093_SB1860

 
                                     LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b

 1        AN ACT regarding schools.

 2        Be  it  enacted  by  the People of the State of Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 5.   The  School  Code  is  amended  by  changing
 5    Section 34-85 as follows:

 6        (105 ILCS 5/34-85) (from Ch. 122, par. 34-85)
 7        Sec.  34-85.   Removal  for  cause;  Notice  and hearing;
 8    Suspension. No teacher employed by  the  board  of  education
 9    shall  (after  serving  the  probationary period specified in
10    Section 34-84) be removed  except  for  cause.  No  principal
11    employed  by  the  board of education shall be removed during
12    the term of his or her performance contract except for cause,
13    which may include but  is  not  limited  to  the  principal's
14    repeated  failure to implement the school improvement plan or
15    to comply with the  provisions  of  the  Uniform  Performance
16    Contract,  including  additional  criteria established by the
17    Council for inclusion in the performance contract pursuant to
18    Section 34-2.3.
19        The general superintendent  must  first  approve  written
20    charges  and specifications against the teacher or principal.
21    A local school council may direct the general  superintendent
22    to approve written charges against its principal on behalf of
23    the  Council  upon the vote of 7 members of the Council.  The
24    general superintendent must approve those charges  within  45
25    days  or  provide  a  written  reason for not approving those
26    charges.  A written notice of those charges shall  be  served
27    upon  the teacher or principal within 10 days of the approval
28    of the charges. If the teacher or principal cannot  be  found
29    upon diligent inquiry, such charges may be served upon him by
30    mailing  a  copy  thereof  in  a  sealed  envelope by prepaid
31    certified mail, return receipt requested, to the teacher's or
 
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 1    principal's last known address.   A  return  receipt  showing
 2    delivery to such address within 20 days after the date of the
 3    approval of the charges shall constitute proof of service.
 4        No  hearing  upon  the  charges  is  required  unless the
 5    teacher or principal within 10 days  after  receiving  notice
 6    requests  in  writing  of  the  general superintendent that a
 7    hearing   be   scheduled,   in   which   case   the   general
 8    superintendent shall schedule  a  hearing  on  those  charges
 9    before a disinterested hearing officer on a date no less than
10    15  nor  more than 30 days after the approval of the charges.
11    The general superintendent shall forward a copy of the notice
12    to the State Board of Education within 5 days from  the  date
13    of  the  approval  of  the  charges.    Within  10 days after
14    receiving the notice of hearing, the State Board of Education
15    shall provide  the  teacher  or  principal  and  the  general
16    superintendent  with  a  list  of  5  prospective,  impartial
17    hearing  officers. Each person on the list must be accredited
18    by a national arbitration organization and have had a minimum
19    of 5 years of experience as an arbitrator in cases  involving
20    labor  and  employment  relations matters between educational
21    employers  and  educational  employees  or  their   exclusive
22    bargaining representatives.
23        The  general  superintendent and the teacher or principal
24    or their legal representatives within 3 days from receipt  of
25    the  list  shall  alternately  strike  one name from the list
26    until only one name remains.  Unless waived by  the  teacher,
27    the  teacher  or  principal  shall  have the right to proceed
28    first with the striking.  Within 3 days  of  receipt  of  the
29    first  list  provided  by  the  State Board of Education, the
30    general superintendent and the teacher or principal or  their
31    legal representatives shall each have the right to reject all
32    prospective  hearing  officers named on the first list and to
33    require the State Board of Education to provide a second list
34    of 5 prospective, impartial hearing officers,  none  of  whom
 
                            -3-      LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b
 1    were  named on the first list.  Within 5 days after receiving
 2    this request for a second list, the State Board of  Education
 3    shall  provide  the  second  list of 5 prospective, impartial
 4    hearing officers.  The  procedure  for  selecting  a  hearing
 5    officer  from  the  second  list  shall  be  the  same as the
 6    procedure for the first  list.   Each  party  shall  promptly
 7    serve  written  notice on the other of any name stricken from
 8    the list.  If the teacher or principal fails to  do  so,  the
 9    general  superintendent  may  select the hearing officer from
10    any name remaining on the list.  The teacher or principal may
11    waive the hearing at any time prior to the appointment of the
12    hearing officer.  Notice of  the  selection  of  the  hearing
13    officer  shall be given to the State Board of Education.  The
14    hearing officer shall be notified of  his  selection  by  the
15    State  Board  of  Education.    A  signed acceptance shall be
16    filed with the State Board of  Education  within  5  days  of
17    receipt  of  notice  of  the  selection.   The State Board of
18    Education shall notify the teacher or principal and the board
19    of its appointment of the hearing officer. In the alternative
20    to selecting a hearing officer from the first or second  list
21    received  from  the  State  Board  of  Education, the general
22    superintendent and the teacher or principal  or  their  legal
23    representatives  may  mutually  agree  to select an impartial
24    hearing officer who is not on a list received from the  State
25    Board  of  Education,  either  by  direct  appointment by the
26    parties or by using procedures  for  the  appointment  of  an
27    arbitrator   established   by   the   Federal  Mediation  and
28    Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration Association.
29    The parties shall notify the  State  Board  of  Education  of
30    their intent to select a hearing officer using an alternative
31    procedure  within  3 days of receipt of a list of prospective
32    hearing officers provided by the State  Board  of  Education.
33    Any  person  selected  by  the parties under this alternative
34    procedure for the selection of a hearing officer  shall  have
 
                            -4-      LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b
 1    the  same  qualifications  and authority as a hearing officer
 2    selected  from  a  list  provided  by  the  State  Board   of
 3    Education.  The teacher or principal may waive the hearing at
 4    any  time  prior  to  the appointment of the hearing officer.
 5    The  State  Board  of  Education  shall  promulgate   uniform
 6    standards and rules of procedure for such hearings, including
 7    reasonable rules of discovery.
 8        The  per  diem allowance for the hearing officer shall be
 9    paid by the State Board of Education.   The  hearing  officer
10    shall  hold  a  hearing  and  render  findings  of fact and a
11    recommendation to the general superintendent.  The teacher or
12    principal has the privilege of being present at  the  hearing
13    with  counsel  and of cross-examining witnesses and may offer
14    evidence and witnesses and present defenses to  the  charges.
15    The   hearing  officer  may  issue  subpoenas  requiring  the
16    attendance of witnesses and, at the request of the teacher or
17    principal against whom  a  charge  is  made  or  the  general
18    superintendent,  shall  issue such subpoenas, but the hearing
19    officer may limit the number of witnesses to be subpoenaed in
20    behalf  of  the  teacher  or   principal   or   the   general
21    superintendent  to  not  more than 10 each.  All testimony at
22    the hearing shall be taken under  oath  administered  by  the
23    hearing  officer. The hearing officer shall cause a record of
24    the proceedings to be  kept  and  shall  employ  a  competent
25    reporter  to  take stenographic or stenotype notes of all the
26    testimony.   The  costs  of  the  reporter's  attendance  and
27    services at the hearing shall be paid by the State  Board  of
28    Education.  Either party desiring a transcript of the hearing
29    shall pay for the cost thereof.
30        Pending  the  hearing  of the charges, the person charged
31    may be suspended in accordance with rules prescribed  by  the
32    board  but  such  person,  if acquitted, shall not suffer any
33    loss of salary by reason of the suspension.
34        Before service of notice of charges on account of  causes
 
                            -5-      LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b
 1    that may be deemed to be remediable, the teacher or principal
 2    shall   be  given  reasonable  warning  in  writing,  stating
 3    specifically the causes which, if not removed, may result  in
 4    charges;  however,  no such written warning shall be required
 5    if the causes have been the subject  of  a  remediation  plan
 6    pursuant  to  Article  24A.   No  written  warning  shall  be
 7    required  for  conduct  on the part of a teacher or principal
 8    which is cruel, immoral, negligent, or criminal or  which  in
 9    any  way causes psychological or physical harm or injury to a
10    student as that conduct is deemed  to  be  irremediable.   No
11    written  warning  shall  be required for a material breach of
12    the uniform principal performance contract as that conduct is
13    deemed to be irremediable; provided however,  that  not  less
14    than  30  days before the vote of the local school council to
15    seek the dismissal of a principal for a material breach of  a
16    uniform  principal  performance  contract,  the  local school
17    council shall specify the nature of  the  alleged  breach  in
18    writing and provide a copy of it to the principal.
19        The hearing officer shall consider and give weight to all
20    of the teacher's evaluations written pursuant to Article 24A.
21        The  hearing  officer  shall  within  45  days  from  the
22    conclusion   of   the   hearing   report   to   the   general
23    superintendent  findings  of  fact and a recommendation as to
24    whether or not the teacher or principal  shall  be  dismissed
25    and  shall  give  a copy of the report to both the teacher or
26    principal and the general superintendent. The  board,  within
27    45  days of receipt of the hearing officer's findings of fact
28    and recommendation, shall make a decision as to  whether  the
29    teacher or principal shall be dismissed from its employ.  The
30    failure  of  the  board  to strictly adhere to the timeliness
31    contained herein shall not render it without jurisdiction  to
32    dismiss  the  teacher  or  principal.  If the hearing officer
33    fails to render a decision within 45 days, the State Board of
34    Education shall  communicate  with  the  hearing  officer  to
 
                            -6-      LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b
 1    determine  the date that the parties can reasonably expect to
 2    receive the decision.  The State  Board  of  Education  shall
 3    provide copies of all such communications to the parties.  In
 4    the  event  the  hearing  officer fails without good cause to
 5    make a decision within the 45 day period, the  name  of  such
 6    hearing officer shall be struck for a period not less than 24
 7    months from the master list of hearing officers maintained by
 8    the  State  Board  of  Education.   The  board shall not lose
 9    jurisdiction to discharge the teacher  or  principal  if  the
10    hearing  officer  fails  to render a decision within the time
11    specified in this Section.  If a  hearing  officer  fails  to
12    render  a  decision  within  3  months  after  the hearing is
13    declared closed, the State Board of Education  shall  provide
14    the parties with a new list of prospective, impartial hearing
15    officers,  with  the same qualifications provided herein, one
16    of whom shall be selected, as provided in  this  Section,  to
17    rehear the charges heard by the hearing officer who failed to
18    render  a  decision.   The  parties may also select a hearing
19    officer pursuant to the alternative procedure, as provided in
20    this Section, to rehear the  charges  heard  by  the  hearing
21    officer  who failed to render a decision.  A violation of the
22    professional standards set forth in "The Code of Professional
23    Responsibility for Arbitrators of Labor-Management Disputes",
24    of  the  National  Academy  of  Arbitrators,   the   American
25    Arbitration   Association,  and  the  Federal  Mediation  and
26    Conciliation Service, or the failure of a hearing officer  to
27    render  a  decision  within  3  months  after  the hearing is
28    declared closed shall be grounds for removal of  the  hearing
29    officer  from  the master list of hearing officers maintained
30    by the State Board of Education.  The decision of  the  board
31    is  final  unless  reviewed  as provided in Section 34-85b of
32    this Act.
33        In the event judicial review is instituted, any costs  of
34    preparing  and filing the record of proceedings shall be paid
 
                            -7-      LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b
 1    by the party instituting the review.  If a  decision  of  the
 2    hearing officer is adjudicated upon review or appeal in favor
 3    of the teacher or principal, then the trial court shall order
 4    reinstatement  and  shall  determine the amount for which the
 5    board is liable including but not limited to loss  of  income
 6    and  costs  incurred therein. Nothing in this Section affects
 7    the validity of removal for cause hearings commenced prior to
 8    the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1978.
 9    (Source: P.A. 89-15, eff. 5-30-95.)