Kent v. Sawyer Public School District No. 16

484 N.W.2d 287, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 107, 1992 WL 91403
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 6, 1992
DocketCiv. 910397
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 484 N.W.2d 287 (Kent v. Sawyer Public School District No. 16) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kent v. Sawyer Public School District No. 16, 484 N.W.2d 287, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 107, 1992 WL 91403 (N.D. 1992).

Opinions

MESCHKE, Justice.

Avis Kent appeals a judgment dismissing her complaint against Sawyer Public School District No. 16, seeking damages for her wrongful nonrenewal as an elementary teacher and for sex discrimination in not rehiring her for a vacancy. We affirm.

Faced with continuous budget deficits and declining enrollments, the District sought to reduce expenses for its upcoming 1989-1990 school term. When other curtailments of programs and services did not remove the anticipated deficit, the District chose to combine the second and third grades, and to thereby eliminate one elementary teacher.

The written policy of the District declares that “[wjhen reduction of professionally certified staff becomes necessary because of, but not limited to declining enrollment, program curtailments, uncertainty of funds, or other reasons of necessity, the Board shall have the sole right to determine the scope of the reduction.” The text of the policy goes on:

1. In the event of staff reductions, the contract of separated person[n]el[ ] will be terminated in accordance with present statutes, fair dismissal procedures and District procedures established herein.
2. Present and future staffing and educational needs of the district at the time of the R.I.F. will be of paramount consideration as the superintendent identifies these specific positions for the Board. The selection of the teachers) to be nonrenewed because of reduction in force shall be in accordance with the following criteria:
a. Attrition, including retirements and resignations, shall be relied on to the extent possible.
b. In times of extreme necessity, elective programs and support services shall be reduced or eliminated before basic classes.
c. When attrition, resignations, and program reduction/elimination is not sufficient to alleviate the necessity for reduction in force, then the policy of the District shall be to retain those teachers with greatest adaptability to meet the present and future staffing and educational needs of the District.
d. When two teachers within the same area of certification are deemed to be of equal adaptability to meet the present and future staffing needs of the district, then the teacher with the superior academic and professional preparation, beyond minimum certification requirements in his or her teaching field, shall be retained.
3.Separated personnel shall be placed on a notification of openings list for one year following termination of their contracts. No commitment to re-employ is made....

Because there was a necessity for reduction in force, the Superintendent evaluated all elementary teachers and recommended that Kent be separated.

Kent was notified that her teaching contract would not be renewed. At that time, Kent was gone, finishing a two-year leave of absence to accompany her husband for his work at Grand Forks Air Base. Kent requested a hearing. After a hearing with Kent and her representative, the school board voted not to renew Kent’s teaching contract.

Before the next school term began, another teaching position became vacant. The District advertised for a fourth grade teacher who could also coach. Because Kent was neither trained nor experienced in coaching, she was not considered when she sought the open position.

Kent sued the District for wrongful dismissal, alleging that the District failed to properly apply the reduction-in-force policy, and for sex discrimination, alleging that the District combined coaching with the fourth grade position “in an obvious effort [289]*289to exclude” her. The District denied any wrongdoing.

After a trial without a jury, the trial court concluded that the District followed the proper procedures and did not abuse its discretion in deciding not to renew Kent’s teaching contract. The trial court also concluded that Kent’s claim of sex discrimination was “without factual basis.” The trial court dismissed Kent’s complaints.

On appeal, Kent argues that the Superintendent used improper criteria in selecting Kent for nonrenewal, that the board unduly relied upon the Superintendent’s recommendation, and that the District did not follow its policy for a reduction in force. Kent also claims that the District illegally discriminated against her sex by coupling the teacher opening with coaching duties.

Kent complains that the Superintendent rated all of the elementary teachers on six qualities other than “adaptability to meet the present and future staffing needs of the district,” the only relevant criterion stated in the policy. The other six qualities were academic preparation, teacher evaluations, extra curricular assignments, health and attendance, contribution to school, and seniority. The Superintendent was new, did not know Kent personally, and evaluated her qualities only from her records at the school. On his assessment of all elementary teachers, Kent rated lowest. At the trial, the Superintendent had difficulty explaining how he had “scored” some of the qualities. Also, it came out that the board did not know at the hearing that the Superintendent had ranked the elementary teachers on all seven qualities before recommending Kent’s nonrenewal.

Kent complains that the Superintendent violated the RIF policy by using qualities other than adaptability, that he did not satisfactorily explain why he rated Kent so low in adaptability, and that the “board should not be allowed to shield itself from responsibility for the wrong done to the teacher by pleading ignorance....” The trial court was not persuaded that these circumstances demonstrated arbitrary action, either by the Superintendent or by the board, in deciding not to renew Kent’s contract. Neither are we.

The District points out that the RIF policy “in no way restricts what may be considered in determining adaptability.” The trial court regarded the term “adaptability” as largely subjective, and ruled that the policy did not “restrict what can be considered when reviewing adaptability.” The trial court concluded that the applicable statute, NDCC 15-47-38, did not specify the criteria to be used in comparing teachers for a reduction in force, nor require the board to state its reasons for selecting one teacher over another in reducing staff for financial reasons. We agree. See Reed v. Edgeley Public School District No. 3, 313 N.W.2d 775 (N.D.1981); Belcourt v. Fort Totten Public School District, 454 N.W.2d 703, 707 (N.D.1990). As long as the information used by the Superintendent had some reasonable relevance to the teacher’s qualities and qualifications, we cannot say that the Superintendent wholly failed to substantiate his reasons for recommending Kent’s separation to reduce staff for financial reasons.

“[I]t is the school board’s comparison of [Kent’s] qualifications with the other teachers which is significant rather than the [Superintendent’s] comparison.” Law v. Mandan Public School District, 411 N.W.2d 375, 380 (N.D.1987). As in Law,

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Related

Borr v. McKenzie County Public School District No. 1
1997 ND 30 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1997)
Kent v. Sawyer Public School District No. 16
484 N.W.2d 287 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
484 N.W.2d 287, 1992 N.D. LEXIS 107, 1992 WL 91403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kent-v-sawyer-public-school-district-no-16-nd-1992.