Court Opinion

ID: 9561376
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:09:04.060857+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:45.804933
License: Public Domain

Justice ERICKSON
specially concurring in the result:
I agree with the analysis of the court of appeals. Snyder v. Jefferson County *633School Dist. R-1, 821 P.2d 840 (Colo.App.1991). Because of the undisputed facts in this case, I would not go beyond affirming the school board’s determination that the petitioner: (1) had been on medical leave for over one year; (2) had allowed her teaching certificate to expire by failing to take timely steps to renew her certification; and (3) failed to report for her assigned work following her leave of absence. In my view, on the basis of these facts alone, the school district properly dismissed the petitioner, as a tenured teacher, for “other good and just cause” pursuant to section 22-63-116, 9 C.R.S. (1988). The petitioner’s “sex reassignment” surgery is irrelevant under the circumstances presented in this case.
The petitioner took a leave of absence at the end of the 1982-83 school year and was advised by the school district, over one year prior to her termination, that her teacher certification would expire on December 30, 1983. After her initial year of leave, the petitioner sought an extension on an unpaid leave of absence basis which was properly denied by the school district.1 Thereafter, after being warned by the school district of the consequences of failing to maintain her certification and being offered a position as a junior high school teacher, the petitioner was terminated when she failed to seek recertification or commence work as directed. However, once she was terminated by the school district, the petitioner did undertake to obtain her recertification and was able to complete the work in only 21 days.
In my view, nothing presented by the petitioner justifies or provides a legal basis for overturning her termination by the school district and I would affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

. In applying for an extension of her unpaid leave of absence, the petitioner submitted a report to the district that was signed by a person identifying herself as the petitioner's "primary therapist” and by a doctor identified as a "case supervisor.” Nothing in the report indicated that the petitioner was suffering from any physical or mental disability, that she was unable to teach, or that the contemplated surgery was not elective. In addressing the propriety of the district’s denial of the petitioner’s request for extended leave, the Administrative Law Judge stated that:
Nothing in this letter indicated to a layman that surgery was immediately required or that [the petitioner] was not mentally or physically capable to begin work in the fall of 1984....
[The petitioner] has presented no legal authority that in making its determination the District was required to conduct its own investigation or go beyond the information provided by [the petitioner]. In fact, any such requirement would not be reasonable. Where a teacher asks the District to consider requests for leave extension on its merits, the burden would seem clearly to be on the teacher to provide sufficient information for the District to make that determination. In addition, this determination must be based upon the information on hand at the time of the decision; the District should not be second-guessed by the latter testimony of experts as to what was a medically necessary or compelling procedure.