Whether a dismissed teacher employed by a school district for over five years, but who took two separate maternity leaves during that period, has professional teacher status (PTS) is an issue that must be decided by an arbitrator. Plymouth Public Schools v. Educ. Assoc. of Plymouth & Carver, 89 Mass. App. Ct. 643 (2016). This recent decision by the state’s highest court puts to rest what the Court referred to as the “chicken and egg” problem of determining whether a Massachusetts teacher has earned professional status. Because teachers are not eligible for arbitration and other procedural and substantive rights until they obtain PTS, the district had argued that a judge, rather than an arbitrator, should decide the question of whether the teacher had obtained the status necessary to access arbitration. The Court disagreed.
The Court concluded that “the strong public policy favoring arbitration” and the preference for arbitration expressed in the Education Reform Act dictates that the issue of “whether the teacher has professional teacher status must be decided by an arbitrator.” Its decision reflects earlier decisions in which the Court held that it does not makes sense to “establish two successive forms of review in two different forums for dismissed teachers with professional status.” Turner v. Sch. Comm. of Dedham, 41 Mass. App. Ct. 354 (1996).
The Court declined to address the public policy arguments raised by both parties. Given the significance of these issues – a district’s right to three consecutive, full years of training and evaluation before a teacher obtains PTS versus the right of an employee not to be penalized or put in a worse position for taking parental or FMLA-qualifying leave – it is unlikely that the arbitrator’s decision will result in a final resolution. For now, what is settled is that the determination of whether the teacher is even entitled to arbitration, belongs to the arbitrator.
