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