Cal. School Employees Assn. v. Santa Ana Unif. School Dist et al.
The California School Employees Association, the association’s Santa Ana chapter, and a member of the association (collectively referred to as CSEA) sought a peremptory writ of mandate compelling the Santa Ana Unified School District, its governing board, and two of its superintendents (collectively referred to as the District) to rescind the District’s partnership agreement with THINK Together, Inc. (THINK) for the provision of after-school program management services because the partnership agreement allegedly violated Education Code section 45103.1.[1] CSEA also sought the reinstatement of classified employees to the after-school tutoring positions they held prior to the District’s agreement with THINK, and an order directing the District to compensate the purportedly displaced classified employees for their losses due to the THINK partnership agreement. The trial court determined the after-school tutoring positions held by the classified employees prior to the District’s agreement with THINK were extra duty assignments “at-will,†rather than permanent classified school employment positions, and the employees who held those positions never obtained permanent status for the extra duty hours they worked. Consequently, the trial court held the District’s agreement with THINK did not violate the provisions of section 45103.1, and denied the peremptory writ of mandate requested by CSEA. We need not consider CSEA’s appeal with regard to the trial court’s ruling on the substantive issues. Instead, we dispose of the appeal on procedural grounds by concluding CSEA failed to exhaust administrative remedies. We reverse the trial court’s order and remand the matter with directions to stay the proceedings until CSEA exhausts administrative remedies.
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