6 A.2d 772 | Pa. | 1939
Appellee, a duly certified teacher, instituted mandamus proceedings to compel the school directors of the City of Pittston to restore her teaching contract under the Teachers' Tenure Act of April 6, 1937, P. L. 213. On November 10, 1937, the school board, on the recommendation of Dr. Cray, district superintendent, that additional teachers were necessary, elected appellee to *397 teach in its high school, effective immediately. Three of the seven directors dissented. The contract was properly executed for a term of ten months, though two school months had passed. She entered upon the performance of her duties. Two members of the board who voted for her election were candidates for reëlection in November; they were defeated, and their terms expired December 6, 1937. Without notice to appellee, the new board met December 13, 1937, and by resolution declared her contract void, two members dissenting. The court below awarded the writ.
Appellants contend that appellee is not within the Tenure Act because her contract is void. It must be conceded that if appellee had a valid contract to teach, the Tenure Act applies, and if that relationship is to be terminated, it must be done according to the provision for notice, and for the reasons specified in the Act, or by operation of law. See Walker'sAppeal,
Appellants argue that because the present board found that another teacher was not necessary when appellee was appointed, the action of the former board was illegal and void in employing appellee. The new board thus attacks the action of the old board in a matter then expressly confided to the latter's discretion under the School Code. If all that were required to avoid a teacher's contract, were a mere statement by the new board that the teacher was not necessary at the time of her appointment, the safeguards of the Tenure Act would be valueless. The presumption is that the old board acted properly and found another teacher necessary to the performance of the school district's work. Its action will not be reviewed by this Court unless it *398
can be shown that there was fraud, an arbitrary abuse of discretion, or circumstances that would ordinarily invalidate a contract. See Campbell et al. v. Bellevue Boro. School Dist.,
It is, however, argued that appellee is at the present time
unnecessary as a teacher and therefore the school board has the power to terminate her contract. This approach is not one which involves the invalidation of contract, but which deals with its termination. Since it is not a termination by operation of law (see Walker's Appeal,
But appellants' contention goes far beyond any case we have had before us, and would destroy the purpose of the Tenure Act. The result of appellants' position would be that whenever a board deems a teacher unnecessary for any reason whatever, the contract may be terminated. This, of course, was not the intention of the Act; it is directly opposed to it. The purpose of the Tenure Act, reiterated often in our opinions, was "the maintenance of an adequate and competent teaching staff,free from political and personal arbitrary interference, whereby capable and competent teachers might feel secure, and more efficiently perform their duty of instruction."2 Appellee was fully qualified and the new board does not attack her competency, ability, morality, or character as a teacher.
Appellants complain, finally, that the court should not have considered the question of damages since none were claimed in the pleadings, and thus no notice was given to appellants. The same question as to lack of notice in an award of damages in mandamus proceedings was raised in two earlier cases,Washington Beneficial Society v. Bacher,
We have considered all the assignments of error, most of which present points unnecessary to the determination of this case. It need only be added that appellee's action by alternative mandamus was proper to enforce the statutory duty imposed upon the school board, which, in the absence of proper grounds for noncompliance, was mandatory. Teachers' Tenure ActCases,
Judgment affirmed at appellants' cost.