Full Text of HB7312 93rd General Assembly
HB7312 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 HB7312
Introduced 7/6/2004, by Rep. Calvin L. Giles SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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105 ILCS 5/34-85 |
from Ch. 122, par. 34-85 |
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Amends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. In a Section concerning the removal of teachers and principals, provides that each person on the State Board of Education's list of prospective hearing officers must have had a minimum of 5 years of experience as an arbitrator or attorney (instead of requiring that he or she be accredited by a national arbitration organization and have had a minimum of 5 years of experience as an arbitrator in cases involving labor and employment relations matters between educational employers and educational employees or their exclusive bargaining representatives).
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A BILL FOR
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HB7312 |
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LRB093 22640 NHT 52254 b |
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| AN ACT concerning education.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section | 5 |
| 34-85 as follows:
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| (105 ILCS 5/34-85) (from Ch. 122, par. 34-85)
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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| delivery to such address within 20 days after the date of the
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| approval of the charges shall constitute proof of service.
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| 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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| 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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| 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 or attorney
in cases involving labor and
employment
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| relations matters between educational employers and | 19 |
| educational employees or
their exclusive bargaining | 20 |
| representatives .
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| The general superintendent and the teacher or principal or
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| their legal representatives
within 3 days from receipt of the | 23 |
| list shall alternately strike one name
from the list until only | 24 |
| one name remains. Unless waived by the teacher,
the teacher or | 25 |
| principal shall
have the right to proceed first with the | 26 |
| striking. Within 3 days of receipt
of the first list provided | 27 |
| by the State Board of Education, the general
superintendent and | 28 |
| the teacher or principal or their legal representatives
shall
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| each have the right to reject all prospective hearing officers | 30 |
| named on the
first list and to require the State Board of | 31 |
| Education to provide a second list
of 5 prospective, impartial | 32 |
| hearing officers, none of whom were named on the
first list. | 33 |
| Within 5 days after receiving this request for a second list, | 34 |
| the
State Board of Education shall provide the second list of 5 | 35 |
| prospective,
impartial hearing officers. The procedure for | 36 |
| selecting a hearing officer from
the second list shall be the |
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| same as the procedure for the first list. Each
party
shall | 2 |
| promptly
serve written notice on the other of any name stricken | 3 |
| from the list. If
the teacher or principal fails to do so, the | 4 |
| general superintendent may select the hearing
officer from any | 5 |
| name remaining on the list. The teacher or principal
may waive | 6 |
| the hearing at any time prior to the appointment of the hearing
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| officer. Notice of the selection of the hearing officer shall | 8 |
| be given
to the State Board of Education. The hearing officer | 9 |
| shall be notified
of his selection by the State Board of | 10 |
| Education. A signed acceptance
shall be filed with the State | 11 |
| Board of Education within 5 days of receipt
of notice of the | 12 |
| selection. The State Board of Education shall notify the
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| teacher or principal and the board of its appointment of the | 14 |
| hearing officer.
In the alternative to selecting a hearing | 15 |
| officer from the first or second
list received from the State | 16 |
| Board of Education, the general superintendent and
the teacher | 17 |
| or principal or their legal representatives may mutually agree | 18 |
| to
select an impartial hearing officer who is not on a list | 19 |
| received from the
State Board of Education, either by direct | 20 |
| appointment by the parties or by
using procedures for the | 21 |
| appointment of an arbitrator established by the
Federal | 22 |
| Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration
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| Association. The parties shall notify the State Board of | 24 |
| Education of their
intent to select a hearing officer using an | 25 |
| alternative procedure within 3 days
of receipt of a list of | 26 |
| prospective hearing officers provided by the State
Board of | 27 |
| Education. Any person selected by the parties under this | 28 |
| alternative
procedure for the selection of a hearing officer | 29 |
| shall have the same
qualifications and authority as a hearing | 30 |
| officer selected from a list provided
by the State Board of | 31 |
| Education. The teacher or principal may waive the
hearing at | 32 |
| any time prior to the appointment of the hearing officer. The
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| State Board of
Education shall
promulgate
uniform
standards and | 34 |
| rules
of procedure for such hearings, including reasonable | 35 |
| rules of discovery.
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| The per diem allowance for the hearing officer shall be |
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| paid by the State
Board of Education. The hearing officer shall | 2 |
| hold a hearing and render
findings of fact and a recommendation | 3 |
| to the general superintendent. The teacher or principal has the
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| privilege of being present at the hearing with counsel and of
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| cross-examining witnesses and may offer evidence and witnesses | 6 |
| and present
defenses to the charges. The hearing officer may | 7 |
| issue subpoenas requiring
the attendance of witnesses and, at | 8 |
| the request of the teacher or principal
against whom a charge | 9 |
| is made or the general superintendent,
shall issue such | 10 |
| subpoenas, but
the hearing officer may limit the number of | 11 |
| witnesses to be subpoenaed in
behalf of the teacher or | 12 |
| principal or the general superintendent
to not more than 10 | 13 |
| each.
All testimony at the hearing shall be taken under oath | 14 |
| administered by the
hearing officer. The hearing officer shall | 15 |
| cause a record of the
proceedings to be kept and shall employ a | 16 |
| competent reporter to take
stenographic or stenotype notes of | 17 |
| all the testimony. The costs of the
reporter's attendance and | 18 |
| services at the hearing shall be paid by the
State Board of | 19 |
| Education. Either party desiring a transcript of the
hearing | 20 |
| shall pay for the cost thereof.
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| Pending the hearing of the charges, the person charged may | 22 |
| be suspended
in accordance with rules prescribed by the board | 23 |
| but such person, if
acquitted, shall not suffer any loss of | 24 |
| salary by reason of the suspension.
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| Before service of notice of charges on account of causes | 26 |
| that may be
deemed to be remediable, the teacher or principal | 27 |
| shall be given reasonable
warning in writing, stating | 28 |
| specifically the causes which, if not removed,
may result in | 29 |
| charges; however, no such written warning shall be required
if | 30 |
| the causes have been the subject of a remediation plan pursuant | 31 |
| to
Article 24A. No written warning shall be required for | 32 |
| conduct on the part of
a teacher or principal which is cruel, | 33 |
| immoral, negligent, or criminal or which
in any way causes | 34 |
| psychological or physical harm or injury to a student as that
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| conduct is deemed to be irremediable. No written warning shall | 36 |
| be required for
a material breach of the uniform principal |
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| performance contract as that conduct
is deemed to be | 2 |
| irremediable; provided however, that not less than 30 days
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| before the vote of the local school council to seek the | 4 |
| dismissal of a
principal for a material breach of a uniform | 5 |
| principal performance contract,
the local school council shall | 6 |
| specify the nature of the alleged breach in
writing and provide | 7 |
| a copy of it to the principal.
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| The hearing officer shall consider and give weight to all | 9 |
| of the
teacher's evaluations written pursuant to Article 24A.
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| The hearing officer shall within 45 days from the | 11 |
| conclusion of the hearing
report to the general superintendent | 12 |
| findings of fact and a recommendation as to whether or not the | 13 |
| teacher or principal shall
be dismissed and shall give a copy | 14 |
| of the report to both the
teacher or
principal and the general | 15 |
| superintendent. The board, within 45
days of receipt of the | 16 |
| hearing officer's findings of fact and recommendation,
shall | 17 |
| make a decision as to whether the teacher or principal shall be | 18 |
| dismissed
from its employ. The failure of the board to strictly | 19 |
| adhere to the timeliness
contained herein shall not render it | 20 |
| without jurisdiction to dismiss the
teacher
or principal. If | 21 |
| the hearing
officer fails to render a decision within 45 days, | 22 |
| the State Board of
Education shall communicate with the hearing | 23 |
| officer to determine the date that
the parties can reasonably | 24 |
| expect to receive the decision. The State Board of
Education | 25 |
| shall provide copies of all such communications to the parties. | 26 |
| In
the event the hearing officer fails without good cause
to | 27 |
| make a decision within the 45 day period, the name of such | 28 |
| hearing
officer
shall be struck for a period not less than 24 | 29 |
| months from the master
list
of hearing officers maintained by | 30 |
| the State Board of Education. The board
shall not lose | 31 |
| jurisdiction to discharge the teacher or principal if the
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| hearing officer fails to render a decision within the time | 33 |
| specified in this
Section. If a hearing officer fails to render | 34 |
| a decision within 3 months after
the hearing is declared | 35 |
| closed, the State Board of Education shall provide the
parties | 36 |
| with a new list of prospective, impartial hearing officers, |
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| with the
same qualifications provided herein, one of whom shall | 2 |
| be selected, as provided
in this Section, to rehear the charges | 3 |
| heard by the hearing officer who failed
to render a decision. | 4 |
| The parties may also select a hearing officer pursuant
to the | 5 |
| alternative procedure, as provided in this Section, to rehear | 6 |
| the
charges heard by the hearing officer who failed to render a | 7 |
| decision. A
violation of the professional standards set forth | 8 |
| in "The Code of
Professional Responsibility for Arbitrators of | 9 |
| Labor-Management Disputes",
of the National Academy of | 10 |
| Arbitrators, the American Arbitration
Association, and the | 11 |
| Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, or the
failure of a | 12 |
| hearing officer to render a decision within 3 months after the
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| hearing is declared closed shall be grounds for removal of the | 14 |
| hearing
officer from the master list of
hearing officers | 15 |
| maintained by the State Board of Education. The decision
of the | 16 |
| board is final unless reviewed as provided in
Section
34-85b of | 17 |
| this Act.
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| In the event judicial review is instituted, any costs of | 19 |
| preparing and
filing the record of proceedings shall be paid by | 20 |
| the party instituting
the review. If a decision of the hearing | 21 |
| officer is adjudicated upon review
or appeal in favor of the | 22 |
| teacher or principal, then the trial court shall
order | 23 |
| reinstatement and shall determine the amount for which the | 24 |
| board is
liable including but not limited to loss of income and | 25 |
| costs incurred therein.
Nothing in this Section affects the | 26 |
| validity of removal for cause hearings
commenced prior to the | 27 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of 1978.
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| (Source: P.A. 89-15, eff. 5-30-95.)
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