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Pavlik v. Chinle Unified School District No. 243/11/1999
ive leave of absence."
The District concedes that the superintendent placed Pavlik on administrative leave before written charges were preferred, but contends that section 15-540 does not apply because Pavlik was put on administrative leave for investigatory, not disciplinary reasons. The District claims that it has the inherent power to suspend a teacher with pay pending an investigation. As support, it points to the language of subsection C, "any teacher who is placed on administrative leave of absence pursuant to this section," as demonstrating that other forms of administrative leave exist. (Emphasis added).
Pavlik responds by citing A.R.S. section 15-341(A)(25) (1991) (current version at section 15-341(A)(23) (Supp. 1998)), which limits the time a teacher may be placed on leave with pay: "Disciplinary action shall not include suspension with pay or suspension without pay for a period of time longer than ten school days."
We agree with the District that neither statute applies because Pavlik's suspension was for investigatory reasons, and not for disciplinary purposes. Although investigation and discipline are often intertwined, some investigations result in exoneration, not discipline.
At oral argument, Pavlik's attorney asserted that the investigation was complete before Pavlik was placed on leave. Although the record does not bear this out, assuming it were the case, administrative leave might still be appropriate to allow the District time to digest the information the investigation revealed and consider what to do about it.
Although no statute or rule expressly authorizes leaves of absence for investigative purposes, we agree with the District that it had the inherent authority to suspend a teacher with pay pending an investigation. An employer may have legitimate reasons to limit the access to a school campus of an employee under suspicion of misconduct involving students. We also recognize that, in some cases, it will benefit the employee to have the investigation proceed without disciplinary charges being preferred. We will not attempt to define in the abstract how long such a suspension may last or what notice to the teacher is required. Pre-termination suspension before a hearing is constitutionally permissible as long as the suspension is with pay. See Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 544-45 (1985) (" n those situations where the employer perceives a significant hazard in keeping the employee on the job, it can avoid the problem by suspending with pay.").
We now consider whether Pavlik was prejudiced by the Board's failure to provide him a copy of the charges before placing him on administrative leave. Pavlik asserts that the failure to give him written notice of the charges before placing him on administrative leave irreparably harmed his ability to present a defense. Had a statement of charges been issued, he says, he could have provided "insight into the actual facts." He asserts that he could have begun his own investigation and secured experts to interview the students who had made allegations against him. Exclusion from the investigation, he maintains, enabled the District's administrative staff to present a one-sided version of the facts to the Board and denied him the opportunity to participate in the process before the District decided to terminate him.
As part of his claim, Pavlik also asserts that the assistant principal who investigated the matter exerted undue influence over the student witnesses, improperly used leading questions, and sometimes interviewed the students in groups. He claims that the investigator's unbridled access to the students and her lack of train
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