Travis v. Tacoma Public School District

120 Wash. App. 542
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 9, 2004
DocketNo. 30198-9-II
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 120 Wash. App. 542 (Travis v. Tacoma Public School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travis v. Tacoma Public School District, 120 Wash. App. 542 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Armstrong, J.

— Mark Travis, a second-year provisional teacher in the Tacoma School District’s Learning Assistance Program, suffered from various mental and physical health problems. He resigned after receiving two unsatisfactory [545]*545evaluations and notice that the District was not renewing his contract. After attempting to rescind his resignation, Travis filed a complaint for injunctive relief in superior court and a claim for damages with the District. When the superior court denied his motion for an injunction, it also dismissed his underlying substantive statutory and discrimination claims on the District’s summary judgment motion. The superior court then denied Travis’s motion for reconsideration, his motion to amend his complaint to add a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, and his motion for monetary damages on his other claims. Holding that Travis waived any claim for wrongful termination by voluntarily resigning, we affirm.

FACTS

The Tacoma Public School District hired Mark Travis to teach in its Learning Assistance Program (LAP) in August 2000. Travis had suffered brain hemorrhages in 1994 and 1998. Though eventually some symptoms such as loss of balance and vision, confusion, dizziness, and headaches partially resolved, these hemorrhages left Travis with loss of peripheral vision, some unexplained cognitive impairments, and fatigue. Travis also suffered from depression as a result of his continuing and permanent disabilities.

The District assigned Travis to team teach with Silvia Stocks, who Travis claims was unsupportive and harassed him. Robert Arial, the assistant principal at Gray Middle School, gave Travis satisfactory evaluations in every category but noted that while “[Travis] has struggled this year some with classroom management and mastering the fundamentals of teaching. . . [h]e is making satisfactory progress as a first year teacher.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 42-45.

The District rehired Travis and assigned him to his own LAP classroom. Travis had five class periods with six to eight students per class. The District uses a specific reading curriculum in the LAP program called “Soar to Success” or [546]*546SOAR. CP at 143. SOAR specifies an instructional plan that the teacher must implement in a consistent manner. The teacher’s manual outlines and explains daily lesson plans.

Travis did not inform the District of his disability upon being hired or during his first year of teaching. But during a conversation at the beginning of his second year that concerned separating Travis and Stocks, Travis told principal Paul Rawlings that he had a disability, including attention deficit disorder.1 When Rawlings suggested they should sit down and discuss the matter with Stocks and another teacher, Travis told him that he did not want them to have any information about his disability. According to Travis, Rawlings dismissed his condition as trivial, stating, “I have a disability, I am fat,” and told him to continue with the Employee Assistance Program for his depression. CP at 34. Travis claims the District advised him that his contract could be nonrenewed if he had two unsatisfactory categories on two evaluations.

On November 14, 2001, Rawlings observed Travis teach and found several areas of deficient performance and poor classroom management. For example, Rawlings noted that “[Travis] tries to implement the instructional strategies of the SOAR program. However his lesson design and activities supplied to the students do not allow this to happen. His instruction is weak and his ability to follow the curriculum as given is not being done.” CP at 147.

The District’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) officer, Marion Leach, received an inquiry from Travis regarding accommodations in November 2001. The District responded on November 29 by sending Travis a request for accommodation form, which sought information on his disability. Travis never responded.

Shortly after the first evaluation, Travis scheduled a meeting with Rawlings and Jan Miller, the director of certificated employees, to discuss his options. Travis asserts [547]*547that Miller told him he should resign immediately to avoid nonrenewal and, when he did not, Miller implied that she was disappointed, stating that she respected people who resigned. Rawlings asserts that he and Miller explained to Travis that it would be advantageous for him to resign rather than have his contract nonrenewed for poor performance.

Travis claims that Rawlings frequently told him the evaluation process would stop only if Travis informed human resources that he intended to resign. Travis perceived this as a continual threat. Rawlings explains that he talked with Travis only about whether, because of his negative evaluations, it might be advantageous for Travis to voluntarily resign to care for his ailing wife.

On January 25, 2002, Rawlings reevaluated Travis’s teaching, again finding several deficiencies. Because of Travis’s seizures and difficulty concentrating, his doctor ordered him to take a five-week medical leave of absence from the end of March until May 1.

On April 16 and April 30, 2002, the District’s ADA office sent Travis additional accommodation request forms seeking information. When Travis failed to respond, the District informed him it was closing its file, but he could contact the District if he needed an accommodation in the future.

On May 8, Travis received a letter from District Superintendent James Shoemake informing him that the District was not renewing his contract and notifying him of his right to request reconsideration under ROW 28A.405.220. Travis requested reconsideration and met with Shoemake on May 22. At this meeting, Shoemake informed Travis that he could still resign and advised him to do so because neither Shoemake nor the Board of Education had overturned a nonrenewal in Shoemake’s six years as superintendent. The same day, Travis submitted a letter of resignation specifying that his last day of work would be June 20, with an effective date of August 31. On June 11, Travis finally returned one of the District’s request-for-accommodation forms.

[548]*548At a regular meeting on June 13, the District’s Board of Directors accepted Travis’s resignation. The letter informing Travis of this acceptance stated an effective date of June 20. On July 12, Travis attempted to rescind his resignation through his attorney.

On August 20, Travis filed a complaint for injunctive relief in Pierce County Superior Court. On October 15, he filed his claim for damages with the District and, on December 18, he filed his motion for injunctive relief. The District opposed the motion and moved for summary judgment, arguing that, as a matter of law, Travis had no basis for relief on any of his claims.

On February 14, 2003, the superior court denied Travis’s motion for injunctive relief, granted the District’s motion for summary judgment, and dismissed Travis’s substantive claims against the District with prejudice.

On February 24, Travis moved for reconsideration and to amend his complaint to add additional claims. The additional claim relevant to this appeal is Travis’s wrongful-termination-in-violation-of-public-policy claim. The court denied these motions.

ANALYSIS

I. Travis’s Resignation

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Bluebook (online)
120 Wash. App. 542, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travis-v-tacoma-public-school-district-washctapp-2004.