Opinion ID: 1838335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: dathe evidence

Text: That this affiant then entered the hearing room with Mr. Dathe and the superintendent, Donald Emch, who was asked by the superintendent to give the reasons for the non-renewal of the Dathe contract; that Mr. Emch then cited as the first reason for the non-renewal `lack of discipline'; that Mr. Emch stated that Mr. Dathe had `lost control of his classroom'; that this affiant then asked Mr. Emch what criteria he used to evaluate Mr. Dathe and Mr. Emch's reply was that it was his opinion that Mr. Dathe did not have good discipline; that this affiant then again asked him what procedure he used for evaluation and Mr. Emch replied that he did not have to explain how he evaluated his teachers; that Mr. Emch did not explain or indicate that he had been in Mr. Dathe's classroom to observe but to the contrary, Mr. Dathe said that while Mr. Emch had been in and out of his classroom to get a child to run an errand, he had not been in the classroom for the purpose of observation and he further advised that in industrial arts he lets the children work in pairs and that he does not interrupt the grade he is teaching unless the other grade is doing something to disrupt his teachings; that at this point the school board president, Mr. Salveson, interjected to say that they had hired Mr. Emch as administrator and if in his opinion he said Mr. Dathe had poor discipline, that was good enough for them; that at this point the  discussion was cut off by the school board president; That the next stated reason was that the Plaintiff was deficient in his subject matter knowledge and had poor motivation of the students and the students did not pay attention to him; it was also said that Mr. Dathe was a below average teacher and did not think of the welfare of the students; that there was no attempt on the part of Mr. Emch to justify this charge and he simply said that he was able to observe from the hall before school and after school; Mr. Dathe pointed out that he had given his 5th and 6th grade students SRA tests in the first month of school and that they did very poorly at that time; that within the last few weeks just prior to the hearing, the tests were given again and some of the same students scored at the 8th and 9th grade level and most of them were above their previous level; that Mr. Dathe thought that he was doing a good job with young people and thought that if he wasn't motivating them they would not be learning as well as they were; that this affiant again brought up that most good schools have an evaluation program for their teachers and that this program was used to improve the teaching climate but Mr. Emch said that he had seen the NDEA recommended forms and thought they were all right but after a teacher had his degree he should know when he is doing something wrong and the superintendent should not have to tell him; That the third reason for the non-renewal was given as being unable to spell and speak correctly; that the superintendent gave as an example that Mr. Dathe had made a mistake on one of his report cards and that on the request for a hearing he did not capitalize school board and left out the comma after the word sincerely; That the superintendent listed as the next charge that his general judgment was poor and that the teachers were told where they could smoke and where they could not and that Mr. Dathe was smoking in his classroom one evening before room visitation; that Mr. Dathe said that he was smoking prior to the time the parents came in and if he wished to smoke when the parents were there he always asked for permission; that Mr. Emch said that this was a minor point anyway; That Mr. Emch then said Mr. Dathe's general industry was poor and he needed to show more energy on the job; that Mr. Dathe pointed out that he usually shows up between 7:30 and 8:00 o'clock in the morning and leaves from 5:00 to 6:00 o'clock in the afternoon so that he could prepare his classes for the next day; that Mr. Emch, in reply to this, said that he was there longer than anyone else during the day and stayed until after everyone had left; that the school board president said that this is what they hire an administrator for; That the superintendent then cited as another reason poor tact; that the superintendent gave as an example of this that at a hearing or meeting with a health insurance carrier, Mr. Dathe asked the amount of the premium; that when he was told what the premium would be, he said that on his salary it would be impossible to fit this into the budget; that when this affiant attempted to question Mr. Emch with regard to this point, the school Board president cut the question off by saying that it was not one of the major items for the non-renewal; That the last reason given was general lacking of good leadership; that there was very little discussion on this item and no example was given by the superintentent; That at this point the president of the school board cut off the hearing with the statement, `That the law required a hearing and that we had just had one.'; that the hearing was then terminated; that no board member participated in the discussion except the president and they did not seem to be interested in being there; that there was no opportunity to cross examine the superintendent or extend the discussion beyond that which was hereinbefore been set forth;  That this affiant believes that the school board members felt that they merely had to fulfill an obligation of the law in holding this hearing; that there was no discussion between the board and the teacher with regard to the reasons given and that the board simply relied upon its superintendent. [Affidavit of Ted Gray, NDEA representative, who appeared with Mr. Dathe.]