School Committee of Marshfield v. Marshfield Education Association (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-007-14)

NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.  If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us     12‑P‑1737                                       Appeals Court   SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF MARSHFIELD  vs.  MARSHFIELD EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. No. 12‑P‑1737. Plymouth.     October 8, 2013.  ‑  January 28, 2014. Present:  Kafker, Vuono, & Carhart, JJ.   Contract, School teacher, Collective bargaining contract, Arbitration.  Public Employment, Collective bargaining, Termination.  School and School Committee, Collective bargaining, Termination of employment, Arbitration, Waiver.  Labor, Public employment, Collective bargaining, Arbitration.  Arbitration, School committee, Collective bargaining, Authority of arbitrator, Award.  Waiver.  License.  Public Policy.       Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on October 14, 2010.   The case was heard by Robert C. Cosgrove, J., on motions for summary judgment.     James A. Toomey (Tami L. Fay with him) for the plaintiff. John M. Becker for the defendant. Stephen J. Finnegan, for Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Inc., amicus curiae, submitted a brief. Michael J. Long, for Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.       KAFKER, J.  Review of the arbitration award here requires us to examine the teacher licensing and termination provisions in the Education Reform Act of 1994, St. 1993, c. 71, as well as various provisions in a collective bargaining agreement, and explain their interrelationship.  Gerard O’Sullivan was employed as a teacher by the Marshfield public school district (district) for almost eight years.  O’Sullivan was terminated in 2008 when the school committee of Marshfield (school committee) took the position that his employment automatically ended by operation of law when his teaching license was not renewed by the Commissioner of Education (commissioner) and the commissioner denied the district superintendent’s request for a waiver of the license requirement.  The school committee took no steps to terminate O’Sullivan in accordance with the terms of his teaching contract and the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the school committee and the Marshfield Education Association (association), to which O’Sullivan belonged.  Nor did the school committee follow the teacher termination process set out in G. L. c. 71, § 42.  Rather, the school committee asserted that without a license or waiver, O’Sullivan ceased to be employed as a matter of law, and as a result, was not entitled to any rights afforded a professional teacher under § 42, or under the CBA, including the one-year unpaid leave of absence O’Sullivan had requested so that he could fulfil the requirements necessary for licensure.  Thereafter the association, “pursuant to the parties’ collective bargaining agreement,” […]

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