An Ohio appeals court recently upheld a school district's decision to fire a tenured teacher for "good and just cause" under Ohio Revised Code 3319.16. Although the statutory "good and just cause" standard is a high hurdle, this case demonstrates that inappropriate physical contact with students, even when there is no intent to harm, can be sufficient grounds to terminate a veteran teacher.
In the case, two second grade students were physically fighting, and two school assistants intervened to break up the fight. The assistants testified that they had the situation under control and had not been injured, nor were they in fear of injury.
Upon hearing the disturbance, the teacher entered the area and inserted herself into the situation. She testified at hearing she did so because she believed the assistants to be in danger, with one of the students hitting an assistant. As a result, the teacher picked the student up by his shirt, lifting him in the air and eventually pinning him on the ground with her knee.
As a result, the school moved to terminate her employment, despite her being a 15-year teacher in the district. The school found her conduct to be wildly inappropriate, and that her intervention only escalated the situation. After a hearing before a state-level referee, the referee agreed, stating that "prior to the [teacher's] intervention, the situation was under the control of two other staff members. It was the [teacher's] unilateral decision to insert herself into the situation that reignited the conflict. When the [teacher] did insert herself into the situation, the evidence showed that the other staff members felt that they had things under control and that [the assistant] did not even feel threatened by Student A. The evidence established that [teacher's] intervention [led] to more flagrant acts from Student A leading to the [teacher's] confrontation with Student A."
After reviewing the referee's report, the board of education accepted the referee's findings of fact and recommendation to terminate. The teacher appealed the decision and each reviewing court, including the appeals court, upheld the board's decision. The trial court explained that the facts demonstrated the situation was properly handled by the assistants and under control, and the teacher's rash intervention demonstrated her utter failure to be a force for calm and control. Under those circumstances, the appeals court found the trial court did not abuse its discretion in affirming the school's termination decision.