$209.52 Claim
Over $68,000 in Attorney’s Fees
By Daniel Muniz

School districts across the country have often played fast and loose with the contractual obligations of their faculty. With the exception of year round schools, a teacher’s contract is usually for ten months. As a result, any work related activity that is performed outside of the legal agreement’s specified timeframe is done on the educator’s personal free time and is not covered by their salary or any other employment requirements.

But school events still happen.

For example, a high graduation sometimes occurs just outside the expiration of a teaching contract. However, that doesn’t stop the educational leadership from asking for volunteers for such activities. The presence of faculty is usually needed to conduct the ceremony as well as for ushers to help maintain order.
 

Story Continues Below ê

Today's Top Stories

● Big Spenders - The Lost Vision of the GOP ● Construction Frenzy - The Bogus Overcrowded School Crisis ● Case Settled? - Global Warming Myths: Part 1 ● Slavery and the Founders - Our Founders were not Ignorant ● Polygraph Exams - Can It Really Detect Lies? ● Leaving the Big City - Millions Flee Metropolitan Areas

Yesterday's Top Stories

● Ending Poverty - Is There a Government Solution? ● Dropout Factories - Schools that Specialize in Dropouts ● MySpace Problems - But What About The Parents? ● Hidden In Plain Sight - Do Sex Offenders Live Nearby? ● Doctors Gone Wild - Hospitals Reinforce Dress Codes ● Poor Minorities - A Collective Moral Responsibility?

So in other words, an educator is not going to get paid for it.

Some people volunteer and others don’t. Rookie educators are often roped into participating in all of these events because most teaching probationary periods are two years long. Not that someone can really lose their job over such a refusal but the willingness to do anything and everything helps smooth out a teacher’s path to tenure so a new educator really doesn’t have much flexibility to say no.

The problem arises when the faculty is not given a choice.

The Northeast Independent School District (NEISD) in San Antonio Texas is where I reside in and it is also to whom I pay my burdensome school taxes to. The 2001 graduation ceremony for Lee High School fell outside of the expiration of the teaching contracts for that campus. However, the faculty was told by their administrators that participation was mandatory so they still had to show up regardless if they wanted to or not.

According to news reports, many teachers were incensed. They were unaware that they would be required to work on a day outside of their employment agreement and some had already made travel plans months in advance. In fact, one educator had a non-refundable plane ticket to Europe.

John Kelley who taught special-ed biology challenged the administrators by asking:

"Our contract ended on Friday and graduation was the following Monday. I raised my hand and said, 'How can it be mandatory?'"

Source: The San Antonio Express-News

But since school officials still required everyone to attend the ceremony, Kelley reluctantly agreed and participated as an usher. Afterwards, he sought compensation from the district which totaled to $209.52. His request was denied on the grounds that his involvement was already part of his employment; therefore he was entitled to nothing. After this teacher escalated his request as far as he could, he then filed a lawsuit.

Ands years later in 2006, the Texas Commissioner of Education agreed that Kelley had been right all along in that he was not employed by the school district during that day so he ought to be compensated since he was required to show up. Finally in 2007, a Bexar County judge issued a ruling that NEISD must pay him for the day he worked in addition to attorney fees which amounted to $47,000.

Up to that point, NEISD had already spent a whopping $68,000 in legal expenses to fight the claim of $209.52.

However, the district wasn’t satisfied with the judgment so they are appealing it which means that they will waste even more taxpayer money (including mine) to fight it.

Of course I am livid because as a taxpayer of that school district, I have to finance this idiocy. In fact, the district intends to continue to fight this court battle all the way to the end regardless of the cost.

However, what is really at stake is the way that principals across the country run roughshod over their faculty. The teaching profession is already demanding but to make mandatory requirements outside the scope of their employment is outrageous, especially when it is sprung on people at the last minute.

Part of being a boss is identifying what the requirements are and allocating available resources to them. In this situation, the resource wasn’t legally available so it is up to the educational leadership to make adjustments for it. But for far too long, it was natural for administrators to force teachers to work on their own nickel.

What happened at NEISD is a situation where someone fought back and won.

It is time for school districts to grow up. They have to realize that it is inconceivable to require faculty to go to work when they are off the clock particularly if they already made plans months in advance anticipating that they would be on vacation. If such circumstances produce inconveniences, then it is incumbent for administrators to plan ahead instead of expecting that crisis management will solve the problem.

Unfortunately, even when districts are proven wrong, some of them are just too arrogant to accept their fate so they are more than willing to waste taxpayer dollars in order to stick to their misguided principles.

We want your opinion! Tell us what you thought about this article. Click the Your Feedback menu item to send us your comments.