Court of Appeal Cases

Noteworthy Education Cases Litigated by Beeson, Tayer & Bodine Attorneys

• CTA v. Vallejo Unified School Dist. (California Court of Appeal, 2007 ) Siding with the teachers’ union, the Court of Appeal barred school districts from classifying teachers as “temporary” simply because they do not have clear or preliminary credentials. Under the Education Code, the “temporary” classification is narrowly construed because temporary teachers have far fewer rights than probationary teachers. Unless they are “truly temporary,” teachers holding provisional credentials, such as internship certificates, are entitled to all due process rights afforded to probationary teachers, including layoff rights and the right to a mid-year dismissal hearing
• Edwards v. Oakland Unified School Dist. (2001). A092869 (Unpublished, 1st Dist. Ct. of Appeal). A district may not circumvent sec. 44956 by refusing to reemploy a laid-off employee if the employee is properly credentialed for the position and has greater seniority than the person selected.
• Woodland Joint Unified School Dist.  v. Commission on Professional Competence (Zuber) (1992). 2 Cal.App.4th 1429, 1444. While the opinion holds that a district is not required to give warning notice to teacher before alleging unfitness, it establishes the important principal that “evident unfitness for service” under Education Code sec. 44932 is not  synonymous with unprofessional conduct.  Instead, a district has the more difficult burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the employee is “clearly not fit, not adapted to or unsuitable for teaching, ordinarily by reason of temperamental defects of inadequacies.”
• Kalamaras v. Albany Unified School Dist. (1991). 226 Cal.App.3d 1571. A temporary employee’s preferential right to reemployment for the next school year under Education Cod sec. 44918(c) cannot be defeated if the employee served at least 75% of the two prior school years.