ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

Case Year State Action PP Litigative Claim
Hinckley v.
School Bd. of
Ind. School Dist.
Midlam v.
Greenville City
School Dist. Bd.
of Educ.
2004 MN T S Hinckley argued that her termination during a
reduction in force was incorrect because her
certification authorized her to serve as a principal of
a K-12 school and that she should have been
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retained over administrators with less tenure.
2005 OH NR SPLIT Midlam alleged that her non-renewal was invalid
because district evaluations were not in accordance
with state policy thereby violating due process
safeguards and that she was still entitled to a
teaching position because of her tenured status.
From Table 58, the researcher was able draw out two issues where schools won legal
contestations over tenure. In the cases where the employee prevailed, there was very little
commonality in the reasoning other than that the administrator possessed some level of tenure
that precluded termination of his/her job. The two split decision cases were included here
because the administrator prevailed on his/her tenure claim but not on all other claims.
Table 59
Tenure Violations--Employee Prevailed
Case Year State Action PP
Pasqua v. LaFourche Parish School Bd. 1981 LA R E
Cowan v. Bd. of Educ. 1984 NY R E
Spurlock v. Bd. of Trustees 1985 WY T SPLIT
Holmes v. Bd. of Trustees of School Dist. 1990 MT T E
Klein v. Bd. of Educ. 1993 MN R E
Sanders v. Delton-Kellogg Schools 1996 MI R E
Midlam v. Greenville City School Dist. Bd. of Educ. 2005 OH NR SPLIT
Those cases were won for the following reasons: failure to maintain salary in Pasqua v.
LaFourche Parish School Board (1981 La. App.), “bumped” to a position outside of certification
area in Cowan v. Board of Education (1984 N.Y. Misc.), violation of administrative tenure