The state Supreme Court sided Thursday with a former Federal Way Public Schools teacher who the district fired after he and a former student exchanged “a slew of vulgar words” at a fast-food restaurant.
The court upheld a hearing officer’s decision that the district didn’t have grounds to terminate teacher David Vinson.
In an opinion with implications for other districts, the justices ruled the district didn’t have the legal right to appeal the hearing officer’s reversal of the district’s firing of Vinson.
The district terminated Vinson in July 2007 after he allegedly harassed a former student at Taco Time in Federal Way after school hours, lying about the incident and threatening to retaliate against her. Both Vinson and the former student, Rebecca Nistrian, admitted lying during the investigation, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Nistrian previously had called Vinson a vulgar term to describe his sexual orientation, according to court documents. Vinson is openly gay.
Vinson taught at Thomas Jefferson High School and was transferred to Federal Way High, where he coordinated a college-preparatory program. Vinson said Nistrian asked why he was no longer teaching at Thomas Jefferson, documents state.
“Nistrian’s comment initiated a slew of vulgar words between the two,” the court said in its decision. “The verbal exchange was mutual and brief, lasting less than 20 seconds.”
Nistrian was 19 or 20 at the time of the incident and was not a district student, said Vinson’s attorney, Tyler Firkins. The News Tribune was unable to contact Nistrian.
The district investigated the May 2007 incident and fired Vinson, who appealed. Hearing officer John Cooper found the district “failed to establish sufficient cause to justify termination of Vinson’s employment,” according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The district appealed to King County Superior Court and lost, but it later won at the state Court of Appeals. Vinson appealed to the Supreme Court.
Reversing the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court justices ruled in an 8-1 decision that the Federal Way district had no grounds under state law to appeal Cooper’s ruling. State law gives employees, but not districts, the right to appeal hearing officers’ decisions, the justices said.
The justices said Cooper’s actions were legal and not subject to appeal under the state constitution. In the majority opinion written by Justice Charles Wiggins, the justices also upheld Cooper’s ruling that the district failed to establish cause to fire Vinson. The court concluded Vinson’s behavior in the incident outside the classroom wasn’t sufficiently “egregious” to justify his firing and didn’t impair his teaching performance.
Justice James Johnson dissented, saying the district had a right to appeal a hearing officer’s reversal of a for-cause firing.
“The majority makes it more difficult to discharge certificated school employees than the Legislature intended, allowing hearing officers, rather than school officials, to decide when cause for discharge exists,” Johnson wrote.
Vinson, speaking through his attorney, declined to talk with a reporter Thursday. But Firkins said Vinson “was extremely pleased with the decision, and he feels like his cause was finally vindicated.”
A spokeswoman for Federal Way Public Schools said district attorneys are studying the ruling.
“It would be premature to comment or speculate,” spokeswoman Debra Stenberg said.
After he was fired, Vinson found a teaching job at another school and rescinded his application for reinstatement with the district. He still teaches at that other school – a private high school in the South Sound, said Firkins, who declined to name the school.
Vinson also has a lawsuit pending against Federal Way Public Schools, alleging he was discriminated against based on his sexual orientation.
Because that lawsuit is ongoing, the district can’t comment on it, Stenberg said.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/polibuzz
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