The independent hearing examiner who heard all the evidence did not think that a teacher using the F word to disparage a student gave the district “good cause” to terminate the teacher’s contract.  The school board disagreed with that.  The board changed the hearing examiner’s conclusion of law.  The change was pretty simple—they changed it from “this is not good cause” to “this is good cause.”  The legal issue then was: can the board do that?

Commissioner Morath concluded that the board can do that.  The board cannot change a “finding of fact” but it can change a “conclusion of law.”  In fact, the Texas legislature specifically authorized boards to do this in 2011.  Thus the board must accept the “facts” as determined by the hearing examiner, but the board might found those facts to be more serious than the hearing examiner did.

In this case, the facts were that the teacher had used profanity, including the F-word, to disparage a student, after receiving a written memorandum that warned the teacher that this was not OK and might lead to termination.  The board changed the conclusion of law to say “this is good cause.” The Commissioner affirmed. The case is Larberg v. Bellville ISD, decided by Commissioner Morath on November 29, 2016. T.E.A. Docket No. 005-R2-10-2016.

DAWG BONE: GENERAL RULE: SCHOOL BOARDS DO NOT APPROVE OF THE F WORD.

 File this one under: TEACHER TERMINATION

Tomorrow: It’s Toolbox Tuesday!!