Justia California Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff, a tenured teacher, was dismissed based on charges that he had physically and abusively disciplined his students. Plaintiff contended that the Board's failure to consider or formulate written charges before initiating his dismissal nullified all further proceedings. The trial court subsequently denied plaintiff's petition for writ of mandate, finding that the board's failure to consider or formulate charges before initiating plaintiff's dismissal was a nonsubstantive procedural error that was not prejudicial. The court concluded that plaintiff's informal notification of charges, eventual receipt of written charges, representation by counsel, involvement in the discovery process and participation in a four-day evidentiary hearing confirmed he was provided notice and a full opportunity to oppose the charges. Plaintiff has not shown the board's reliance on oral presentation of charges in initiating his dismissal undermined his preparation or otherwise prejudiced his defense. Accordingly, the trial court did not err by denying his mandate petition and the court affirmed the judgment. View "DeYoung v. Com. on Professional Competence" on Justia Law

The District and UTLA petitioned the court, challenging the trial court's ruling that the District was required to produce unredacted Academic Growth Over Time (AGT) scores, as well as the location codes which identify the school to which each teacher is assigned. The court held that the unredacted AGT scores are exempt from disclosure under the catch-all exemption in section 6255 of the California Public Records Act, Gov. Code, 6250 et seq., because the public interest served by not disclosing the teachers' names clearly outweighs the public interest served by their disclosure. Therefore, the court granted the separate petitions for writ of mandate by the District and UTLA to the extent they challenged the trial court's ruling on this issue. However, the court remanded for further proceedings regarding disclosure of the location codes. View "Los Angeles Unified Sch. Dist. v. Super. Ct." on Justia Law