SUMMER v. SOUTHFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION
Case Details
- Citation
- 310 Mich. App. 660
- Judge(s)
- Before: WILDER, P.J., and OWENS and M. J. KELLY, JJ.; OWENS and M. J. Kelly, JJ., concurred with WILDER, RJ.
- Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
- appeal
- State
- Michigan
- Circuit
- 6th Circuit
Related Laws
No specific laws identified for this ruling.
Claim Types
Outcome
Court of Appeals reversed summary disposition on the basis that plaintiff stated a colorable claim under Michigan's Revised School Code for improper teacher layoff and remanded for further proceedings. The trial court lacked jurisdiction to dismiss on MCR 2.116(C)(8) grounds without articulating specific deficiencies in plaintiff's complaint.
Excerpt
SUMMER v SOUTHFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION Docket No. 320680. Submitted May 13, 2015, at Detroit. Decided June 2, 2015, at 9:05 a.m. Leave to appeal and leave to cross-appeal sought. Meredith Summer brought an action in the Oakland Circuit Court against the Southfield Board of Education and the Southfield Public Schools, alleging that she was laid off in violation of the Revised School Code, MCL 380.1 et seq. Defendants moved for summary disposition, asserting that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction and that plaintiff had failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. The court, Denise Langford Morris, J., granted summary disposition in favor of defendants under MCR 2.116(C)(4) and (8). Plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals held-. 1. MCL 380.1248 of the Revised School Code concerns policies governing personnel decisions that will result in the elimination of a position, and MCL 380.1249 requires school districts to adopt and implement a performance evaluation system for teachers. Under MCL 380.1248(3), a teacher must seek redress for alleged violations of MCL 380.1248 and MCL 380.1249 in the courts. Accordingly, the trial court erred by concluding that it did not have jurisdiction over plaintiff’s claim that defendants violated her rights under §§ 1248 and 1249 of the Revised School Code. 2. The trial court correctly determined, however, that teachers cannot bring a private cause of action under MCL 380.1249. Instead, the code provides alternative enforcement mechanisms, including the fact that school funding is conditioned on compliance with MCL 380.1249. Nonetheless, a school district’s failure to follow the procedures established in MCL 380.1249 may provide the basis for a private cause of action brought under MCL 380.1248. MCL 380.1248(3) states that if a teacher brings an action against a school district based on § 1248, the teacher’s sole and exclusive remedy is an order of reinstatement commencing 30 days after a decision by a court of competent jurisdiction. MCL 380.1248 expressly incorporates the performance evaluation system delineated in § 1249. Specifically, § 1248(l)(b) requires school districts to adopt a policy that provides that all personnel decisions when conducting a staffing or program reduction are to he based on retaining effective teachers and that the determination of whether a teacher is effective is to be made under the evaluation system delineated in § 1249. Therefore, the requirement that a school district use a performance evaluation system in compliance with § 1249 as it evaluates teachers and makes layoff decisions is one of the requirements with regard to which a teacher may assert a private cause of action under MCL 380.1248(3). Accordingly, if a school district lays off a teacher because the teacher is deemed ineffective, but the school district measured the teacher’s effectiveness using a performance evaluation system that did not comply with § 1249, or made a personnel decision that was not based on the factors delineated in MCL 380.1248(l)(b)(i) through (Hi), the teacher could assert a cause of action under § 1248(3) based on a violation of § 1248(l)(b). Therefore, to the extent that plaintiff’s complaint alleged that she was laid off on the basis of considerations other than those permitted under MCL 380.1248, or was laid off following an evaluation that did not comply with MCL 380.1249, plaintiff may have stated a cause of action under MCL 380.1248 that was sufficient to survive summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8). 3. Although the trial court stated that it was granting summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) and (8), the court’s ruling only addressed whether summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) was appropriate. Because the trial court did not specifically articulate grounds that would support a conclusion that plaintiff’s complaint failed to state a viable claim such that defendants’ motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8) should be granted, this aspect of the trial court’s order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants had to be vacated. Trial court determination that teachers cannot bring a private cause of action under MCL 380.1249 affirmed; trial court decision granting summary disposition in favor of defendants under MCR 2.116(C)(4) reversed; trial court decision granting summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8) vacated; case remanded for further proceedings. 1. Education — Teachers — Performance Evaluation System — Enforcement. MCL 380.1249 of the Revised School Code requires school districts to adopt and implement a performance evaluation system for teachers; teachers may not bring a private cause of action under MCL 380.1249. 2. Education — Teachers — Layoffs — Use of Performance Evaluation System — Jurisdiction — Causes of Action. MCL 380.1248 of the Revised School Code concerns policies governing personnel decisions that will result in the elimination of a position and MCL 380.1249 of the code requires school districts to adopt and implement a performance evaluation system for teachers; under MCL 380.1248(3), a teacher must seek redress for alleged violations of MCL 380.1248 and MCL 380.1249 in the courts; a school district’s failure to follow the procedures established in MCL 380.1249 may provide the basis for a private cause of action brought under MCL 380.1248. White, Schneider, Young & Chiodini, PC (by Erika P Thorn), for plaintiff. The Allen Law Group, PC (by Kevin J. Campbell and Sean B. O’Brien), for defendants. Before: WILDER, P.J., and OWENS and M. J. KELLY, JJ. WILDER, P.J. Plaintiff, Meredith Summer, appeals as of right an order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants, Southfield Board of Education and Southfield Public Schools. We affirm in part, reverse in part, vacate in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. FACTS This action arises out of a teacher layoff dispute. According to plaintiffs complaint, she began working as a teacher in the Southfield Public Schools in 1999. During the 2010-2011 school year, plaintiff was involved in an ongoing dispute with a colleague. The dispute ultimately led plaintiff to file an internal complaint in the spring of 2011, in which she claimed that the other employee had been harassing her. According to plaintiff, defendants failed to provide any information regarding the results of the investigation that followed plaintiffs complaint. At the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, an administrator for defendants allegedly informed an employee that she “would not have to worry about [plaintiff]” after the 2011-2012 school year. According to plaintiff, defendants subsequently observed her performance in the classroom, but never shared with her the results of the observation. At the end of the school year, defendants concluded that plaintiffs teaching performance that year was “minimally effective,” but despite this evaluation rating, they did not provide a “plan of improvement” for plaintiff or otherwise give plaintiff an opportunity to improve the purported deficiencies in her performance. At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, plaintiff was laid off by defendants. According to plaintiff, she was the only teacher in the school to receive a “minimally effective” rating. Despite being laid off at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, plaintiff was subsequently hired to teach summer school during the summer of 2012. On August 30, 2013, plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that she was laid off in violation of the Revised School Code, MCL 380.1 et seq. Plaintiff asserted that while defendants had purportedly “developed a system to effectuate standards for placements, layoffs, and recalls,” which — under the requirements of MCL 380.1249 — “was supposed to be based on teacher effectiveness and be rigorous, transparent and fair,” nevertheless, defendants’ actions in laying off plaintiff “were arbitrary, capricious, and in bad faith” in the following ways: A. Defendants . . . retaliated against [plaintiff] by failing or refusing to share the results of her retaliation complaint [against another employee who had harassed plaintiff] despite the fact that she was the Complainant; B. Defendants ... prejudged her evaluation when it [sic] decided, and declared that at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, people “would not have to worry about [plaintiff];” C. Defendants .. . gave [plaintiff] a “Minimally Effective” evaluation based in part on Observations that were never even shared with [plaintiff] and for which no written feedback was given; D. Defendants ... also harbored ill will towards [plaintiff] based on incidents when she served as the union building representative [.] Plaintiff also alleged that defendants provided no plan of improvement and “no opportunity to cure any alleged performance shortcomings” after it rated plaintiff as minimally effective. Plaintiffs complaint requested a judgment (1) requiring defendants to recall her to her previous position, (2) requiring defendants to void and destroy her 2011-2012 school year evaluation, and (3) awarding money damages equaling her costs and attorney fees, and any other relief to which she was entitled. Defendants filed a motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) (court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter) and MCR 2.116(C)(8) (failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted). Defendants argued that jurisdiction over plaintiffs claim that her layoff decision was “arbitrary and capricious” or was made in bad faith rested exclusively with the State Tenure Commission (STC), because plaintiffs allegations amount to nothing more than a claim that the layoff decision constituted a subterfuge. Likewise, defendants argued that the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) has exclusive jurisdiction over plaintiffs claim arising out of her union activity. Alternatively, defendants argued that plaintiffs complaint was not properly before the circuit court because she had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. Defendants also presented four separate bases from which they argued the trial court should conclude that summary disposition for failure to state a claim was appropriate. First, defendants contended that plaintiff failed to set forth a cause of action under MCL 380.1248 because plaintiff admitted that she was laid off after being rated minimally effective, did not allege that the evaluation process failed to follow the procedure required under the statute, and failed to make any allegation that she was laid off on the basis of seniority or tenure status. Second, defendants argued that MCL 380.1249 does not establish a private cause of action for teachers against a school district, and, therefore, plaintiff failed to state a valid claim under MCL 380.1249. Third, defendants argued in the alternative that, even if plaintiff has a private cause of action under MCL 380.1249, plaintiffs allegation that defendants did not offer her a plan of improvement following her evaluation did not constitute a violation of MCL 380.1249, because the school district was not required by statute to provide minimally effective teachers with plans of improvement until the 2013-2014 school year. Finally, defendants contended that plaintiff’s allegation, that defendants denied her an opportunity to address shortcomings in her performance, failed to state a claim because plaintiff did not identify the particular statutory provision which they allegedly violated. In response, plaintiff argued that defendants’ motion for summary disposition should be denied. Plaintiff claimed that facts supporting her allegations, if taken as true, articulated a colorable claim under the Revised School Code that defendants laid off plaintiff in an arbitrary and capricious manner and failed to use an evaluation procedure that was fair, open, and transparent. Additionally, plaintiff argued that, if the trial court concluded that plaintiff had not stated an actionable claim, she should be allowed, at the very least, to amend her pleadings. Second, plaintiff argued that it was evident from the plain meaning of the phrase “court of competent jurisdiction” in MCL 380.1248(3) that the Legislature intended to allow teachers to bring claims for reinstatement in the circuit courts of this state. Plaintiff also argued that a private cause of action could be stated under MCL 380.1249. Finally, plaintiff contended that defendants had mistaken her claim as one arising under the public employee relations act (PERA), MCL 423.201 et seq., because she had alleged no cause of action related to her union status. In support of her position that she had stated a claim under MCL 380.1248 and MCL 380.1249, plaintiff also referred to the orders entered by Oakland Circuit Court Judge James Alexander in a similar case, which denied defendant Southfield Board of Education’s motions for summary disposition and held that, in that case, the plaintiffs had stated a cause of action under both MCL 380.1248 and MCL 380.1249. The trial court issued its opinion and order on February 12, 2014, granting defendants’ motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) and (8). The opinion provided, in relevant part: Plaintiffs Complaint states that she was laid off after she was rated “Minimally Effective.” Plaintiff alleges that her rating was a subterfuge and that the real reason she was laid off was retaliation for an internal complaint about a co-worker. The Court finds that these allegations do not support a claim under MCL 380.1248, which requires the lay-off to be based on “teacher effectiveness.” The [STC] has jurisdiction over a claim that a teacher was laid off in bad faith and for a reason that is arbitrary and capricious. Because Plaintiff has failed to exhaust her administrative remedy by filing her claim with the [STC], summary disposition is appropriate. The Court finds that MCL 380.1249 does not create a cause of action under the facts presented. While this Court understands Plaintiffs desire for it to follow the ruling made by Judge Alexander, that decision is not relevant to this case because this Plaintiff was evaluated under the new system at the end of the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, the Court finds that Plaintiffs allegations regarding her status as a union representative must be brought before the [MERC]. II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW This Court reviews de novo a trial court’s decision on a motion for summary disposition. Williams v Enjoi Transp Solutions, 307 Mich App 182, 185; 858 NW2d 530 (2014). Whether a trial court has subject matter jurisdiction over a dispute is also a question reviewed de novo by this Court. Forest Hills Coop v City of Ann Arbor, 305 Mich App 572, 616; 854 NW2d 172 (2014). Summary disposition is appropriate under MCR 2.116(C)(4) when the trial court “lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter.” MCR 2.116(C)(4). See also Packowski v United Food & Commercial Workers Local 951, 289 Mich App 132, 138; 796 NW2d 94 (2010). “For jurisdictional questions under MCR 2.116(C)(4), this Court determine[s] whether the affidavits, together with the pleadings, depositions, admissions, and documentary evidence, demonstrate ... [a lack of] subject matter jurisdiction.” Packowski, 289 Mich App at 138-139 (quotation marks and citation omitted; alterations in original). “A motion under MCR 2.116(C)(8) tests the legal sufficiency of the claim on the pleadings alone to determine whether the plaintiff has stated a claim on which relief may be granted. Summary disposition under subrule (C)(8) is appropriate if no factual development could justify the plaintiffs claim for relief.” Stone v Auto-Owners Ins Co, 307 Mich App 169, 173; 858 NW2d 765 (2014) (quotation marks and citation omitted). III. THE 2011 AMENDMENTS TO THE REVISED SCHOOL CODE Before the enactment of the “tie-barred” 2011 amendments to the Revised School Code, the regulation of teacher layoffs was solely a matter of the collective-bargaining process and was subject to adjudication by MERC. Baumgartner v Perry Pub Sch, 309 Mich App 507, 510-512; _ NW2d _(2015). “As such, challenges to layoff decisions were regarded as unfair labor practices, which would be a violation of PERA adjudicated by MERC.” Id. at 522-523. However, the teacher tenure act, MCL 38.71 et seq., previously included two provisions that provided a basis for the STC to assert jurisdiction over some teacher layoff disputes. Under former MCL 38.105, repealed by 2011 PA 101, tenured teachers could be terminated only “because of a necessary reduction in personnel,” and they were entitled to be appointed to the first vacancy in any school district for which they were certified and qualified. See 1993 PA 59. Under MCL 38.121, any tenured teacher could “appeal to the tenure commission any decision of a controlling board under this act,” including claims arising under former MCL 38.105. See Freiberg v Bd of Ed of Big Bay De Noc Sch Dist, 61 Mich App 404, 411-414; 232 NW2d 718 (1975), superseded by statute as noted in Baumgartner, 309 Mich App at 513, 521-524. Accordingly, in a small number of cases, a plaintiff could assert a cause of action known as “subterfuge” — i.e., that an employment action was taken for ostensibly legal reasons, but was, in actuality, not done in “good faith as a ‘necessary reduction in personnel’ ” — over which the STC “ha[d] jurisdiction to determine, as a factual matter, whether the local school board took the action because of bona fide economic necessity.” Freiberg, 61 Mich App at 413-414; see also Baumgartner, 309 Mich App at 523. However, under the 2011 amendments of the Revised School Code, the Legislature (1) removed the subject of teacher layoffs from the collective-bargaining process, such that teachers could no longer raise challenges to layoff decisions with MERC as unfair labor practices in violation of PERA, (2) required that layoff decisions be based on teacher effectiveness, and (3) established that the courts, not the STC or any other administrative agency, have jurisdiction over layoff-related challenges. Baumgartner, 309 Mich App at 524. Correspondingly, under the provisions of the Revised School Code in place at all times relevant to these proceedings, school districts are required to adopt a “performance evaluation system” that meets the following pertinent requirements: Not later than September 1, 2011,... with the involvement of teachers and school administrators, the board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall adopt and implement for all teachers and school administrators a rigorous, transparent, and fair performance evaluation system that does all of the following: (a) Evaluates the teacher’s or school administrator’s job performance at least annually while providing timely and constructive feedback. * * (c) Evaluates a teacher’s or school administrator’s job performance, using multiple rating categories that take into account data on student growth as a significant factor.... If the performance evaluation system implemented by a school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy under this section does not already include the rating of teachers as highly effective, effective, minimally effective, and ineffective, then the school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy shall revise the performance evaluation system not later than September 19, 2011 to ensure that it rates teachers as highly effective, effective, minimally effective, or ineffective. (d) Uses the evaluations, at a minimum, to inform decisions regarding all of the following: (i) The effectiveness of teachers and school administrators, ensuring that they are given ample opportunities for improvement. (ii) Promotion, retention, and development of teachers and school administrators, including providing relevant coaching, instruction support, or professiona
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