Wagner v. Tuscarora Sch. Dist., No. 06-1544 (3d Cir. March 14, 2007)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (PA, NJ, DE, VI) has ruled that a Pennsylvania teacher was not denied his due process rights to notice and a hearing before being terminated, because the meeting at which he was suspended did not, as he argued, constitute a "de facto" termination hearing. When allegations of sexual harassment of students surfaced against Tuscarora School District (TSD) band teacher Fred Wagner, TSD officials informed Mr. Wagner of the charges and offered him the choice of resigning or being suspended with termination proceedings to follow. In a letter, he requested an unpaid leave of absence. When he was suspended, Mr. Wagner was informed that he could request a hearing. When he did not do so, TSD officials initiated termination proceedings that led to his discharge. He sued in U.S. district court, alleging violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights to procedural and substantive due process and claiming that his termination and the publicity surrounding it deprived him of his property interest in his job and his liberty interest in his reputation. In addition, he raised several state law claims. The district court granted TSD a summary judgment on all claims.
In a per curiam opinion¯one authored by a judicial panel as a whole rather than by an individual judge¯the Third Circuit panel affirmed. The appeals court rejected Mr. Wagner’s argument that the initial meeting constituted a "de facto" termination hearing and that, as such, he should have been accorded due process. Mr. Wagner was not terminated at that meeting, the court determined, but merely advised as to the charges and the options available to him. The record was clear that he was not terminated until after he failed to respond to TSD’s notice that he had a right to request a hearing, the court found. TSD also gave Mr. Wagner an opportunity to have a "name-clearing hearing" when officials gave him a statement of the charges and notice of his right to a hearing.
Wagner v. Tuscarora Sch. Dist., No. 06-1544 (3d Cir. March 14, 2007)
[Full opinion]