Court Opinion

ID: 9688283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:42:26.337515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:37.084269
License: Public Domain

FLEMING, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent with respect to the majority’s interpretation of the language “such a physician” in Minn.Stat. § 125.12, subd. 7 (1986). Based upon the underlying purpose of the suspension and reinstatement provisions of the teacher tenure laws, the legislature must have intended the language “such a physician” to refer to a physician chosen by the same process as that for suspension.
When the language of a statute is ambiguous, the appellate court must “determine the probable legislative intent and give the statute a construction that is consistent with that intent.” Turna v. Commissioner of Economic Sec., 386 N.W.2d 702, 706 (Minn.1986). When the language of a statute is unclear, this court should interpret the statute as consistently with the purpose of the act as possible. See Minn.Stat. § 645.16 (1990); Huffman v. Independent Consol. School Dist., 230 Minn. 289, 292, 41 N.W.2d 455, 457 (1950).
The purpose underlying school board termination and teacher tenure laws is to provide for a balance of interests. The laws must consider the prevention of arbitrary discharges of teachers without regard to the their ability, balanced against the role of the local school board of attempting to make the best selections consonant with *121the public good. Kroll v. Independent School Dist. No. 593, 304 N.W.2d 338, 344 (Minn.1981), see also Keller v. Independent School Dist. No. 74.2, 302 Minn. 324, 328-29, 224 N.W.2d 749, 752 (1974); McSherry v. City of St. Paul, 202 Minn. 102, 108, 277 N.W. 541, 544 (1938).
This legislative intent is illustrated by the detailed procedure established in Minn. Stat. § 125.12, subd. 7 for suspension. First, the statute requires examination of the teacher by a qualified physician chosen by the teacher from a list of three presented by the school district. Id. If, after that evaluation, the teacher disagrees with the conclusions reached by the physician, the teacher can request an examination by a panel of three physicians. Id. That panel is comprised of one doctor chosen by the school board, one doctor chosen by the teacher and a third chosen by the other two examiners. Id. The process allows both parties to contribute to the determination, while providing certainty that an impartial result will be obtained. This procedure is consistent with the purpose of the act. Thus, for the purposes of reinstatement, the term “such a physician” must refer back to the suspension process in order to be consistent with the stated intent underlying the statute. Therefore, both the teacher and the school board will have input into the selection and neither party will have exclusive control over the outcome.
Based upon relator’s theory, a teacher seeking reinstatement would have sole control over the selection of the physician to support reinstatement. Under that interpretation, the teacher would only need to choose the physician selected by her in conjunction with the earlier suspension proceeding in order to satisfy the statutory requirement. The district court in the mandamus proceeding did not seem to find this problematic. That court reasoned “no physician could ethically render such an opinion without a factual basis for it, no matter where the physician’s sympathies may lie.” However, even if this is true, because facts can be interpreted in a variety of ways, it appears that following the suspension procedure for reinstatement purposes allows for more accurate results.
Relator claims that a review of the legislative history of Minn.Stat. § 125.12, subd. 7 proves the term “such a physician” refers to one of the panel who has already examined her during the suspension process. She urges this court to interpret the legislature’s omission of a detailed panel examination procedure prior to reinstatement as clear evidence that the legislature considered the position advocated by the school district and rejected it. However, the legislature may have decided to omit the panel examination language from the reinstatement portion of the statute merely in an attempt to avoid being repetitive.
The purpose of the teacher tenure laws is to provide a balance between the school board and the teachers’ interests. Kroll, 304 N.W.2d at 344. Thus, requiring a neutral process for reinstatement appears to be more consistent with the legislative intent than relator’s interpretation. Therefore, I would interpret “such a physician” within the meaning of Minn.Stat. § 125.12, subd. 7 to mean a physician chosen using the same process outlined for suspension.