Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing on pleadings plaintiff-tenured teacher’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendant-school district violated her due process rights by failing to provide her with opportunity to contest her “unsatisfactory” job rating prior to laying her off pursuant to reduction in force and in failing to reinstate her after defendant began process to hire individual for her job. Plaintiff’s status as tenured teacher gave her legitimate property interest in her job that, under Due Process Clause, provided her with right to present her arguments about rating to decision-maker, where, as here, said rating dictated that she was first teacher to go under reduction in force. Moreover, record showed that defendant did not offer formal process for contesting job rating, but did provide informal opportunity to seek review of job rating. As such, remand was required to determine what opportunities for review of job rating were available to plaintiff, and whether said opportunities satisfied constitutional need for some kind of hearing.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Due Process