Court Opinion

ID: 9560399
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:48:35.629902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:53.418647
License: Public Domain

BURKE, Justice,
dissenting in part.
I respectfully dissent from that part of today’s decision limiting the school district, in a de novo trial under AS 14.20.205, to the nonretention grounds detailed in the bill of particulars included in the notice of nonretention given to Linstad pursuant to AS 14.20.180.
The Alaska Legislature clearly intended to guarantee fair treatment for tenured teachers threatened with nonretention.1 The majority, bent on providing maximum protection to such teachers, construes the right to a de novo trial provided in AS 14.20.205 as including the right to a trial limited in scope to the grounds for nonre-tention described in the bill of particulars mandated by AS 14.20.180. Neither of the two sections, nor the Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure,2 imposes such a limitation. Section 14.20.205 is totally silent on the issue. Although section 14.20.180 requires a “complete bill of particulars” in the notice of nonretention given to a tenured teacher, it does not purport to apply that requirement, nor any other, to proceedings held in the superior court.3 The Alaska Rules of *843Civil Procedure govern such proceedings. See supra note 3.
The majority treats Linstad’s career interests as paramount. Her interests, however, while undoubtedly important and worthy of protection, are certainly no more important than the public’s interest in identifying and eliminating incompetent teachers, and the children’s “right” to receive a quality education in a conducive environment.4
As long as a teacher is given adequate notice of all charges to be considered in his or her de novo trial, and a fair opportunity to defend against those charges, no sound policy reason exists to prevent a school district from using the available evidence bearing upon the teacher’s fitness to maintain his or her teaching position, regardless of whether the notice of nonretention included such evidence.5

. AS 14.20.175 provides the only grounds for which a tenured teacher is subject to nonretention. AS 14.20.180 requires a school district to include “a statement of cause and a complete bill of particulars" in any notice of nonretention given to a tenured teacher, and affords the teacher the right to an administrative hearing before the school board. If the school board reaches an unfavorable decision, the teacher, upon request, is entitled to a de novo trial in the superior court. See AS 14.20.205.

. The limitation also appears to conflict with the fact that a de novo trial is, by definition, “[a] trial ... in which the whole case is gone into as if no trial whatever had been had in the court below.” Black's Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1986); see also Yepes-Prado v. U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., — F.2d- 1993 WL 394469, at *2 n. 5 (9th Cir. Oct. 8, 1993).

.The state’s legislative power undoubtedly includes the power to enact rules governing school district practices and procedures in teacher nonretention cases. See Alaska Const, art. II, § 1. Thus, the legislature is free to impose procedural requirements such as those contained in AS 14.20.180 upon school districts and teachers. Linstad's de novo trial, however, will be held in the superior court. Section 14.20.180 does not even pretend to regulate practice and procedure in the superior court, and if it did, the statute would be invalid. Only this court, the supreme court, has the power to “make and promulgate rules governing practice and procedure in civil and criminal cases in [the] courts.” Alaska Const, art. IV, § 15. Thus, the Alaska Civil Rules govern all proceedings in the superior court. The legislature, while it has the power to change such rules “by two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house,” has no power to make them. Id.; Channel Flying, Inc. v. Bernhardt, 451 P.2d 570 (Alas*843ka 1969). (Note: No such change has been made in any of the Civil Rules applicable to this proceeding.)

. I do not intend to pass judgment upon Lin-stad’s performance as a teacher, nor upon the question of whether she is entitled to maintain her teaching position. My remarks are directed only toward that portion of today's decision limiting the scope of the de novo trial required by AS 14.20.205.

. The majority suggests that the school district could “disadvantage” the teacher by bolstering its nonretention decision with new evidence. This seems generally unlikely, since the teacher is the only party that can request a de novo trial. AS 14.20.205. Op. at 841. If the district loses at the school board hearing, there is no de novo trial. Thus, the district has an interest in putting forward all of its evidence during the administrative hearing. The district had no incentive to withhold relevant evidence until the de novo trial. At any rate, in light of the important policy reasons discussed above, I see no good reason to restrict the evidence that the district can present at a de novo trial to the matters contained in the bill of particulars.