6 Mass. App. Ct. 912 | Mass. App. Ct. | 1978
The plaintiff brought an action against the school committee of Swansea (school committee) for a declaratory judgment to determine his status under a contract between himself and the school committee making him superintendent of schools of that town. The school committee had sought to terminate his employment as of June 30, 1977. The case was submitted on a statement of agreed facts. A Superior Court judge ruled that the plaintiff has a valid contract of employment to serve as superintendent through June 30, 1979, and that he is entitled to be paid compensation for that period; but the judge did not order the plaintiff’s reinstatement. The school committee now appeals from the judgment which ensued. The plaintiff did not appeal. There was no error. 1. The contract at issue here provides in pertinent part that the plaintiff "shall be employed for a three (3) year period commencing July 1, 1974. This agreement between the parties, ... shall be extended for successive periods of one (1) year each time the anniversary date (June 30th) of this contract is reached” if no "further action” is taken by one of the parties. It provides further that notice of the school committee’s "intent to terminate the contract upon expiration of the aforementioned three (3) year period of time” must be given in writing "at least ninety (90) days prior to the anniversary date of this contract.” The school committee voted in February, 1977, to terminate the contract as of June 30,1977, interpreting "anniversary date” to mean the year the contract expires. However, the ordinary or dictionary definition of anniversary is "the annual recurrence” of a date marking an event. See Webster’s Third New Intl. Dictionary 87 (1971). The language "each time the anniversary date (June 30th) of this contract is reached” indicates that "anniversary” was intended to mean an annual event. A reading of the contract as a whole (see Ucello v. Cosentino, 354 Mass. 48, 51 [1968]) supports this interpretation, as section 3(b) provides that "[e]ach year” during which the contract is in effect the committee and the superintendent
Judgment affirmed.