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Bertolini v. Whitehall City School District Board of Education9/26/2000
Woods was hired by the Whitehall City School System because of her qualifications, and not because of any relationship with [appellant]." The referee's finding was supported by the record and, therefore, the trial court should have deferred to this finding of fact of the referee.
The court also held that since appellant and Woods were both married when the affair began, " is actions were clearly immoral." While an adulterous affair may be considered immoral, in "order to constitute 'immorality' * as it relates to the termination of a teacher's contract, the conduct complained of must be hostile to the school community and cannot be some private act which has no impact on the teacher's professional duties." Florian v. Highland Local Bd. of Edn. (1983), 24 Ohio App.3d 41, syllabus. Therefore, an adulterous affair by a teacher without evidence to establish that it created hostility in the [school] community or that it had a serious impact on the teacher's professional duties is not a valid reason for termination.
A review of the record shows that many individuals testified concerning the effectiveness of appellant as an associate superintendent. As noted by the trial court, on January 5, 1998, Dr. Crawford wrote a "glowing evaluation" of appellant's performance as an associate superintendent. Dr. Crawford stated in his evaluation that "I would hope that you accept this evaluation as nothing less than a report of outstanding performance as associate superintendent of the Whitehall City Schools." (Emphasis sic.) The trial court also found that the board incorrectly held that appellant was grossly inefficient. Additionally, a review of all of the evidence presented against appellant shows that insufficient evidence was presented to establish that appellant's relationship with Woods was hostile to the community or that it had a serious impact on either of their professional duties.
In support of its finding that appellant's conduct was immoral and sufficient for his termination, the court also stated that: (1) there was a negative perception in the school district about his lunches with Woods; (2) there were rumors of an affair according to several witnesses; and (3) appellant's affair with Woods " learly * [does not render him as] * the type of role model parents want their children to have" because appellant "should be expected to lead both teachers and students by example." A review of the referee's findings of fact shows that no facts were cited by the referee to support a finding that appellant's actions had a negative impact on the school community. Even if evidence was shown that appellant's colleagues had a "negative perception" of him because of the "rumors of an affair," this is not sufficient evidence to justify his termination. Additionally, if we were to allow the reasoning that appellant should have been terminated simply because his affair with a colleague made him not "the type of role model parents want their children to have," this would open the door to allow other teachers to be terminated because of race, religion, political beliefs, and/or sexual orientation simply because the teacher was not "the type of role model parents want their children to have." Because of the potential abuse of this standard, we do not believe that this standard should be used.
The trial court also found that the board's decision to terminate appellant's contract was supported by a preponderance of the evidence, finding that appellant's actions constituted willful and persistent violations of school policies. The violations referenced by the trial court were the board's policy regarding sexual harassment and computer use. The section of the board's sexual harassment policy that
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