District No.2, 236 Ark. 1790 (I985), in which a reacher was taken from the classroom and placed in charge of a
The1'e was some controve1'sy among school administrato1's and schoollawye1'S ove1' whethe1' losing the "lny cause" substantive stantM.1'd101' 'Just and 1'easonable cause" was a good tradeoff
computer room. In rhe Pirry case, the Coun recognized the broad powers to transfer conferred by A.CA. 6-17-303, which states. "Districr school boards shall
have aumoriry to assign and reassign or transfer all teachers in schools within their jurisdiction upon the reeommendarion of superintendent." In Wbjt~. the Court chose to analogize the case to olle which bore almost no resemblance Curry) and to throw inro question whether any transfer, other [han from, say, fourth grade ro fifth grade. would be a transfer or a dismissal. Ie seems char strict compliance had eff"ecrs beyond dismissals. Finally, however, me Legislarure, in 200 I, resolved mos[ of the problems with the TFDA by eliminating "strict compliance" and subsrirming "substantiaJ compliance" as thc procedural srandard. Acr 1739 of 200 I. In addition, rhe law eliminated "any cause which is nor arbirrary, capricious or discriminatory," substituting "jusr and reasonable cause." \Y/e have a good idea of what conscirutes "substantial compliance," based on the courrs' previous decisions. The Arkansas courtS, however, have never defined "'jUSt and reasonable cause. " The new substantive standard is higher than irs "any cause" predecessor. Howcver, if "just and reasonable cause" is broken
me
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down inro irs componenr parrs, it is not SO fearsome ro schools: "Jusr" means "fair." "Reasonable" means that "it makes sense." If the cause advanced for dismissing a teachcr, therefore, is fair and makes sense, rhen the standard should have been mer, under any coure's review. There was some controversy among school administrators and school lawyers over whether losing the "any cause substantive standard for "just and reasonable cause" was a good tradeoff for eliminating "strict compliance." It seems clear, however. that in allowing schools and reachers to focus on the actual reasons for the dismissal of a teacher, rather than on the procedures co effect mat dismissal, we will avoid the sometimes ludicrous outcomes that strict compliance engineered. In the few school board hearings I have conducted since the new law came into effect on July I, 200 I, the change is manifest. No longer do the panies wrangle over an irrelevanr, technical procedural matrer. The focus is now on whether the reasons for the proposed dismissal, as described in the nmice Icrrcr to the reacher from the superintendent, justify the dismissal. In
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