Court Opinion

ID: 7822977
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 18:00:34.091579+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:47.357803
License: Public Domain

David Newbern, Justice, concurring. This case involved an annexation of one school district (Plum Bayou-Tucker) by another (Wabbaseka) to form a new district called Wabbaseka-Tucker. Even if we consider the Plum Bayou District to have been dissolved and merely its territory annexed, the new district remained responsible for honoring the contracts of the Plum Bayou-Tucker teachers. Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 80-419, 80-423 (Repl. 1980). The duty to honor Mr. Woodard’s contract, however, does not go beyond the provisions of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, and particularly Ark. Stat. Ann. § 80-1264.9(b) (Repl. 1980), which says a teacher may be dismissed for “ . . . any cause which is not arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory. . . .” The majority opinion says even if that standard applied to Mr. Woodard he has not been treated arbitrarily or capriciously. I view Mr. Woodard’s contention as being that it was arbitrary and capricious to dismiss him without comparing his qualifications with others who, for example, were hired for the English teaching positions in the new district. The majority concludes it was not arbitrary and capricious to fail to make the comparison and hire the best teachers from the pool created by the annexation. The majority’s theme seems to be that in annexing Plum Bayou-Tucker, Wabbaseka had the right to protect its own teachers because it was the stronger district and was somehow doing the weaker district a favor by annexing it. While that theme may not reek of rationality if one assumes the goal of the schools is to provide the best teachers for the students, it cannot be said to be irrational per se for the new district to want to leave undisturbed the contracts of the Wabbaseka teachers. We have been reluctant to deny a school district the power to dismiss a teacher even when the reason seemed to be the won-lost record of a football team. Lamar School District No. 39 v. Kinder, 278 Ark. 1, 642 S.W.2d 885 (1982). Despite that earlier decision, I would disagree with the majority here had we been shown that no legitimate goal was served by keeping Wabbaseka teachers employed despite superior qualifications of available Plum Bayou-Tucker teachers. It was the duty of the appellant to convince us of the arbitrariness or capriciousness of the plan, and he has not done so. I, therefore, concur in the result reached by the majority.