14 A.2d 303 | Pa. | 1940
The plaintiff was the Dean of Girls in the William Penn Senior High School in the City of York on the effective date of the Act of April 6, 1937, P. L. 213, known as the "Teachers' Tenure Act." Soon thereafter, the School Board gave her a contract in the statutory form, to continue in force year after year, employing her as a "professional employee" at an annual salary of $2,500. Almost a year later, in March, 1938, in the interest of an efficient and economical school administration, the School Board abolished the position of Dean of Girls, it being a non-mandated office, and at the same time elected plaintiff a teacher for the following year, she being duly certified to teach History, Chemistry, English and German. She was notified of this action *121 and informed that her contract was terminated and that she was required to sign a new contract as a "professional employee" at a salary of $2,200 a year. This she refused to do, claiming that her contract was in full force and effect and could not be terminated in this way. The School Board would not allow her to teach until she had complied with its direction, and although she reported for duty and has continuously been able and willing to serve, she has remained unemployed until this time. Upon petition a writ of alternative mandamus to compel her reinstatement was issued by the learned court below and, a motion to quash the writ having been dismissed, a hearing was had with a jury. A final judgment ordered that a writ of peremptory mandamus issue commanding such reinstatement, and that defendant pay plaintiff damages in the sum of $3,750, her salary during the period of her enforced idleness. Thereupon this appeal was taken.
The first question we have to decide is whether the motion to quash the writ of alternative mandamus was properly dismissed. Admittedly mandamus is the proper remedy to compel reinstatement where a professional employee under the Act of 1937 is illegally dismissed, but defendant contends that plaintiff alleged neither dismissal nor refusal of re-election as required.1 With this we cannot agree. In her petition for the writ she set forth these facts: that she had been notified that her contract of employment would be terminated at the end of the 1937-1938 school year; that a new contract was tendered her; that she informed the School Board that she considered her original contract could not be terminated under the circumstances; that she was told that she would not be permitted to teach unless she signed a new contract; that on the opening day of school she *122
presented herself to the principal prepared to teach and was informed by him that she could not perform her duties as a professional employee; that from the opening of school to the time of the petition defendant had refused to allow her to carry out such duties; that defendant has refused to pay her despite repeated demands; and that no valid cause for the termination of her contract had ever been shown. We think these facts amply sustain the finding of the court below that "Her petition asserts that she was dismissed as a professional employee, that she demanded that she be restored to her position as a professional employee and was denied restoration under her contract of May 4, 1937." As we said in Bragg v.Swarthmore School District,
Defendant's next contention is that the contract was terminated by the action of the School Board in abolishing the office of Dean of Girls. This result did not follow because in that position plaintiff was a "regular full-time employe" of the School District, "duly certified as a teacher," and as such entitled to enjoy all the safeguards accorded professional employees under the Act: see Commonwealth ex rel. v. SunburySchool District,
At the oral argument it was urged upon us that Walker v.School District of the City of Scranton,
Defendant finally asserts that if plaintiff's contract was not terminated, the result of the action of the School Board was to demote her in salary. The answer to this is that while her salary is subject to reduction for proper reasons, such action can only be taken in compliance with the provisions of the Act. In conclusion, this should be said for plaintiff, she was not arbitrary or unreasonable in refusing to sign a new contract. She should not have been asked to do so. If she had given way to the insistence of the School Board, all her rights under the old contract would have been swept away, not the least valuable of which is the guaranty of her seniority rights under section 2 (b) in the event of a suspension because of substantial decrease of pupil population within the School District. After years of service she would have been thus reduced to a footing with new professional employees who had just signed contracts. In view of this and present economic conditions, it was natural and proper for her to object to any illegal action which would make the possibility of suspension more imminent.
Judgment affirmed.