Chelan County Superior Court Judge Lesley Allan has awarded the “reasonable” attorneys’ fees associated with former Wenatchee High School teacher Ed Knaggs’ termination appeal, totaling around $160,000.

Wenatchee School District’s attorney, Charles Lind, protested that the district should not be liable for Knaggs’ attorney fees. He noted a state law says that if a petitioner prevails in an administrative hearing, then they are entitled to the fees in a hearing Wednesday.  However, Knaggs lost in the administrative hearing but proceeded to win the appeal in Superior Court. 

Allan said that the court’s decision has the effect of canceling the hearing officer’s decision, and therefore, it is the current ruling.

Lind believes that some of the fees are “unreasonable,” which he will be allowed to dispute in writing to the court, due by March 5. Lind used a $27,000 expert witness fee as an example of a charge that the district considers “unreasonable.”

While reviewing documents submitted by Lind, Allan, clearly frustrated with Lind, chastised him for multiple typos in the document. She noted that she was a former editor and copyeditor of her high school’s newspaper.

Lind said that the district is not disputing the statute for teacher reinstatement. The statute states: “If the final decision is in favor of the employee, the employee shall be restored to his or her employment position and shall be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees.”

Both the district and Knaggs’ attorney Quentin Batjer will now submit formal recommendations to Allan, who will then consider requests from both sides and issue an order.

Total back wages, attorney fees, and the reinstatement, will be included in the order, Lind said.

“I know that he wants to see the kids again,” Batjer said, declining to speak further on Knaggs’ behalf.

When Knaggs was terminated in April 2012, he appealed the firing and his case went before an administrative hearing officer, who ruled in favor of the district. Allan said the hearing officer “screwed up,” but she didn’t want to “impugn” him.

The school district can still appeal Allan’s Jan. 27 decision to reverse the termination. Essentially, it would be appealing the order that is issued by the court. In that case, the order would be placed on hold while the case was reviewed by the Court of Appeals.

The appeal deadline is Feb. 26. Lind indicated that an appeal from the district is “possible,” mentioning that the district believes the hearing officer’s decision to uphold Knaggs’ termination was correct.

An appeal, according to Lind, would go before the state Court of Appeals in Spokane. The state level would be similar to the Superior Court level, in that the Spokane court would review the same testimony that Allan reviewed.

Knaggs’ counsel has been paid by the Washington Education Association (WEA), the state teachers union, at a lower than normal rate of $145 per hour. Allan, in the hearing on Wednesday, reduced the normal rates of the attorneys working on the case in order to average the usual rates with the WEA rate. Knaggs’ attorneys’ rates are considerably more than the WEA rate.

New developments will be in The Apple Leaf on March 5.