Frazer Pub. School Dist. v. Bird

NO. 95-179
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
1995
TRUSTEES OF FRAZER PUBLIC SCHOOL
DISTRICT NO. 2-ZB,
Appellant/Respondent and Respondent,
-v-
PATRICIA C. BIRD,
Respondent/Cross-Appellant Appellant.
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Seventeenth Judicial District,
In and for the County of Valley,
The Honorable John C. McKeon, Judge presiding.
COUNSEL OF RECORD:
For Appellant:
Patricia C. Bird, Wolf Point, Montana, pro se
For Respondent:
James Rector, Glasgow, Montana; Robert J. Savage,
Sidney, Montana
Submitted on Briefs: August 17, 1995
Decided: August 24, 1995
Filed: AUG.24 lQQ5
Justice James C. Nelson delivered the Opinion of the Court.
Patricia C. Bird (Bird), pro se, appeals from the March 8,
1995, order of the Seventeenth Judicial District Court, Valley
County, granting the Fraser Public School District No. 2-2B
Trustees' (Trustees) motion to dismiss. We affirm.
Before the District Court was Bird's cross-appeal from the
February 16, 1994, Decision and Order of Nancy Keenan,
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Keenan) in which Keenan
upheld the Valley County Superintendent's findings that the
Trustees improperly terminated Bird from her position as a non-
certified teacher's aide in violation of the school district's
written policy and ordered her reinstatement. Bird cross-appealed
Keenan's Decision and Order,
to the extent that said Decision and Order (I) does not
provide that Ms. Bird is entitled to lost earnings from
March 23, 1992, to the date of reinstatement of her
employment and (2) denies her request for attorney fees
for her appeal and such other actions as may be necessary
to enforce said Decision and Order.
Citing our decision in Harris v. Bauer (1983), 206 Mont. 480,
672 P.2d 26, the District Court dismissed with prejudice Bird's
appeal on the basis that neither the Valley County Superintendent
nor Keenan had addressed or determined any issues regarding Bird's
entitlement to "back pay" or attorney fees.
Our review of the District Court's conclusions of law is
plenary. We simply determine whether the trial judge's
interpretation of the law is correct. Steer, Inc. v. Department of
Revenue (1990), 245 Mont. 470, 474-75, 803 P.2d 601, 603. In
Harris, we held that the district court was subject to the
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 2-4-704, MCA, in its judicial
review of contested cases, in effect, sitting as a lower appellate
tribunal, basing its conclusions on the printed record. Harris,
672 P.2d at 32, (citing Yanzick v. School Dist. No. 23, etc. (1982)
196 Mont. 375, 387-88, 641 P.2d 431, 438-39.) We also held that
the trial court can review only those issues determined by the
State Superintendent, which, in turn, reviews only those issues
determined by the County Superintendent. Harris, 672 P.2d at 32.
Here, neither the Valley County Superintendent nor Keenan
addressed or determined any issues regarding Bird's entitlement to
"back pay" or attorney fees. Accordingly, pursuant to our decision
in Harris, we hold that the District Court properly concluded that
it was without jurisdiction to entertain Bird's appeal and that it
correctly dismissed her appeal with prejudice.
On appeal to this Court Bird attacks the District Court's
decision by arguing issues that were never raised in the District
Court appeal, including the applicability of the Montana Wrongful
Discharge from Employment Act and claims of blacklisting,
conspiracy, emotional distress and punitive damages. It requires
no lengthy recitation of authority that we will not address issues
and matters raised for the first time on appeal to this Court.
Dagel v. Manzer (1991), 251 Mont. 176, 178, 823 P.2d 874, 875-76.
Bird failed to preserve the issues she now raises on appeal in any
of the proceedings before the lower tribunals. Accordingly, we
will not address those here.
-
Affirmed.
Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court
1988 Internal Operating Rules, this decision shall not be cited as
precedent and shall be published by its filing as a public document
with the Clerk of this Court and by a report of its result to the
West Publishing Company.