ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

current case had to be strikingly similar to the prerequisite case). Once again, they were. Third
and final, a court must have entered a final ruling on the prerequisite claims. They had. Thus,
these claims were barred by res judicata. King did not appeal the ruling of the Common Plea
Court; he simply filed suit in federal court on the same contentions.
Next, the court did allow King’s wrongful assignment claim to survive as it was new.
However, King did not argue that he had rights to another principal position but rather that he
should have been provided with a grievance hearing for non-renewal. He also contended that his
reassignment was made in retaliation for him exposing the fraudulent misuse of Title I funding at
the Pre-K level in the district. As to his First Amendment retaliation claim, King failed to proffer
sufficient evidence that his termination and reassignment were motivated by his reports that he
believed the district was improperly enrolling out-of-district students in the Murray-LaSaine
Title I Pre-K program. The district, on the other hand, offered ample evidence that “school
climate” and morale at Murray-LaSaine were very low due to King’s poor interpersonal skills,
micromanagement, and intimidation of teachers. At no point did King persuade the court that his
statements about the Pre-K program were a substantial factor in his termination and/or
reassignment.
Accordingly, King claimed that the district breached his contract by not providing him
with notice of his deficiencies and remediation for his identified faults. King cited S.C. Code
Ann. § 59-25-440 as his sole basis for this argument, but this argument was ill-founded. S.C.
Code Ann. § 59-25-440 explicitly identifies teachers as possessing rights to notification of
deficiencies and time to improve upon those. At no point in the statute is this interest extended to
administrators. Clearly, King was not a teacher. Therefore, the statute was inapplicable in this
instance and King’s breach claim failed.
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