Opinion ID: 1208241
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Daddow's Discharge Complied with Section 22-5-4

Text: I am unable to agree with Part III of the majority opinion, which affirms the district court's construction of Section 22-5-4(D). Under the district court's construction, the District properly discharged Daddow, notwithstanding the school superintendent's contrary recommendation. I respectfully suggest that the wording the legislature chose indicates it intended a different result. The legislature seems to me to have allocated the decision-making authority on this issue equally between the superintendent and the school board. Section 22-5-4(D) states, in relevant part: A local school board shall have the following powers or duties: ... (D) subject to the provisions of law, approve or disapprove the ... termination or discharge of all employees ... upon a recommendation of ... termination or discharge by the superintendent of schools.... Any ... termination or discharge without the prior recommendation of the superintendent is void[.] The majority opinion agrees with the District that the statute requires a superintendent's input, but does not render a school board powerless to act, except in accordance with the recommendation of its superintendent. Op. at 106, 898 P.2d at 1244. However, the statute authorizes a school board to approve... [the termination] upon a recommendation... of termination ... by the superintendent and then provides that a termination without the prior recommendation of the superintendent is void. I believe that the legislature intended the last sentence of the section to mean [a]ny ... termination or discharge without the prior recommendation of [termination or discharge by] the superintendent is void. I note that Section 22-5-4(D) was amended in 1993 to say that any employment relationship shall continue until final decision of the board. See 1993 N.M.Laws, ch. 226, § 12. Although the amendment is not applicable to the facts of this case, Daddow having been terminated prior to its effective date, it is consistent with the statutory construction I suggest is more appropriate: that the legislature contemplated the board would approve or disapprove a recommendation to terminate and did not authorize the board to discharge without such a recommendation. There is some support for that construction in a 1980 opinion by Judge Andrews for the Court of Appeals. See Gallegos v. Los Lunas Consol. Sch. Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 160, 162, 619 P.2d 836, 838 (Ct.App.) (discussing the 1979 amendment to Section 22-5-4(D), which added the last sentence of the statutory provision, and agreeing with board's position in that case, which was that the legislature intended to strengthen the superintendent's power), cert. quashed, 95 N.M. 299, 621 P.2d 516 (1980). Cases from other states with statutes similar to ours also support the construction I suggest. See Adkins v. Board of Educ. of Magoffin County, 982 F.2d 952, 959 (1993) (under state law, school board could not hire classified personnel without a recommendation from the Superintendent); State ex rel. Farley v. Board of Educ. of Euclid City Sch. Dist., 156 N.E.2d 924, 927-28 (Ohio 1958) (holding that there can be no employment of a teacher... without a recommendation by the superintendent to that effect made to the board), aff'd, 169 Ohio St. 388, 159 N.E.2d 747 (1959); Reed v. Greene, 243 S.W.2d 892, 893 (Ky. 1951) (holding that the recommendation of the superintendent is a condition precedent to the right of the board to employ). I do not disagree with the reasoning of Stanley v. Raton Board of Education, 117 N.M. 717, 876 P.2d 232 (1994), which held that a school board may unilaterally discharge a superintendent without the superintendent's prior recommendation. As the Stanley opinion points out, it would be absurd to expect a superintendent to recommend his own removal. Id. at 719, 876 P.2d at 234. I am not persuaded, however, that requiring the superintendent's recommendation before a school board may discharge other employees serves no useful purpose. Rather, I believe the requirement provides additional protection for employees and strengthens a superintendent's administrative authority, reasonable choices we may presume the legislature made after due consideration of the alternatives. Thus, I would limit Stanley to those situations where the school board is attempting to discharge a superintendent.