High court sides with former teacher

A former Glacier High School science teacher and Kalispell Public Schools must arbitrate a grievance about the teacher’s alleged wrongful discharge, according to a high court ruling.

The Montana Supreme Court last week unanimously upheld a Flathead District Court decision compelling arbitration of a grievance Bill Hartford and Kalispell’s teacher union first attempted to file more than two years ago.

The grievance says the school district fired Hartford “without just cause,” violating Kalispell Education Association’s collective bargaining agreement with the district.

The district argued that Hartford’s contract with Kalispell schools and his right to file a grievance and seek arbitration as a member of the union were voided when his teaching certification lapsed for several months.

“I’m pleased by the Supreme Court decision and happy to go forward from here,” Hartford said Thursday.

At the advice of Bill Howell, MEA-MFT’s Flathead County consultant, Hartford declined to say more until the issue is resolved.

The trouble began in 2008.

Hartford, who had taught in the district since 1999 and been tenured since 2002, signed a contract in May 2008 to continue teaching at Glacier High the following school year.

Hartford was unaware that the five-year certificate authorizing him to teach in Montana was set to expire June 30, 2008. He told the Inter Lake in June 2009 that he had thought the certificate was good for another year.

Neither he nor the school district was aware the certificate had expired when school began that August.

State law requires teachers to register their certificates with their county school superintendents within 60 days of the first day of school; Hartford should have registered his renewed certificate by Oct. 26, 2008.

He and the district first found out about the lapsed certificate in early November that year, when Flathead County Superintendent of Schools Marcia Sheffels alerted Kalispell Superintendent Darlene Schottle about it.

Schottle let Hartford know his certificate had expired. At that time, according to state law, he was no longer eligible to be paid as a certified teacher.

He did, however, continue teaching science at Glacier High as a noncertified substitute, and on Dec. 11, Hartford drove to Helena to interview with the state Office of Public Instruction about renewing his certificate.

He told the Inter Lake in 2009 that he was driving home from that interview when Glacier Principal Callie Langohr called him to let him know the district had hired someone to take his place.

Because Hartford’s certification had expired and he was subbing into the teaching position, Kalispell schools had posted the job opening, Schottle said Thursday.

Hartford was ineligible to apply for the position because he wasn’t certified at the time, and after hiring a certified teacher, the district no longer needed Hartford as a substitute, she said.

On Dec. 18, one week after his dismissal, Hartford received his new teaching certificate. It was retroactively validated July 1, 2008, and was effective until Friday. But by then, it was too late; the job was already filled.

In January 2009, Hartford and the teachers union tried to file a grievance with the district; they maintained he had been fired “without just cause,” which violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the district.

The agreement said that if a teacher fails to obtain a certificate before Oct. 1, the school board has the option of voiding his or her contract. The union said that because the board of trustees had not voted to dismiss Hartford — even though the board had the right to do so after learning his certificate had expired — Hartford’s contract, which he had signed when he was a certified teacher, still was binding.

“Our position all along was that he was a member of our bargaining unit covered by the collective bargaining agreement,” union President Mike Thiel said.

The school district disagreed. First Schottle and then the board of trustees denied the grievance.

Their position was that Hartford’s contract with the district was void the second he ceased to be a certified teacher. The district could only legally have such an agreement with a certified teacher; without certification, Hartford was no longer an official teacher and no longer under contract with the district.

As such, he was no longer covered by the collective bargaining agreement — the union does not represent noncertified teachers — and did not have the right to a grievance or arbitration, the district maintained.

The issue went to Flathead District Court later that year.

Hartford and the union petitioned the court to compel arbitration. Hartford had been a certified teacher when he signed his contract with Kalispell schools in May 2008 and had obtained certification retroactively valid the day after his previous certification expired.

The school district asked the court to deny that request and acknowledge that Hartford was not in a position to seek arbitration because he wasn’t a certified teacher when his employment with Kalispell schools ended.

District Court Judge Stewart Stadler sided with Hartford and the union on June 21, 2010. The school district appealed the decision and the issue went on to the state Supreme Court.

The school board likely will discuss the case and how to proceed later this month, Schottle said.

“If I read [the Supreme Court decision] correctly, it goes back to the realm of arbitration. They’re not saying whether we’re right or wrong, just that we have to go to arbitration,” she said. “The board will have to decide at their July board meeting how to act.”

That meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 19.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by email at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.