Education Law

(Court opinion corrected 1/12/16.) During a public meeting, School Board voted to terminate employment of its superintendent, who had previously written Board a letter inquiring about terminating his employment contract.  He and Board then reached agreement as to terms of separation, and he signed a 19-page Separation Agreement and Release. Board appropriately considered superintendent’s dismissal, and Board members signed Agreement, at closed session month prior to its vote, as permitted by section 2(c)(1) of Open Meetings Act. (HARRIS and APPLETON, concurring.)

School Board enacted new policy, placing a "Do Not Hire" designation on any probationary teacher who was not renewed twice, or who had been given unsatisfactory performance rating. Probationary teachers have no specific right to be retained by a school board, but may be dismissed in a school board’s discretion; school board has exclusive right to determine its hiring guidelines. School board is not obligated to arbitrate grievances as to new policy.(GARMAN, THOMAS, KARMEIER, BURKE, and THEIS, concurring; KILBRIDE, dissenting.)

 

Tenured teacher was dismissed for cause.  Hearing officer heard 4 days of testimony and issued recommendation that Board's decision to dismiss teacher be reversed. Board then entered its decision to dismiss teacher, notwithstanding hearing officer's recommendation.  Teacher filed for administrative review. Teacher made last-minute call to principal that she would be late to school, and did not have lesson plan available for substitute teacher. Downstate tenured teacher dismissal procedure, as amended, now gives deference to final decision-making authority of school board. Appellate court considered Board's findings  contrary to hearing officer's findings, and found that Board's steps in dismissal were not supported by evidence at hearing; and Board's findings were arbitrary, unreasonable, and unrelated to service.(SCHWARM and STEWART, concurring.)

Plaintiff filed action to enjoin school district from enforcing policy requiring her daughter to complete 6 hours of community service for each year of attendance in public high school as prerequisite to graduation. Section 27-22 of School Code allows local school districts freedom to add additional requirements for graduation based on needs of students and community. Regulations allow local school board to adopt reasonable service learning program as graduation requirement. Requirement is not unreasonable, onerous, or unduly burdensome making it akin to involuntary servitude. (POPE and TURNER, concurring.)

Court properly granted Section 2-619.1 motion to dismiss, dismissing claim of school district superintendent for declaratory judgment which alleged that School Board improperly dismissed her. Board had good cause for dismissal, as superintendent acted outside scope of her authority per School Code in administratively transferring 48 "disruptive" students to alternative schools without Board hearings for extended periods of time and with no meaningful opportunity to be heard. (PUCINSKI and HYMAN, concurring.)

Court properly granted Section 2-619(a)(9) motion to dismiss class action complaint against school district, relating to reorganization of two elementary schools, as barred by Section 2-103 of Tort Immunity Act. Plain language of Section 2-103 does not provide distinction between ministerial and discretionary acts or an exception for ministerial acts.(JORGENSEN and SPENCE, concurring.)