# Board of Education v. Townsend

> West Virginia Supreme Court · April 25, 2000 · 207 W. Va. 285

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8181962

## Case

- **Full name:** The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the COUNTY OF MERCER, below v. Kitty TOWNSEND, Below
- **Court:** West Virginia Supreme Court
- **Decided:** April 25, 2000
- **Citations:** 207 W. Va. 285; 531 S.E.2d 664; 2000 W. Va. LEXIS 18
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Starcher
- **Judges:** Himself, McHugh, Megraw, Starcher, Temporary
- **Cited by:** 1 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8181962

## Opinion text

STARCHER, Justice,
dissenting:
(Filed July 20, 2000)
This per curiam opinion is most decidedly not authority for anyone to conclude that the previous practice (pre-1990) of awarding up to a year’s seniority for “substitutes” who worked 133 days or more in a year’s teaching employment is in conflict with the then-applicable law.
A settled line of cases before the State Employee Grievance Board, a state superintendent’s interpretation, and this Court’s decision in Harkins v. Ohio County Board of Education, 179 W.Va. 373 , 369 S.E.2d 224 (1988) {per curiam) dictates this conclusion, as does a review of the applicable statutory language.
On remand, the Administrative Law Judge should follow the law, not dicta in a per curiam footnote. Then the Administrative Law Judge’s analysis may be tested in an appeal of the issue, if a party challenges it. Meanwhile, no one should presume to interfere with the hard-earned seniority of our state’s full-time teachers — whether they are called “substitutes” or otherwise.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8181962. Public record. Not legal advice.