(110 ILCS 805/3B-4) (from Ch. 122, par. 103B-4)
Sec. 3B-4.
Dismissal of Tenured Faculty Member for Cause.
If a dismissal
of a tenured faculty member is sought for cause, the board must first approve
a motion by a majority vote of all its members. The specific charges for
dismissal shall be confidential but shall be issued to the tenured faculty
member upon request. The Board decision shall be final unless the tenured
faculty member within 10 days requests in writing of the Board that a hearing
be scheduled. If the faculty member within 10 days requests in writing
that a hearing be scheduled, the Board shall schedule such hearing on those
charges before a disinterested hearing officer on a date no less than 45
days, nor more than 70 days after the adoption of the motion. The hearing
officer shall be selected from a list of 5 qualified arbitrators provided
by a nationally recognized arbitration organization. Within 10 days after
the teacher receives the notice of hearing, either the Board and the teacher
mutually or the teacher alone shall request the list of qualified hearing
officers from the arbitration organization. Within 5 days from receipt
of the list, the Board and the teacher, or their legal representatives,
shall alternately strike one name from the list until one name remains.
The teacher shall make the first strike. Notice of such charges shall be served
upon the tenured faculty member at least 21 days before the hearing date.
Such notice shall contain a bill of particulars. The hearing shall be public
at the request of either the tenured faculty member or the Board. The tenured
faculty member has the privilege of being present at the hearing with counsel
and of cross-examining witnesses and may offer evidence and witnesses and
present defenses to the charges. The hearing officer upon request by either
party may issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and production
of documents. All testimony at the hearing shall be taken under oath administered
by the hearing officer. The hearing officer shall cause a record of the
proceedings to be kept and the Board shall employ a competent reporter to
take stenographic or stenotype notes of all testimony. The costs of the
reporter's attendance and services at the hearing and all other costs of
the hearing shall be borne equally by the Board and the tenured faculty
member. Either party desiring a transcript of the hearing shall pay for
the cost thereof. If in the opinion of the Board the interests of the district
require it the Board, after 20 days notice, may suspend the tenured faculty
member pending the hearing, but if acquitted, the tenured faculty member
shall not suffer the loss of any salary by reason of the suspension. The
hearing officer shall, with reasonable dispatch, make a decision as to whether
or not the tenured faculty member shall be dismissed and shall give a copy
of the decision to both the tenured faculty member and the Board. The decision
of the hearing officer shall be final and binding.
(Source: P.A. 81-1100.)
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