Edwards v. Board of Education of Diamond Lake School District No. 76

405 N.E.2d 478, 84 Ill. App. 3d 374, 39 Ill. Dec. 725, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2901
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 23, 1980
DocketNo. 78-487
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 405 N.E.2d 478 (Edwards v. Board of Education of Diamond Lake School District No. 76) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edwards v. Board of Education of Diamond Lake School District No. 76, 405 N.E.2d 478, 84 Ill. App. 3d 374, 39 Ill. Dec. 725, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2901 (Ill. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

Mr. JUSTICE UNVERZAGT

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Board of Education of Diamond Lake School District No. 76 (hereinafter referred to as the “Board” or “Board of Education”), appeals from a judgment of the circuit court of Lake County in favor of Mary Edwards in the amount of $7511.69.

During the 1975-76 school year, Mary Edwards was employed by the Board of Education as a physical education teacher on contractual continued service (more commonly and hereafter referred to as “tenure”). Joan Lehmann, a probationary teacher, who was first employed in 1973-74 as a part-time physical education teacher, was likewise employed by the Board in 1974-75 and 1975-76. Her status is pivotal to the disposition of the issues here involved, inasmuch as Mary Edwards’ claim is squarely premised on her assertion that Joan Lehmann held a full-time teaching position with the Board of Education, which devolved by right on Mary Edwards.

On March 25, 1976, the Board of Education passed a resolution to reduce its physical education staff and as a consequence of that resolution Mary Edwards was notified that she was being honorably dismissed pursuant to the Board’s decision to reduce the physical education staff by one full teaching position, that is, from 3% to 2% full-time teachers. Shortly after her dismissal Mary Edwards raised a question as to whether she was not entitled to the position currently held by Joan Lehmann, since Joan Lehmann was a nontenured teacher. Upon that issue being raised, the Board rescinded its resolution discharging Mary Edwards and by resolution dated May 4, 1976, the Board notified Joan Lehmann that she would not be employed for the 1976-77 school year and that Mary Edwards would be offered her contract for teaching physical education courses on a part-time basis for the 1976-77 school year. Mary Edwards entered into the half-time teaching contract for 1976-77; however, she noted on the contract when she accepted it that the signing of said contract “does not deny me the right to full-time employment or any other rights should these later be proven.” On August 24,1976, before the beginning of the 1976-77 school year, Mary Edwards notified the Board in writing that she would not perform the part-time teaching contract for that year. Joan Lehmann was then hired to replace Mary Edwards. It should be noted that inasmuch as Joan Lehmann was not notified that she would not be rehired for 1976-77 until a date subsequent to May 4,1976, and the school year ended June 11, 1976, the Board obviously did not comply with the notice requirement of section 24 — 11 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 122, par. 24 — 11) which provides in part as follows:

“Any teacher who has been employed in any district as a full-time teacher for a probationary period of 2 consecutive school terms shall enter upon contractual continued service unless given written notice of dismissal stating the specific reason therefor, by registered mail by the employing board at least 60 days before the end of such period.”

The crux of the plaintiff’s claim, then, is that (a) she, Mary Edwards, was a full-time tenured teacher; (b) Joan Lehmann was a full-time probationary teacher who was completing her second year of probationary full-time teaching June 11,1976; (c) Joan Lehmann was not given the notice required by section 24 — 11 of the School Code of 1961 and thereby she automatically entered upon “contractual continued service” (tenure) for the 1976-77 school year, and (d) Mary Edwards, however, was a tenured teacher already entitled to precedence over Joan Lehmann and thus Mary Edwards is entitled to be treated as a full-time teacher and to be paid as such for the 1976-77 school year. The entitlement of Mary Edwards by reason of her being a tenured teacher derives from section 24 — 12 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 122, par. 24 — 12) which reads in pertinent part as follows:

“If a teacher in contractual continued service is removed or dismissed as a result of a decision of the board to decrease the number of teachers employed by the board or to discontinue some particular type of teaching service, written notice shall be given the teacher by registered mail at least 60 days before the end of the school term, together with a statement of honorable dismissal and the reason therefor, and in all such cases the board shall first remove or dismiss all teachers who have not entered upon contractual continued service before removing or dismissing any teacher who has entered upon contractual continued service and who is legally qualified to hold a position currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon contractual continued service. If the board within 1 calendar year thereafter increases the number of teachers or reinstates the position so discontinued, the positions thereby becoming available shall be tendered to the teachers so removed or dismissed so far as they are legally qualified to hold such positions.”

Whatever the logic of the reasoning by which Mary Edwards seeks to establish her claim to a full salary for the school year 1976-77, it is clear— and Mary Edwards so concedes — that her entitlement to a full salary for 1976-77 depends absolutely on Joan Lehmann’s entitlement to such salary and that Joan Lehmann’s entitlement depends on whether or not she was a full-time teacher for the two preceding years. If she was not such a full-time teacher for the required preceding period of two years then the lack of 60 days’ notice does not give her automatic status as a tenured teacher and thus Mary Edwards herself has no derivative rights.

In order to determine the crucial question of Joan Lehmann’s status the history and nature of her employment by Diamond Lake School District must be considered in some detail. Mrs. Lehmann was first employed by the Board of Education of District No. 76 for the 1973-74 school year, when she entered into a contract for three hours teaching per day as a physical education teacher. No subsequent contract was entered into. However, Joan Lehmann was notified by Mr. Doerle, the district school superintendent in either July or August, 1974, that she would be rehired for the 1974-75 school year on the same half-time basis as originally. This conversation assumes some importance in determining the question of Joan Lehmann’s status as a teacher. The testimony reveals that Mr. Doerle asked Mrs. Lehmann if she would be interested in teaching on a full-time basis and if so, the Special Education District of Lake County (hereinafter referred to as “SEDOL”) was interested in paying one-half of her salary. SEDOL is a co-operative program for handicapped children, for whom it provides special education services in Lake County. As a special education district it does not have the power to levy taxes; its source of funds is State aid and tuition for students enrolled in member districts. SEDOL thus is a separate entity, deriving its powers from the provisions of article 14 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 122, par. 14 — 1.01 et seq.). The school district provides the immediate source of funds for SEDOL teachers and is reimbursed by the State, provided the district maintains adequate cost accounting “to document the per capita cost of special education.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 122, par.

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Related

Higgins v. Board of Education
428 N.E.2d 1126 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)
Penman v. Board of Trustees of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges
418 N.E.2d 795 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
405 N.E.2d 478, 84 Ill. App. 3d 374, 39 Ill. Dec. 725, 1980 Ill. App. LEXIS 2901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edwards-v-board-of-education-of-diamond-lake-school-district-no-76-illappct-1980.