| Matter of O'Connor v Board of Educ. of City School Dist. of City ofNiagara Falls |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 01218 [48 AD3d 1254] |
| February 8, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| In the Matter of Andrea O'Connor, Appellant, v Board of Educationof City School District of City of Niagara Falls, Respondent. (Proceeding No. 1.) In the Matter ofDawn Smith-DeLuca, Appellant, v Board of Education of City School District of City ofNiagara Falls, Respondent. (Proceeding No. 2.) |
—[*1] Angelo Massaro, Niagara Falls, for respondent-respondent.
Appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Niagara County (Richard C. Kloch, Sr.,A.J.), entered November 1, 2006 in proceedings pursuant to CPLR article 78. The judgmentdismissed the petitions.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed withoutcosts.
Memorandum: Petitioners, tenured teachers previously employed by respondent, commencedthese proceedings pursuant to CPLR article 78 seeking, inter alia, to annul their respectiveterminations and seeking reinstatement to their former positions. Petitioners were terminatedfrom their employment based on their failure to comply with the residency policy set forth in theemployment agreement signed by them, but they contend that they were entitled to a hearingpursuant to Education Law §§ 3020 and 3020-a and in accordance with their dueprocess rights prior to their termination. Supreme Court properly dismissed the petitions. Thosesections of the Education Law are inapplicable inasmuch as they address issues relating to ateacher's competency and the applicable disciplinary procedures and penalties attendant thereto,while the residency policy "is a consideration unrelated to job performance, misconduct orcompetency. It is a qualification of employment . . . [that respondent] may impose itif chooses to do so without [*2]running afoul of the Constitutionor general laws of the State" (Mandelkern v City of Buffalo, 64 AD2d 279, 281 [1978];see also Matter of Felix v New YorkCity Dept. of Citywide Admin. Servs., 3 NY3d 498 [2004]). Present—Scudder,P.J., Martoche, Peradotto, Pine and Gorski, JJ.