Court Opinion

ID: 9845459
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:22:31.672128+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:08.521600
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
dissenting: I respectfully dissent. Although I am in agreement with a major part of the majority’s opinion, I dissent from Syllabi ¶¶ 3 & 4, and the corresponding portion of the opinion. The majority has decided that a teacher’s contract of employment must run continually through two consecutive years without any good-faith gaps during the regular school term in order for that teacher to acquire tenure. This decision effectively puts all presently nontenured teachers in great peril. A school board can now delay the starting date of employment for a teacher in any given term by a couple of days and thereby deny the *275teacher the right to count that term as part of the “two consecutive years.” I do not think the good faith requirement that the majority places upon the school is sufficient to insure that the rights of teachers will not be abridged.
It is my conclusion the legislature intended by the passage of K.S.A. 72-5445 that, whenever a teacher is employed at any time during a school year term, the teacher is entitled to count that term as being one of the years required for tenure. The contract, which Ms. Schmidt signed, states clearly: “This contract covers the school year commencing July 1, 1977, and ending June 30, 1978.” Her salary was based upon the pay scale for an entire year’s teaching, although she was paid for only the days she actually taught. This is the same contract which every other teacher in the district signed. The contract was approved by the board on June 13,1977. Thus, it is clear that the board considered Ms. Schmidt to be employed for the entire 1977-78 school term.
The majority’s opinion makes it possible for a board to deny tenure to a teacher for any number of reasons. Two examples will suffice: Suppose a nontenured teacher has to take a few days leave of absence without pay during a school term because of personal reasons. It would appear that since the school board in good faith allowed her to do this, the gap in employment would prevent the teacher from using that year as part of the “two consecutive years” required for tenure.
Another example: Suppose the school board and the local KNEA contract negotiations are not completed by the time a given school term begins. The teachers would not have a contract of employment for that term until negotiations are completed. Even if a contract is signed on the second day of the term, the nontenured teacher, by the majority’s rationale, could not count that term as part of the “two consecutive years.” The injustice of these examples should be apparent to all.
For these reasons, I would affirm the trial court’s decision.