1 NOTI CE Decisi on fi led 12 /11/ 08. The textof this dec ision m ay be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a Petit ion for Re hea ri ng o r th e dispos it ion of

the s ame. NO. 5-07-0563 IN T HE AP PEL LA TE C OU RT OF ILLIN OIS

FIF TH DIST RICT

____________________________________________________________________ _ TAMMY WOOD, ) Appeal from the ) Circui t Court of Pla intiff-A ppe llee, ) M ario n C oun ty. ) v. ) No. 06-L-16 ) NORTH W AMAC SCH OOL ) DISTRICT N O. 186, ) Honorable David L. Sauer and ) H ono rab le P atric k J. H itpas , De fend ant-A ppella nt. ) Jud ges , pre sidin g.

______________________________________________________________________ JUS TIC E D ON OV AN delive red the opin ion o f the c ourt: T he defendant, North Wamac School Distr ict No. 186 (District) , appeal s f ro m a judgmentfi ndi ng t

hat th e pl ai nt if

f, Tammy

Wo od, is en titled to contrac tual c ontinued s ervice and ord erin g th e D istrict to g ran t her tenu re an d to rein state her as a teac her

. The perti nent fact s are not disput ed. Tammy Wood is a cer tifi ed teacher

who was initially hired by

the Dist rict for the 2001- 2002 sch oo l ye ar . Woo d pe rf ormed f ul l- ti me teachi ng dut ie s duri ng t hat te rm. Subsequentl y, the Dist rict tendere d a contra ct, employing Wood as a full -ti me teacher f or the 2002-2003 school y ear and then again for the 2003-2004 school y ear. Wood taught full- time t

hroughout t

he 2002-2003 ter

m. On June 13, 2003, Wood was serious ly

injur ed in an aut omobile acci dent. Wood w as unable to teach dur ing the 2003-2004 academic yearbecause of her injuries. The Distri ct granted Wood's request for
a paid le ave of absence for both semest ers of t

he 2003-2004 schoolyear . The District then tendere d a contra ct, employing Wood as a full-time teacher fo r the 2004 -2005 sc hool year. Wood t aug htful l- ti me thr oug hou t t hat te rm. On M arch 22, 200 5, th e board of education for t he Distr ict vot ed not to r eemploy2

Wood for th e 2 005 -2 006 sc hoo l yea r. On March 30, 2005, t he Distr ict s ent a writ

ten noti ce advisi ng Wo od th at she w ould not be ree mployed f or the upcomi ng school y earand that her employment

with the Dis tri ct would end on May 26, 2005. The District did not pr ovide a spe cific reas on for th e de cisio n. On March 23, 2006, Wood fil ed an acti on in the c ir cu it c ou rt o f M ar io n C ou nt y, asking the court

to ente r a judgment

finding t

hat she i s enti tled to contrac tual c ontinued servi ce (tenur e) and orderi ng the Dist rict to grant her tenur e, to rei nstat e her as a t eacher, and to pay damages for her l ost wages and benefits and t he costs of the l awsuit. Each party file d a motionfor a summary judgment. In her moti on, Wood argued that she was employ ed by the Distri ct as a f

ull- time t eac her for four consecutive years, that s he met the pr erequis ites for tenure s tatus under sect ion 24-11 of the I llinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/24-11 (W est 2004)), that s he was entitled to t he protec tions granted under sect ion 24-11, and that the Dis tric t's notifi cati on that s he would not be re employe d was defici ent under s ecti on 24-11 because it provided no specific reason for her dism issal. In its motion fo r a summ ary judg men t, the Dist

rict acknowledged that

it had e mployed Wood for four consecutive years. The Distri ct argue d that a teacher was requ ired to te ach for fo ur co nsec utive yea rs in order to atta in tenur e stat

us under sec tion 24- 11 and that Wood's fa ilure to te ach for four consecutive years prec luded her f rom atta ining t enure. Aft er conside ring t

he writt en memoranda and the or al argument s of the par ties , the circuit court gr anted a summary judgment i n favor of Wood and denied t he Distr ict' s motion. The co urt or de r edt ha t t he Di st r i ct pr om pt l yr ei ns t at e Wo od as a tenu red tea cher, a nd it continue d the c ase fo r a fut ure he ari ng on damage s. Se vera l months l ater, the parties stipulate d to the damages. The court ent ered a fi nal order directing the Dis tri ct to pay Wood $58,092.23 in economic damages , to t ender the appropri ate sums t o the Teacher s' Ret irement Syst em for W ood 's acc oun t, and to cr ed it a cc ru ed sic k d ays an d p er so na l d ays fo r W oo d's3

use. The Dist

rict appealed. The issue i s whether t

he circ uit cour

t err ed in concluding that a certified teacher, who had been a paid employ ee in a di stri ct for four consecutive school y ears and who had taken
a mu tually agreed l eave of absence t hroughout t

he third year

of probati onary

employment , met the requirements for tenure s tatus under sect ion 24-11 of t he School Code. The i ssue pr esen ts a matter

of stat utory inter pretation, whic h is re viewed de novo

. Land v. Boa rd o f Education of

the Cit y of Chicago , 202 Ill. 2d 414 , 421 , 781 N.E .2d 2 49, 2 54 ( 200 2). In construing a s tatut e, the pri mary goalis t o determi ne and give effe ct to t he inte nt of the leg islature. 5 ILC S 70 /1 (W est 200 6); Land , 20 2 Ill . 2d at 421, 781 N.E.2d at

254. If the language of a statute i s certain and unambiguous, then the court will enf orce the law
as enacted wit

hout res orti ng to other aids of co nstruc t ion an d "w ithout re ading into it exceptions, limi tati ons, or conditi ons that the legi slature did not express. " Land , 202 I ll. 2d at 426, 781 N.E.2dat 257 . If the lan guag e is am bigu ous, th at is, "susc eptible to tw o equ ally
reaso nable and co nflicting interpretations," it is proper to exa mine ex trinsic sourc es to
asc ertai n th e leg islativ e inte nt. Land , 202 Ill. 2d at 42 6, 78 1 N .E.2 d at 2 57. The teacher

tenure l aw was enacted "primarily for the prot ecti on of Illinois teachers who, prior

to it s en actmentin 1941, s erved at the ple asure of t

he boards of di rector s or edu catio n." Do nah oo v. B oard of Ed ucatio n of S choo l Distr i ct No. 303 , 413 Il l. 422, 425, 109 N.E.2d 787, 789 ( 1952); se e Birk v . Boa rd of E duca tion of F lora C om mu nity Unit School Distri ct No. 35 , 104 Ill. 2d 252, 25 7, 472 N .E.2d 407 , 409 (198 4). The objective was to improve the school sy stem by ensuri ng for tea chers of experience and abi lit y a continuous servi ce and a rehi ring bas ed on merit and not on partisan pol iti cs or capricious rea soni ng. Donahoo , 413 Ill. at 425 , 109 N .E.2d at 789 . We will now consider t he stat utory provisi ons in issue, m indfu l of the legislativ e pur pose and th e princ iples of statuto ryco nstru ction

. Section 24-11 of the School Co de states in pertinent part as foll ows:4 "Any teach er w ho h as be en em ployed in anydistrict as a full -ti me teacher f

or
a prob ationa ry period of 2 cons ecutiv e scho ol ter ms shallenter upon c ontract ual continue d servi ce unless given writ ten noti ce of dismi ssal stat ing the s pecifi c reason therefor, by cer

tifi ed mail, retur

n recei pt reques tedby t

he employ ing board at

least 45 da ys before the end of such peri od; except that f or a tea cher who is firs t employ ed as
a full- time t eacher by

a school district

on or afte r Januar

y 1, 1998[,] and

who has not before that da te alread y entered upo n con tractua l contin ued s ervice in that district , the probationa ryperiod s hall be 4 consecutive school terms befor e the teacher shallenter upon contrac tual c ontinued s ervice . *** Any full- time t eacher who is not completi ng the la st y earof the pro bationary perioddescribed in the precedi ng paragraph, or any teacher employe d on a ful l- ti me basis not lat er thanJanuary 1 of the schoolterm, shallrecei ve writt en notice from the employing board at l east 45 day s before t he end of anyschool t erm whetheror not he will be re[]empl oyed for the f ollowing s chool te rm. If t he board fai ls t o give such notice , the employ ee shallbe deemed reemploy ed, and not late r than t

he close of

the then current

school t erm the boar d shallissue a regular contrac t to t

he employ ee as though the board had reemployed him in the usual manner." 105 ILCS 5 /24-11 (West 2004). In our view , the word s in the secti on above are cl ear, and the language is not
susce ptible to m or e than one r easo nable interpre tation. T his sec tion pla inly states tha t a teacher who is employ ed in a di stri ct as a full -ti me teacher f or fourcon se cutiv e s cho ol te rms shall atta in contr actualcontinue d servi ce unless he or she i s given a wri ttennotice stat ing a spec ific reason for

his or he r dismi ssal. 105 ILCS 5/24-11 (West 2004) . It does not st ate or i mp ly that a teacher m ust teach for four con secutive scho ol terms. W hen the leg islature amended the secti on in 1998 in order to exte nd the probationary term from t

wo years to four5

years, it certainly rec ogn ized th at there wa s a po ssibility that an illne ss or an injury cou ld preventa teacher

from carrying out t eaching dut ies dur ing thi s extended term of probation, and it easily could have r equired probationaryteacher s to t each forfour consecutive years. The legis latur e did not

do so, and we may not

read into the section a conditi on that was not exp ress ed b y the le gisla ture
. It is undi sputed t

hat Wood was employedin the di stri ct as a f ull- time t eacher for

four consecutive year s. That she was grant ed a leave of a b sence from herteach ing d uties to recover from a serious injur y does not change the fac t that she was a contr actualemploye e and that s he was paid as a full -ti me teacher f or four consecutive y ears, including the 2003- 2004 aca demi c y ear . Th atth e Di stri ctre hi re d Woodas a fu ll -t ime teacher for the 2004- 2005 school year

suggests that it held a favor able v iew of her abi lities and her class room performance. After revi ewing the pla in lang uage in se ct io n 24 -1 1 of th e Sc hoo l C ode , w e conclude that Wood sat isfi ed the st atutor y pr erequis ites for tenur e and that she was entitled to th e pr otec tion s pro vid ed in the te ach er ten ure law

. Accordingly , the judgment of t he circ uit cour

t is hereby

affirmed.

Affirmed.

GO LD EN HE RSH and SP OM ER , JJ., concur.NO. 5-07-0563 IN T HE AP PEL LA TE C OU RT OF ILLIN OIS

FIF TH DIST RICT

___________________________________________________________________________________ TAMMY WOOD, ) Appeal from the ) Circui t Court of Pla intiff-A ppe llee, ) M ario n C oun ty. ) v. ) No. 06-L-16 ) NORTH W AMAC SCH OOL ) DISTRICT N O. 186, ) Honorable David L. Sauer and ) H ono rab le P atric k J. H itpas , De fend ant-A ppella nt. ) Jud ges , pre sidin g.

___________________________________________________________________________________ Opinion Filed : December 11, 2008

___________________________________________________________________________________ Justice s : Honorable James K . Donovan, J.

Honorable Richar d P. Goldenhers h, J. , and Ho nor able Ste phe n L . Sp om er, J., Concur

___________________________________________________________________________________ Attorney Brandon K. Wright, Miller, Tracy , Braun, Funk & M ill er, Lt d., 316 S. Charter for Street , P.O. Box 80, Monticell o, IL 61856 Appell ant

___________________________________________________________________________________ Attorney Ste phe n R . Gr een , Ar ms tron g & Gr een , 400 N. M ark et S treet , P.O . Bo x 10 87, for Marion, IL 62959 Appellee

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