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 boardof educationshall 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 -2- LRB093 10473 NHT 10727 b 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.)