Kanawha County BOE v. Hayes
Annotate this Case IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST
VIRGINIA
September 1997 Term
___________
No. 24008
___________
KANAWHA COUNTY
BOARD OF EDUCATION,
Respondent below, Appellants,
v.
WILLIAM A. HAYES,
Grievant below, Appellee.
________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Kanawha County
Hon. Charles E. King, Judge
Civil Action No. 95-AA-171
AFFIRMED
________________________________________________________
Submitted: October 8, 1997
Filed: December 16, 1997
Gregory W. Bailey,
Esq. James
M. Haviland, Esq.
Charleston, West
Virginia Crandall,
Pyles & Haviland
Attorney for
Appellant Charleston,
West Virginia
Attorney
for Appellee
The Opinion of the Court was delivered PER
CURIAM.
CHIEF JUSTICE WORKMAN dissents and reserves the
right to file a dissenting opinion.
JUSTICE MAYNARD dissents and reserves the right to file a dissenting opinion.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1. "A final order of the hearing examiner for the West Virginia Educational Employees Grievance Board, made pursuant to W.Va. Code, 18-29-1, et. seq. [1985], and based upon findings of fact, should not be reversed unless clearly wrong." Syllabus Point 1, Randolph County Board of Education v. Scalia, 182 W.Va. 289, 387 S.E.2d 524 (1989).
Per Curiam:See
footnote 1 1
This appeal was
filed following a final order of the Circuit Court of Kanawha
County which affirmed the decision of the administrative law
judge ("ALJ") of the West Virginia Education Employees
Grievance Board. The circuit court affirmed the ALJ's decision
that the appellant, the Kanawha County Board of Education
("Board"), failed to provide evidence sufficient to
remove the appellee, William D. Hayes, from his teaching
position. In this appeal the Board argues that the circuit court
erred by not finding that the ALJ's decision was clearly wrong,
and that the ALJ improperly used evidence presented at the
pre-termination hearing.
I.
William D. Hayes
had been employed by the Kanawha County Board of Education as a
mathematics teacher for 22 years, and during that time he was
consistently evaluated as "excellent," or as a teacher
who "exceeds expectations." During November of 1994 Mr.
Hayes was working as a teacher at Sissonville Middle School and
was serving as the teacher in charge of collecting money from
students for lunch and snacks. The
responsibility of collecting this money was
performed on a rotational basis, and the teachers, who were
assigned this responsibility, were also assisted by volunteer
students. Mr. Hayes established a practice of allowing two
students to assist him for each nine-week period so as to allow
as many students to assist as possible. During November of 1994
Brittany B. and Nicky V.,See
footnote 2 2 two seventh-grade students, were the
volunteers for Mr. Hayes.
The
responsibility consisted of collecting lunch money in the morning
and being responsible each afternoon for the operation of the
break room, a room where students were free to go during their
break and purchase snacks. On the afternoon of November 14, 1994,
Brittany B. and Nicky V. came to the break room to purchase
snacks and were in the room with approximately six other
students; an additional 115 other students were wandering the
hallway. When Mr. Hayes observed Brittany B. and Nicky V. in the
break room, he called them over to him and thanked them for their
assistance with the lunch money collection. While thanking them,
he gave Brittany B. a pat with his hand and gave each girl a
Jolly Rancher, a small piece of candy.
Three class
periods after the break, Brittany B. reported to the school
counselor that Mr. Hayes had patted her on her buttocks. The
counselor reported this to the principal who in turn reported the
incident to the superintendent. The following day Brittany B. and
Rachel S.See
footnote 3 3 were interviewed concerning what
occurred in Mr. Hayes' break room. At the pre-termination
hearing, Rachel S. testified that she saw Mr. Hayes touch
Brittany B. "on the behind." However, at the Level IV
hearing on both direct and cross-examination, Rachel S.
demonstrated where she saw Mr. Hayes touch Brittany B.; she
indicated on her side about waist level.See footnote 4 4
A recommendation
was made to the Board that Mr. Hayes be terminated following the
pre-termination hearing for immorality under W.Va. Code,
18A-2-8 [1990]. The Board followed this recommendation and
terminated Mr. Hayes' employment on December 21, 1994. Following
these events, Mr. Hayes requested a Level IV Grievance Hearing
which was conducted on April 4, 1994. The ALJ rendered her
decision of June 28, 1994, holding that the Board failed to meet
its burden of proof and ordered Mr. Hayes be
restored to his position with back pay. An
appeal was filed with the circuit court which affirmed the ruling
of the ALJ. This appeal followed.
II.
The Board appeals
the decision of the circuit court which affirmed the findings of
the ALJ. The authority of the circuit court is set forth in W.Va.
Code, 18-29-7 [1985] which provides:
The decision of
the hearing examiner [administrative law judge] shall be final
upon the parties and shall be enforceable in the circuit court:
Provided, That either party may appeal to the circuit court of
the county in which the grievance occurred on the grounds that
the hearing examiner's decision (1) was contrary to law or
lawfully adopted rule, regulation or written policy of the chief
administrator or governing board, (2) exceeded the hearing
examiner's statutory authority, (3) was the result of fraud or
deceit, (4) was clearly wrong in view of the reliable, probative
and substantial evidence on the whole record, or (5) was
arbitrary or capricious or characterized by abuse of discretion
or clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion.
In
reaching its decision, the circuit court relied upon Board of
Education of County of Mercer v. Wirt, 192 W.Va. 568, 579,
453 S.E.2d 402, 413 (1994) which provides that an appellate court
may not reverse a lower tribunal's conclusion under the clearly
erroneous standard, if the conclusion is plausible when viewing
the evidence in its entirety.
The standard of
review for this Court in these cases was set forth in Syllabus
Point 1, Randolph County Board of Education v. Scalia, 182
W.Va. 289, 387 S.E.2d 524 (1989) which states:
A final order of
the Hearing Examiner for the West Virginia Educational Employees
Grievance Board, made pursuant to W.Va. Code, 18-29-1, et. seq.
[1985] and based upon findings of fact, should not be reversed
unless clearly wrong.
Upon
reviewing the evidence in its entirety, we find that the ALJ's
conclusions were plausible and not clearly wrong. The ALJ was
present during all of the testimony and was able to perceive
first-hand the demonstrations of all of the witnesses, including
Rachel S., who had been presented as a witness favorable to the
Board's position. Based on these demonstrations and testimony,
the ALJ determined that Mr. Hayes did not touch Brittany B. on
her buttocks but on her side, and that this action did not
constitute immoral conduct. The evidence of this case does not
show that the ALJ was clearly wrong and her decision should
therefore stand.
For the foregoing
reasons we affirm the order of the Circuit Court of Kanawha
County.
Affirmed.
Footnote: 1 1 We point out that a per curiam opinion is not legal precedent. See Lieving v. Hadley, 188 W.Va. 197, 201 n.4, 423 S.E.2d 600, 604 n.4. (1992) ("Per curiam opinions . . . are used to decide only the specific case before the Court; everything in a per curiam opinion beyond the syllabus point is merely obiter dicta . . . . Other courts, such as many of the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals, have gone to non-published (not-to-be-cited) opinions to deal with similar cases. We do not have such a specific practice, but instead use published per curiam opinions. However, if rules of law or accepted ways of doing things are to be changed, then this Court will do so in a signed opinion, not a per curiam opinion.")
Footnote: 2 2 As is our traditional practice, we avoid using the last names of minors in cases involving sensitive facts. See State v. Derr, 192 W.Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731(1994); State ex rel. Div. of Human Serv. by Mary C.M. v. Benjamin P.B., 183 W.Va. 220, 395 S.E.2d 220 (1990).
Footnote: 3 3 Rachel S. had been present in the classroom (break room) during the break period and observed Mr. Hayes' touching of Brittany B.
Footnote:
4 4
The Board disputes that Rachel S. demonstrated during the Level
IV hearing that the touch occurred on the side. On the record,
for the transcript, the attorney for Mr. Hayes stated
contemporaneous with the demonstration during the
cross-examination, that Rachel S. is touching her side, which
narrative was not objected to or corrected. The demonstration
which occurred during the Board's direct examination was narrated
by the ALJ who stated that Rachel S. placed her hand in the
general vicinity "of the behind." However, in her
written opinion, the ALJ stated that in her demonstration, Rachel
S. ". . . placed her hand on her side, about waist
level." The ALJ further stated that "[w]hen asked to
demonstrate again on cross-examination, Rachel S. again put her
hand on her side, at waist level. She then testified that
Grievant [Hayes] did not touch Brittany B. squarely on her
behind, but on her side."
Therefore, since the ALJ was present
during both demonstrations and in her decision she states that
Rachel S. touched her side during these demonstrations, we cannot
determine that the demonstration was other than what the ALJ
stated it was.
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