Accommodation Appellate Division determined that district acted in good faith in providing reasonable accommodations to disabled art teacher. That the district did not acquiesce to all of teacher’s requests for accommodations does not evidence a lack of good faith on the part of the district. S.S. v. Cherry Hill Pub. Schs. 3/11/2019.
Arbitrary-Capricious-Unreasonable-Found Appellate Division reversed Chancery Division and reinstated arbitration award in favor of teacher where Court determined that award was not based on undue means. Court upheld the arbitration award where the arbitrator noted that the district observed teacher on consecutive days which failed to provide teacher an opportunity to demonstrate improvement and undermined the objective of the evaluative process. Arbitrator adhered to statutory process and made detailed findings supporting his conclusion that the District failed to substantially adhere to the evaluation process. State-Operated Sch. Dist. of Newark v. Dawkins 3/13/2019.
Appellate Division reversed Commissioner and determined that board of education may not rescind and void an existing contract with the superintendent and then enter into a new contract without public notice and hearing. Wall Twp. Educ. Ass’n v. Board of Educ. 3/14/2019.
CEPA Appellate Division determined that teacher successfully demonstrated elements of a claim under the Confidential Employee Protection Act to survive district’s summary judgment motion. Teacher alleged a policy violation where a student who threatened to assault the teacher was returned to the classroom. Teacher then asserted retaliation in his summative evaluation where student was being mentored by the building principal. Cotto v. Newark Pub. Schs. 3/7/2019.
Contracts-Public Appellate Division declined to order arbitration in energy savings contract and determined that arbitration clause specified by vendor was permissive and not mandatory where contract contained both mandatory and permissive wording. Medford Twp. Sch. Dist. v. Schneider Elec. Bldgs. Ams. 4/26/2019.
Immunity Appellate Division affirmed trial court grant of summary judgment in favor of school district based on immunity under the Trot Claims Act. Open field was unimproved and district did not create a dangerous condition where it determined to improve other parts of the field. Eak v. Cent. Reg’l Sch. Dist. 3/26/2019.