Clayton Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Vollmer

The superior court was not authorized to consider an issue that the terminated teacher did not raise prior to his appeal from a decision of the State Board of Education.

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The Clayton County Board of Education hereinafter, the “Local Board” appeals from an order by the Superior Court of Clayton County reversing a decision by the State Board of Education the “State Board”. The State Board had affirmed the Local Board’s termination of a teacher, David Vollmer.1 The Local Board contends that the superior court erred in reversing Vollmer’s termination based upon an issue that he raised for the first time in the superior court, specifically, that the tribunal that conducted the initial termination hearing had failed to timely comply with its statutory reporting requirements. The Local Board argues that Vollmer waived the issue by failing to raise it in the prior proceedings. The Local Board also contends that, to the extent the superior court found as a matter of law that there was insufficient evidence in the record to support the termination of Vollmer’s employment, this conclusion is erroneous. For the following reasons, we find that Vollmer waived the issue of whether the hearing tribunal timely complied with the applicable statutory requirements. Further, the hearing evidence supported the Local Board’s termination decision. Consequently, we reverse the superior court’s order.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the Local Board’s decision,2 the record shows the following, undisputed facts. In January 2012, Clayton County’s Superintendent of Schools recommended that the Local Board terminate Vollmer’s employment as a teacher, pursuant to the Georgia Fair Dismissal Act, OCGA § 20-2-940 et seq. A tribunal appointed by the Local Board the “hearing tribunal”3 heard evidence on the recommendation and, on May 22, 2012, issued its findings of fact and recommended that the Local Board terminate Vollmer’s employment. In a June 5, 2012 e-mail to Vollmer’s counsel, the Local Board notified Vollmer that it had “upheld the termination decision of the Tribunal at its Monthly Board Meeting last night.”

Clayton Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Vollmer

The superior court was not authorized to consider an issue that the terminated teacher did not raise prior to his appeal from a decision of the State Board of Education.

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