Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals rules part of Act I is not fair

The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled part of Act I is unconstitutional because it “Denies all tenured public school teachers a due process to which they are entitled.” Despite the ruling, a former Vermilion Parish School teacher is still not getting her job back soon.
Former parish teacher Kasha LaPointe filed two lawsuits against the Vermilion Parish School Board after she was terminated by Superintendent Jerome Puyau in 2013.
According to Act I in 2012-2013, if a school employee with tenure is fired by the superintendent, he or she has the right to appeal the firing by going in front of a three-person panel.
The superintendent selects a person for the panel, the teacher’s school principal selects a person, and the person who is fired selects a person for the panel.
Despite how the panel votes, the superintendent has the final say if the fired employee gets his or her job back.
LaPointe’s attorney Brian Francis Blackwell argued that the process of going in front of the 3-person panel was not fair because “it weighed” against the teacher. Also, the superintendent has the option to reinstate the teacher, or he can select not to despite how the three-person panel voted.
The Third Circuit added, “With this type of process in place, the superintendent is the only decision maker. Once the superintendent has decided to terminate a teacher without a full hearing, it is impossible that a teacher be reinstated. This renders the post-termination procedure meaningless.”
The case began in the lower 15th Judicial District Court and ruled that Act 1 was legal and fair. LaPointe appealed the ruling to the Third Circuit Court and reversed the lower court’s decision.
Blackwell learned of the ruling Wednesday morning and was “pleasantly surprised” by the decision.
“Had there been a fair process in place, may be her termination would not have happened,” said Blackwell, who represents the state’s teachers union. “That is the whole point of the case. I have been doing this since 1988, and this is the craziest termination of someone I have ever seen.”
The Third Circuit of Appeals ordered the school board to reinstate LaPointe to the position of teacher with tenure and give her back pay from September of 2013 until now.
Vermilion Parish School Board attorney “Woody” Woodruff said despite what the Third Circuit Court ruled, the case is automatically going to be heard by the State Supreme Court.
The Attorney General’s Office is handling the case for local school board because it is the duty of the Attorney General’s Office to defend any state statute of the Constitutional challenge, Woodruff said.
He said he expects the State Supreme Court to hear the case in the next six months. In the meantime, LaPointe will not be rehired. The School Board is going to wait for the State Supreme Court’s ruling, he said
Since 2013, the Louisiana Legislature has changed Act 1 and got rid of the three-person panel hearing. Woodruff said there is now “a hearing officer” who listens to the fired tenured teacher. The hearing officer, who is not from the parish, has the final say if a fired teacher should be reinstated or not. The superintendent cannot overrule the hearing officer’s decision.