Brightman v. Board of Education

SPENCE, J.

A petition was filed in the superior court by Georgia Bliss and Winifred Brightman seeking a writ of mandate to compel the respondents to reinstate them and permit them to serve as “permanent teachers’’. The respondents answered and a trial was had which resulted in a judgment in favor of respondents. An appeal was taken by said petitioners from said judgment but the petitioner Georgia Bliss has since dismissed her appeal, leaving Winifred Brightman as the sole appellant.

[396]

The respondent Board of Education of the City of Berkeley constitutes the governing board of both the Berkeley School District and the Berkeley High School District. Said districts are public corporations and the boundaries of each coincide with the boundaries of the city of Berkeley. Appellant’s previous service in the Berkeley School District and in the Berkeley High School District will be hereinafter set forth. During the school year 1931-1932 appellant was employed by the Berkeley School District and acted as a traveling teacher of instrumental music for several of the elementary schools of that district. On April 25, 1932, the board adopted a resolution which recited “that economies must be effected wherever possible, and that all employees holding the position of Travelling Teacher of Music be dismissed”. Pursuant to said resolution, appellant was duly notified of said dismissal by registered letter mailed on April 29, 1932.

Two main issues were presented to the trial court: First, was appellant at the time of her dismissal a “permanent employee” of either the Berkeley School District or the Berkeley High School District or was she merely a “probationary employee” who might be dismissed under section 5.681 of the School Code; second, if appellant was a “permanent employee”, was the dismissal proper under section 5.710 of the School Code relating to dismissals because of the discontinuance of a particular kind of service

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The trial court found against appellant on both of these issues and if its findings on either issue may be sustained, the* judgment must be affirmed.

In our opinion, the trial court’s findings to the effect that appellant was not at the time of her dismissal a “permanent employee” of either the Berkeley School District or the Berkeley High School District but was merely a “probationary employee” of the Berkeley School District were sustained by the evidence. It is conceded that appellant had never been classified as a “permanent employee” in either district and it is therefore necessary to examine the record of her service in' order to determine whether she automatically became under the law a “permanent employee” of either district by reason of such service. In so examining the record of her service, her employment by each of said districts must be considered apart from her employment by