Feb 22, 2008 - Wrongful termination lawsuit results in a judge ordering school district to pay approximately $20,000 in attorney fees.
The case was originally filed Aug. 9, 2004, and was briefly removed to federal court.TT - The bottom line is that school districts can not fire a teacher for "instructional ineffectiveness and unsatisfactory teaching performance" without spending $200,000 or more and wasting three years, and even then, it becomes a legal football. The final irony is that the school district paid his salary for the three years, the legal fees for their own attorneys, and the costs of a replacement in the classroom, and now his legal fees.
[Special District Judge David] Nelson tried the case in December 2004 and ordered Weston’s reinstatement. The school district appealed Nelson’s decision, and an appellate court sent the case back to Nelson to submit findings of fact and conclusions of law concerning his decision to reinstate Weston.
The appeals court reversed Nelson’s decision and sent the case back to the state court on Sept. 19, 2006. [Attorney Richard] O’Carroll entered the case Oct. 2, 2006, court records show. Weston’s request for a re-hearing before the appellate court was denied in December 2006.
Court records show the appellate court’s decision to reverse Nelson was vacated July 3, 2007, and Nelson’s decision was affirmed. The appellate court also granted an application by Weston for appellate attorney fees and ruled [Special District Judge David] Nelson was authorized to determine the amount of attorney fees to be awarded to Weston.
If you want to know the convoluted legal process, the lawsuit is online.
The teacher may have been a perfectly fine employee but the decision to remove him from the classroom shouldn't be a political one that costs upwards of $250,000.
What taxpayers and parents should question is whether such legal protections should be provided for teachers and educators when there is no evidence that they are anymore professional than any other licensed professions that do not have similar protections. The only other employees who are similarly blessed are government employees, which ought to make most people ask, why is that? The temptation is to think it's because political patronage jobs resulted in such a low calibre of employee that the safeguards were there to prevent firing. Why educators should be a protected employee class is something that should be debated.
The absurd lengths that a school district must go to in order to fire an employee guarantees that no teacher will be fired for incompetence or even failure to show up for work. And it's your tax dollars. And your children.
