the close of the superintendent’s case. We find it highly unlikely that Ms. Warner’s testimony would have added or detracted much from the testimony of Dr. Morris. We find neither error nor prejudice in the denial of the last minute request to subpoena Ms. Warner.

The teacher also challenges the findings of fact of the Board on the basis that its finding of credibility lacks particularity. 1 While the Board is required to set out what facts it found to be true, Century State Bank v. State Banking Board of Missouri, 523 S.W.2d 856 (Mo.App.1975) l.c.

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Bluebook (online)
695 S.W.2d 930, 27 Educ. L. Rep. 991, 1985 Mo. App. LEXIS 3502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanlon-v-board-of-education-of-the-parkway-school-district-moctapp-1985.