THE STATE EX REL. CASSELS, APPELLANT, v. DAYTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, APPELLEE.
No. 93-1876
Supreme Court of Ohio
Submitted February 22, 1994—Decided May 4, 1994.
69 Ohio St.3d 217 | 1994-Ohio-92
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Montgomery County, No. 13607.
Schools—Employment of administrators—Failure to comply with
{¶ 1} On August 19, 1992, Winona P. Cassels, relator-appellant, filed this mandamus action in the Montgomery County Court of Appeals against the Dayton City School District Board of Education, respondent-appellee. The complaint, as subsequently amended, requested a writ of mandamus commanding appellee to issue a two-year assistant principal contract to appellant, effective as of July 1, 1992. Appellant further prayed for back pay and fringe benefits. The parties filed motions for summary judgment.
{¶ 2} Appellee employed appellant as an assistant director of magnet schools for the 1989-1990 school year at a salary of $48,904.13. Appellee then contracted with appellant for employment in the same position for a two-year period beginning July 1, 1990 and ending June 30, 1992, at a salary of $53,485.12 per year. During this period appellant was transferred to a position as assistant principal and her salary was increased. At no time prior to June 1, 1992 did appellant notify appellee in writing that she did not wish to be deemed reemployed pursuant to
{¶ 3} In deciding not to reemploy appellant as an assistant principal or other administrator, appellee neither reviewed nor discussed any written evaluation of appellant. In fact, during appellant‘s last school year as an assistant principal, appellee did not make any written evaluation of her. During the school year beginning July 1, 1992, appellee employed appellant in a position other than as an assistant principal or school administrator at a substantially lower salary.
{¶ 4} Appellee attached to its motion for summary judgment and memorandum in opposition to appellant‘s motion for summary judgment the affidavits of David B. Puthoff, treasurer of appellee, and Robert Cannarozzi, Supervisor of Certificated Personnel and Reserve Teachers for appellee. The affidavits noted as follows:
“The factual statements set forth in the Memorandum in Opposition to Motion For Summary Judgment under the argument: The Position for which Relator held an administrative contract was abolished, are true and accurate.”
{¶ 5} That memorandum indicated that (1) appellant, along with all other administrators whose contracts were expiring on June 30, 1992, was sent notice by appellee of its intent not to reemploy her as an administrator for the 1992-1993 school year; (2) the school district subsequently abolished eleven assistant principal positions, including appellant‘s, for the 1992-1993 school year; and (3) appellant accepted reemployment as a high school English teacher.
{¶ 6} On December 11, 1992, appellant filed a motion to strike certain portions of the Puthoff and Cannarozzi affidavits, including those parts incorporating the factual statements set forth in appellee‘s memorandum. Appellant claimed that the affidavits failed to establish that either of the affiants possessed the requisite personal knowledge concerning the matter. Appellee filed no response to appellant‘s motion, and the court of appeals never expressly ruled on it. The court of appeals ultimately granted appellee‘s summary judgment motion and denied appellant‘s complaint for a writ of mandamus.
{¶ 7} This cause is before the court upon an appeal as of right.
Young, Pryor, Lynn & Jerardi, and Larry A. Smith, for appellant.
John F. Lenehan, for appellee.
{¶ 8} In order for a writ of mandamus to issue, a relator must demonstrate that (1) he or she has a clear legal right to the relief prayed for; (2) respondent is under a corresponding legal duty to perform the requested act; and (3) relator has no plain and adequate legal remedy. State ex rel. Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Internatl. Union, Local 333, AFL-CIO, CLC v. State Emp. Relations Bd. (1993), 66 Ohio St.3d 157, 158, 609 N.E.2d 1266, 1267. Furthermore,
{¶ 9} Appellant‘s second, third, fourth, and fifth propositions of law essentially assert that the court of appeals committed reversible error by granting appellee‘s motion for summary judgment because appellee‘s failure to comply with the evaluation requirements of
{¶ 10}
“An assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator is, at the expiration of his current term of employment, deemed
reemployed at the same salary plus any increments that may be authorized by the board of education, unless he notifies the board in writing to the contrary on or before the first day in June, or unless such board, on or before the last day of March of the year in which his contract of employment expires, either reemploys him for a succeeding term or gives him written notice of its intention not to reemploy him.”
{¶ 11}
{¶ 12} Resolution of appellant‘s contentions requires statutory construction of
“Each board of education shall adopt procedures for the evaluation of all assistant superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and other administrators and shall evaluate such employees in accordance with these procedures. The evaluation based upon such procedures shall be considered by the board in deciding whether to renew the contract of employment of an assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator. The evaluation shall measure each assistant superintendent‘s, principal‘s, assistant principal‘s, and other administrator‘s effectiveness in performing the duties included in his job description and the evaluation procedures shall provide for, but not be limited to, the following:
“(1) Each assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, and other administrator shall be evaluated annually through a written evaluation process. “(2) The evaluation shall be conducted by the superintendent or his designee.
“(3) In order to provide time to show progress in correcting the deficiencies identified in the evaluation process the completed evaluation shall be received by the evaluatee at least sixty days prior to any action by the board of education on the employee‘s contract of employment.
“* * *
“The establishment of an evaluation procedure shall not create an expectancy of continued employment. Nothing in this section shall prevent a board of education from making the final determination regarding the renewal of or failure to renew the contract of any assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator.” (Emphasis added.)
“In construing a statute, a court‘s paramount concern is the legislative intent in enacting the statute. * * * In determining legislative intent, the court first looks to the language in the statute and the purpose to be accomplished.” State v. S.R. (1992), 63 Ohio St.3d 590, 594-595, 589 N.E.2d 1319, 1323. Words used in a statute must be taken in their usual, normal or customary meaning.
“It is not entirely clear whether an administrator‘s contract may be nonrenewed even though the board has failed to provide an evaluation sixty days prior to the nonrenewal action. The language of the statute seems to make timely receipt of the evaluation by the administrator an absolute prerequisite to any contract action. However, the statute also declares that the evaluation procedure ‘shall not create an expectancy of continued employment,’ and that ‘[n]othing in this section shall prevent a board of education from making the final determination regarding the renewal or failure to renew the contract * * *.’ The latter language would appear to allow the board to renew or nonrenew an administrator‘s contract even in the absence of strict compliance with its evaluation procedures.” (Footnotes omitted.) 1 Baker & Carey, Ohio School Law (1993) 115-116, Section 3.48.
{¶ 14} In other words, the latter language of
{¶ 15} In State ex rel. Smith, 65 Ohio St.3d at 508, 605 N.E.2d at 64-65, the court noted the following regarding
“While the foregoing statutory language requires the board to consider the administrator‘s evaluation, it does not require the board to base its decision on such evaluations. * * * [T]he * * * language indicates that even if a board did not consider an administrator‘s evaluation in voting to nonrenew a contract, such a failure does not by itself undermine a board‘s decision to nonrenew an administrative contract.”
{¶ 16} The court of appeals interpreted the foregoing language from Smith as follows:
“Whether a board‘s failure to consider an evaluation will invalidate their decision to nonrenew must turn upon the facts of each case. If the complaining party can show no prejudice resulting from the school board‘s failure to evaluate their administrative personnel and to consider these evaluations before taking any decision affecting administrative contracts then that failure will not entitle the complainant to relief.”
{¶ 17} The court of appeals then determined that the board had decided not to renew appellant‘s contract because her position had been abolished and that appellant did not establish prejudice from appellee‘s failure to evaluate her and consider the evaluations since even an excellent evaluation would not have resulted in a decision to renew her contract.
{¶ 18} It is apparent that the court of appeals misinterpreted State ex rel. Smith and
{¶ 19} Furthermore,
{¶ 20} Therefore, the State ex rel. Smith language should be interpreted to mean that a failure to comply with the
{¶ 21} While the court of appeals did not rely on the aforementioned rationale to enter summary judgment in favor of appellee, a reviewing court is not authorized to reverse a correct judgment merely because erroneous reasons were assigned as a basis thereof. Myers v. Garson (1993), 66 Ohio St.3d 610, 614, 614 N.E.2d 742, 745; Joyce v. Gen. Motors Corp. (1990), 49 Ohio St.3d 93, 96, 551 N.E.2d 172, 174; but, cf., Murphy v. Reynoldsburg (1992), 65 Ohio St.3d 356, 604 N.E.2d 138 (failure of a trial court to comply with mandatory duty to thoroughly examine all appropriate materials filed before ruling on a motion for summary judgment constitutes reversible error).
{¶ 23} Appellant‘s first proposition of law asserts that the court of appeals erred in granting summary judgment to appellee and denying the requested mandamus relief where (1) the court of appeals’ judgment was based upon portions of affidavits that should have been stricken because they were not based on the affiants’ personal knowledge; and (2) even if the affidavits were proper summary judgment evidence, genuine issues of material fact remain. Appellant moved to strike the portions of Puthoff‘s and Cannarozzi‘s affidavits incorporating the factual statements of appellee‘s memorandum in opposition to appellant‘s summary judgment motion. The court of appeals never expressly ruled on the motion. Nevertheless, when a trial court fails to rule upon a pretrial motion, it may be presumed that the court overruled it. Newman v. Al Castrucci Ford Sales, Inc. (1988), 54 Ohio App.3d 166, 561 N.E.2d 1001. Therefore, it must be determined if the court of appeals abused its discretion in overruling the motion to strike. See, e.g., Jewett v. Our Lady of Mercy Hosp. of Mariemont (1992), 82 Ohio App.3d 428, 612 N.E.2d 728. The term “abuse of discretion” connotes more than an error of law or judgment; it implies that the court‘s attitude is unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable. Rock v. Cabral (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 108, 112, 616 N.E.2d 218, 222.
{¶ 25} Furthermore, as to appellant‘s second contention under her first proposition of law, the portions of the memorandum incorporated in the affidavits noted only that the school district had abolished appellant‘s assistant principal position subsequent to its action sending notice to appellant of its intent not to reemploy her as an assistant principal or other administrator. The court of appeals determined that because her position had been abolished, any evaluation would
{¶ 26} Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
MOYER, C.J., A.W. SWEENEY, DOUGLAS, WRIGHT, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY and PFEIFER, JJ., concur.