Webb v. South Panola School District

101 So. 3d 724, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 688, 2012 WL 5477526
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided November 13, 2012·No. No. 2011-CA-01210-COA·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ROBERTS, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On May 28, 2010, the South Panola School District (District) issued Benjamin Webb notice that his contract as a special-education teacher for the 2010-2011 school year would not be renewed. Webb timely requested a hearing before the South Pa-nola School Board (Board) on the non-renewal of his contract. Subsequently, Webb received a letter on June 24, 2010, terminating his employment and providing the grounds of his termination. The Board, through a hearing officer, held the hearing on July 26, 2010. It issued an order finding that there was substantial credible evidence to support the District’s decision to terminate Webb. Webb appealed this decision to the Panola County Chancery Court, and on July 18, 2011, the chancery court affirmed the District’s decision to terminate Webb. Webb now appeals.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Webb was employed as a special-education teacher at the District’s alternative school for approximately nine years. On May 18, 2010, Webb received notice from Dr. Keith Shaffer, the District’s superintendent, that his contract had been renewed for the 2010-2011 school year; however, ten days later, Webb received a letter from Dr. Shaffer stating that Webb’s contract would not be renewed. Then, on June 24, 2010, Webb received another letter from Dr. Shaffer stating that the May 28, 2010 letter of non-renewal was withdrawn and that Webb was terminated under Mississippi Code Annotated section 37-9-59 (Rev.2007). The letter also explained that the reasons for termination were Webb’s “[cjontinued negligence [in] performing adequate classroom instruction,” Webb’s “[f]ailure to complete or maintain IEPs on students[, Webb’s failure to comply with procedural safeguard policies for IEP students,” and his “[fjalsi-fication of documentation involving procedural safeguards.”1

¶ 3. Webb requested a hearing before the Board on the issue of his termination, and one was held on July 26, 2010, with a hearing officer presiding. At the hearing, the District presented testimony of several witnesses to support its decision to terminate Webb. Carolyn Black, an independent special-education consultant for the District, testified about her interactions with Webb. She noted that Webb improperly conducted IEP meetings and improperly completed his students’ IEPs. Concerned with Webb’s performance, Black drafted a teacher-improvement plan for Webb with several key deadlines in May 2010. According to Black, Webb failed to meet the first several deadlines even after Mary Bennett, the District’s special-education director, offered to help. Black further elaborated on Webb’s inability to properly draft an IEP, such as his failure to include behavior plans as required or his failure to indicate on the IEP whether an extended school year for the student was necessary. Black also testified that Webb falsified documents in some students’ IEPs regarding prior notice of IEP meetings. She also expressed much concern over Webb setting a student’s progress rate at achieving sixty percent because sixty percent is con[726] sidered failing in the District. Dianne Enis next testified for the District. Enis works as a special-education consultant for the District, focusing primarily on professional and behavioral development. She testified she had worked with Webb to develop a behavioral plan for a student, but Webb did not follow up or implement that behavioral plan. A second plan was developed, but Webb expressed a desire to wait until the following year to implement the plan. According to Enis, waiting to implement the plan would have been a violation of federal regulations. Bennett testified next. Bennett has been the District’s special-education director for thirty-two years. She noted that Webb did not check his school emails and could not use the computer program designed to generate the IEPs. She also testified that she had gone over Webb’s teacher-improvement plan with him step-by-step and that he missed key deadlines of the plan despite being offered help two times before the deadlines. Additionally, Bennett stated that Webb lost the District curriculum and never sought to replace it. Webb also made decisions regarding whether students needed an extended school year without consulting with the students’ parents as required. Dr. Keith Shaffer, the District superintendent, was the District’s final witness. Dr. Shaffer was asked why he renewed Webb’s contract for the 2010-2011 school year even though Webb was under a teacher-improvement plan, and he explained, “[w]hen I have 500 contracts, I go through signing them and dating them. I just inadvertently — did not realize that [Webb’s] recommendation had already been placed to the [B]oard and done at that time.” According to Dr. Shaffer, Webb’s future employment was going to be decided after his teacher-improvement plan was completed, and ultimately it was (1) Webb’s lack of progress in implementing the teacher-improvement plan, (2) errors committed in completing IEPs after receiving training several times a year, and (3) the “tromping of the procedural safeguards” of the IEP students that contributed to the final decision to terminate Webb.

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Webb v. South Panola School District, 101 So. 3d 724, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 688, 2012 WL 5477526 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

101 So. 3d 724 (Webb v. South Panola School District) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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