13-004771 Miami-Dade County School Board vs. Barbara A. Roberts Status: Closed Recommended Order on Thursday, April 24, 2014.

Summary: 30-day suspension without pay for employee's driving a school bus with a suspended license.

STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

MIAMI - DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD,

Petitioner,

vs. Case No. 13 - 4771

BARBARA A. ROBERTS,

Respondent.

_______________________________/

RECOMMENDED ORDER

On February 19, 2014, Robert E. Meale, Administrative Law

Judge of the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH),

conducted the final hearing by videoconference in Tallahassee and

Miami, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Sara M. Marken, Esquire

Miami - Dade County School Board

1420 Northeast Second Avenue, Suite 430

Miami, Florida 33132 - 1308

For Respondent: Barbara A. Roberts, pro se

3120 Northwest 161st Street

Miami Gardens, Florida 33054

STA TEMENT OF THE ISSUE

The issue is whether Petitioner may suspend Respondent for

30 calendar days without pay for driving a school bus while her

driver license was suspended.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

By letter dated October 17, 2013, Petitioner advised

Respo ndent that, at a meeting on October 16, the School Board

decided to suspend Respondent without pay for an unspecified

offense. By letter dated November 4, 2013, Respondent requested

a formal hearing. By Notice of Specific Charges filed

February 4, 2014, Petitioner advised Respondent that the proposed

suspension was for driving a school bus with a suspended license.

At the hearing, Petitioner called three witnesses and

offered into evidence seven exhibits: Petitioner Exhibits 1 - 3,

11, and 13 - 15. Respond ent called one witness and offered into

evidence one exhibit: Respondent Composite Exhibit 1. All

exhibits were admitted into evidence.

By Order entered April 9, 2014, the Administrative Law Judge

ordered the parties to file any proposed recommended orde rs by

the earlier of April 23 , 2014, or ten days after the filing of

the transcript. The court reporter filed the transcript on

April 17, 2014, so the deadline for proposed recommended orders

was April 23 , 2014 . Petitioner timely filed a proposed

recomm ended order.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Petitioner has employed Respondent as a school bus

driver for 14 years.

2. In January, 2013, Respondent committed three toll

violations. I nitially, she could have paid $22 .50 to have

resolved these violations, but Resp ondent failed to do so.

3. Unpaid, t he violations matured into citations that

required a court appearance. Respondent received a summons to

appear i n court on February 19, 2013, b ut Respondent failed to do

so.

4. Respondent then received a notice that h er driver

license would be suspended effective March 11, 2013. In late

February, Respondent hired an attorney to clear up the matter.

On February 28, the attorney appeared in court and obtained a

disposition of the three citations. However, for some rea son,

the Clerk ' s office did not process the paperwork correctly, so

the March 11 suspension was not lifted.

5. On March 11, 2013, which was a Monday, Respondent

reported to work and drove her bus. She did not conduct a driver

license check prior to repor ting to work, but she did so later

that morning, at which time she learned that her license had been

suspended.

6. Respondent called her attorney and informed him that her

license had been suspended. He said that it should not have been

and, the next d ay, visited the Clerk ' s office and clear ed up the

confusion . After being suspended March 11 - 13, Respondent ' s

driver license was reinstated without any costs effective

March 14, 2013.

7. In the meantime, knowing that her license had been

suspended, Re spondent drove her school bus on the afternoon of

March 11. Due to the driver - license suspension, Respondent did

not report to work on March 12, but she did on March 13 and ,

either knowing that her license was still suspended or in

conscious disregard of the status of her license, drove the bus

in the morning and afternoon.

8 . Petitioner ' s Handbook for School Bus Drivers, Aides and

Operations Staff, dated July 2012 (Handbook), provides that

drivers " must at all times maintain a valid Commercial Driver ' s

L icense, " and " [o]perating a bus with a suspended, expired, or

revoked license shall be grounds for suspension or dismissal

. . . . " Handbook, p. 10.

9 . School Board Policy 8600 incorporates by reference the

Handbook. Also, the collective bargaining agre ement covering

Respondent acknowledges that noncompliance with any School Board

policy, if not serious enough to warrant dismissal, may be a

ground for suspension of the employee for up to 30 calendar days

without pay.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

10 . DOAH has juri sdiction. §§ 120.569 and 120.57(1), Fla.

Stat. (2013).

11 . All school bus drivers must hold valid commercial

driver ' s licenses. § 1012.45(1) Fla. Stat . Petitioner is

authorized to suspend its employees. §§ 1001.42(5)(a) and

1012.22(1)(f) Fla. Stat . T he Handbook authorizes Petitioner to

suspend an employee for driving a school bus with a suspended

license.

12. Petitioner must prove the material allegations by a

preponderance of the evidence. § 120.57(1)(j) Fla. Stat .

13 . Petitioner has proved that Respondent drove a school

bus while her driver license was suspended and that an

appropriate punishment for this offense is suspension without pay

for 30 calendar days.

RECOMMENDATION

It is

RECOMMENDED that the Miami - Dade County School Board enter a

fi nal order suspending Respondent for 30 calendar days without

pay.

DONE AND ENTERED this 24th day of April, 2014 , in

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

S

ROBERT E. MEALE

Administrative Law Judge

Division of Administrativ e Hearings

The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399 - 3060

(850) 488 - 9675

Fax Filing (850) 921 - 6847

www.doah.state.fl.us

Filed with the Clerk of the

Division of Administrative Hearings

this 24th day of April, 2014 .

COPIES FUR NISHED:

Sara M. Marken, Esquire

Miami - Dade County School Board

1450 Northeast Second Avenue , Suite 430

Miami, Florida 33132 - 1308

Barbara A. Roberts

3120 Northwest 161st Street

Miami Gardens, Florida 33054

Matthew Carson, General Counsel

Department of Education

Turlington Building, Suite 1244

325 West Gaines Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32399 - 0400

Pam Stewart , Commissioner of Education

Department of Education

Turlington Building, Suite 1514

325 West Gaines Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32399 - 0400

Albe rto M. Carvalho, Superintendent

Miami - Dade County School Board

1450 Northeast Second Avenue

Miami, Florida 33132 - 1308

NOTICE OF RIGHT TO SUBMIT EXCEPTIONS

All parties have the right to submit written exceptions within

15 days from the date of this Reco mmended Order. Any exceptions

to this Recommended Order should be filed with the agency that

will issue the Final Order in this case.