Court Opinion

ID: 9789945
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:44:19.738741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:25.312647
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice,
dissenting.
The facts as stated by the majority, while essentially correct insofar as they go, should be cast in a different light. In 1976, the school district initiated a vocational industrial mechanic class at Minico High School. Robinson was hired to design that curriculum and teach the class for six periods a day. Some 94 students enrolled in the class. Robinson received an extra ten per cent of his salary for teaching that sixth class period. In 1977, Robinson was offered a contract for the next succeeding school year to teach the same class six periods a day with the same ten per cent increase in salary. He declined that offer and only taught five classes per day for the succeeding school year. After two years, enrollment in the class had dwindled to 45 students. Therefore, it was determined by the administration that the work load had dropped so significantly (an average of seven or eight students per class period) that the entire six class periods would be taught by one teacher with no additional compensation. Robinson was tendered a contract which specifically required him to teach those six class periods with no additional salary and that contract was accepted by Robinson and approved by the district. Robinson taught the 1978-79 school year under the authority of that contract. He filed a grievance for being required to teach that sixth period with no additional compensation, but that grievance was rejected. The district contended below that Robinson was barred because the grievance was not timely filed. However, the magistrate found the contrary to that assertion and the magistrate’s decision on that point was upheld by the district court.
The essence of Robinson’s complaint is that contrary to the express terms of his contract, a school board policy required the payment of extra compensation if his teaching time per day exceeded four hours and ten minutes, albeit he had only seven or eight students in each class. Implied in the argument is that the district’s contract demand which was accepted' by Robinson was unconscionable in requiring him to teach classes of seven or eight students five hours per day for 195 days in return for his yearly salary of some $12,000 per year.
I would note that the decision of the district court is a model of meticulous and detailed consideration of the evidence, and, in my mind, could be adopted by this Court *494as dispositive of the case. The district court noted that the questions presented were (1) whether the evidence supported a finding of a policy of the school district that required extra compensation be paid to all high school teachers who taught a sixth class schedule, and (2) whether the uncontroverted evidence required a finding that the school district had a policy of determining annually on an individual basis whether or not additional salary would be paid for teaching a sixth class schedule. The district court held that the evidence did not demonstrate an all-inclusive policy of the board that under all circumstances the sixth class schedule would require additional compensation, but rather, (although the magistrate court had failed to make any finding on the matter), the school district policy was to require annual assessment of the need for additional compensation when extra duties of teaching were involved. The majority opinion here brushes aside that ruling of the district court stating that while the policy may have been enunciated and known to Robinson at the time he signed the contract, nevertheless, it was not necessarily Board policy. Such conclusion of the majority is clearly at odds with the meticulous holding of the district court pointing out exactly how that policy of the school board was adopted.
It is clear to me at least that the policy of the school board regarding annual evaluation was meant to and did cover situations such as are presented in the instant case. The work load of Robinson was obviously minimal when contrasted with the usual student ratio in a class and the amount of paperwork required beyond the actual teaching hours. Here the record indicates that because of the nature of the classes taught, Robinson had a minimum of paperwork beyond the actual teaching hours.
Robinson was offered a contract for a sum certain to teach a certain number of hours per day for 195 days. If he was dissatisfied, he could have rejected the offer and indeed there was protest by Robinson and extended negotiations and efforts to reduce the contract term to five classes per day. Robinson ultimately accepted the offer of the school board and signed the contract. In my opinion, the majority here modifies that express contract after it has been performed by both contracting parties by holding that a “policy” of the school district has somehow modified that totally executed contract. That “policy,” the majority tells us, is to be found rooted in ambiguous, unclear actions of the school board which somehow contradict the express provisions of the Robinson contract. That “policy” purporting to set an overall requirement of extra compensation in all circumstances is also clearly contrary to the announced policy of the district that extra compensation will be determined on an annual basis under the individual circumstances of each case.
I would affirm the decision of the district court and adopt its decision as the opinion of this Court.