Commonwealth Court has affirmed a lower-court ruling in favor of the Panther Valley Education Association on behalf of a temporary professional employee whose contract was not renewed.

The school district had appealed a Dec. 11, 2009 order that had denied it's petition to vacate an arbitrator's award that upheld a grievance filed by PVEA on behalf of Robert Thomas. The arbitrator's award directed the district to place Thomas on a recall list, reinstate him to a position he is qualified to teach and pay him all the wages, seniority and benefits due from Aug. 11, 2006 until the date of his reinstatement.According to the nine-page ruling, handed down Nov. 24 by Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia A. McCullough, Thomas, a certified health and physical education teacher, worked as a substitute for the district. As of Nov. 12, 2004, he was hired as an alternative education teacher and signed a temporary professional employee contract. He worked in that job through the 2005-06 school year, after which the alternative education program was dropped. Three of Thomas's four evaluations during that time were satisfactory, but the last, on Aug. 1, 2006, was unsatisfactory.On Aug. 11, 2006, then-Superintendent Christopher J. West notified Thomas that the school board had voted against renewing his contract because of the program change. PVEA on Sept. 13, 2006, filed a grievance on Thomas' behalf. The matter went to arbitration. The arbitrator sustained the grievance and told the district to place Thomas on the recall list, reinstate him and pay him the wages, seniority and benefits. In the ruling, the arbitrator noted that according to Public School Code, temporary professional employees enjoy the same rights and privileges of regular, full-time employees.The school district appealed the arbitrator's ruling, arguing that Thomas was fired because of his unsatisfactory evaluation and so was not eligible for recall. further, the district argued Thomas had no right to a grievance or recall.On Dec. 11, 2009, the trial court denied the appeal.