California School Employees Ass'n v. Board of Trustees

[394]

Opinion

GILBERT, J.

California School Employees Association (hereafter CSEA) and Fran Ashton appeal from a judgment of the superior court denying their petition for writ of mandate to reverse the decision of Templeton Unified School District Board of Trustees (hereafter the Board) discharging Ashton from her employment as a bus driver/custodian. We are asked to determine whether the Board wrongfully terminated Ashton as bus driver/custodian because the Department of Motor Vehicles (hereafter the DMV) revoked her school bus driver’s certificate for a three-year period. We conclude that the Board properly terminated Ashton on the ground that she no longer possessed the requisite qualifications for the job of bus driver/custodian.

When this case arose, Fran Ashton had been a full-time permanent classified employee of the Templeton Unified School District [District] and a noncertificated member of the local chapter of CSEA for 11 years. She had been employed continuously as a bus driver combined with additional work variously as teacher-aide, cafeteria worker or custodian. For several years immediately prior to this action she had held the job of “bus driver/custodian.”

On January 16, 1980, Ashton pleaded guilty to drunk driving. On February 29, 1980, the DMV advised her by letter that her school bus driver certificate was being revoked for a period of three years. The DMV sent a copy of this letter to the District.

On March 5, 1980, Ashton was notified by the superintendent of the district that she was being suspended immediately without pay because the DMV had revoked her school bus driver certificate as a result of her recent drunk driving conviction. CSEA immediately wrote a letter of response on behalf of Ashton demanding her reinstatement with back pay, claiming her legal rights had been violated. The superintendent responded that Ashton was entitled to a hearing before the Board upon request, and Ashton requested a hearing which was scheduled for March 10, 1980.

At the conclusion of the hearing the Board ordered the dismissal of Ash-ton, effective April 8, 1980, and continued her suspension without pay to that date. A copy of the Board’s decision was mailed to Ashton on March 11, 1980.