Court Opinion

ID: 9678316
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:16:44.624609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:03.578399
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
WRIGHT, Presiding Judge.
Appellant contends on application for rehearing that this Court erred in its original opinion because we overlooked Section 356 of Title 52. Appellant contends that the legislature by passage of Sections 356 and 357 in 1953 subsequent to the holding of the Supreme Court in the case of Clark v. Beverly, 257 Ala. 484, 59 So.2d 810, intended to require that transfer and cancellation of the contract of a teacher be founded upon the same standards. Appellant further contends that the last sentence or portion of Section 356 makes manifest such intent.
*224We considered this contention of appellant upon original submission but did not comment thereon in our opinion. We did not comment for it appears evident to us that Section 356 has no application whatever to standards of conduct or basis for transfer. Section 356 is headed — “Method of contesting a proposed transfer.” It follows Section 355 which sets out the right to transfer and the specific limitations thereon. All Section 356 does is to give to the tenured teacher the right to a contest of such transfer and a hearing thereon. Transferred teachers had previously been without the right of hearing and contest. Clark v. Beverly, supra. The last sentence or portion of the section referred to by appellant makes its effect very clear. It is as follows:
“The procedure at such hearing and the responsibility of the board subsequent to such hearing and the rights of the teacher and the board at such hearing shall be the same as arc provided for a contested hearing for cancellation of the teacher’s contract as hereinafter set out in Section 359 of this chapter.” [Emphasis supplied].
Section 359 provides for the procedure of the Board of Education in giving notice of and reason for cancellation of a contract. It establishes how a contest may be filed and a hearing requested. It provides safeguards for the teacher in the hearing. It grants the teacher the right to have counsel, subpoena witnesses, examine and cross-examine witnesses, etc.
The right of a board of education to transfer a teacher with tenure and to cancel a teacher’s contract of employment is established by separate statutes. Sections 355 and 358, Title 52, respectively. Section 356 provides the method of contesting a transfer. It further provides that if contest is filed a hearing shall follow with the same procedure and rights as in the cancellation of a contract.
Section 355 does not require a board to have grounds for a transfer. It provides only reasons for which a transfer may not be given. Section 358 requires that a board may not cancel a contract except for specific grounds and further provides reasons why a contract may not be cancelled. Thus it is very clear that transfers and cancellations were not intended by the legislature to be viewed alike. Their ultimate effect is markedly different.
Rehearing denied.
BRADLEY and HOLMES, JJ., concur.