Opinion ID: 2003365
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Constructive Plan

Text: The opinion asserts that Beville claims that a constructive (or prescriptive) plan was not conducted as required by the contract. The opinion misstates or misunderstands Beville's claim. The claim is built on a premise. If Dr. Dahlin (Dep't Chair) did not support Beville's tenure because of, in his own words, deficiencies in Beville's performance, then he was required to note these deficiencies in Beville's evaluations and provide a constructive plan, under the terms of the contract. The contract clearly ties the results of performance evaluations to tenure considerations. BOR/COHE Agreement, § 9.10 states in part: The purpose of the evaluation will be to: ... (4) Provide information for personnel decisions such as tenure and promotion. Therefore, because the performance evaluations and the procedures regulating them are incorporated into the tenure process, an applicant is not given a meaningful opportunity to respond to alleged deficiencies in performance where no notice of these deficiencies is provided. The contract calls for performance evaluations to be utilized in tenure considerations. The performance evaluation is designed to notify the teacher and the administration of deficiencies, so that these deficiencies can be corrected. If the teacher/tenure applicant is never notified of any deficiencies he has no notice. When positive performance evaluations have no meaning, because they do not accurately portray the evaluated performance, the teacher/tenure applicant has no opportunity to respond. The determination here must be resolved by reference to the contract between the disputing parties. The Dep't Chair alleged deficiencies in Beville's performance in his clarifying letter and his discussions with Dr. Butwell. While President McFadden asserts there was nothing wrong with these clarifications by the Dep't Chair, the contract does not provide for them and they are contradictory to the mandated inclusion and consideration of prior performance evaluations, all of which were acceptable to excellent for a period of six years. [2] Section 11.10, ¶ 7 states: The performance record of a faculty unit member considered for tenure will be based upon the performance evaluations conducted by the administration during all years of service credited toward tenure qualification. The only fair reading which can be given this section is that the tenure applicant's performance record is based upon the evaluations and it is improper, violative of the contractual procedures and highly prejudicial for ex parte allegations of deficiencies to be inserted into the process.