Title: IEA v. Board of Education
Citation: 340 N.E.2d 7, 62 Ill. 2d 127
Docket Number: 47110
State: Illinois
Issuer: Illinois Supreme Court
Date: November 17, 1975

62 Ill. 2d 127 (1975)
340 N.E.2d 7
THE ILLINOIS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION LOCAL COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 218 et al., Appellees,
v.
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT 218, COOK COUNTY, Appellant.
No. 47110.

Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed November 17, 1975.
Rehearing denied January 22, 1976.
*128 Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas &amp; Lifton, of Chicago (Everett E. Nicholas, Jr., Allen D. Schwartz, and Stanley B. Eisenhammer, of counsel), for appellant.
Drach, Terrell and Deffenbaugh, of Springfield (R.W. Deffenbaugh, of counsel), for appellees.
Judgments reversed.
MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH delivered the opinion of the court:
Plaintiffs, the Illinois Education Association Local Community High School District 218, an association of teachers employed by the defendant board of education, and Henry F. Davis, one of its members, filed this action in the circuit court of Cook County against the defendant, Board of Education of School District 218, Cook County, seeking a writ of mandamus, a declaratory judgment, an injunction and other relief. The circuit court found that in dismissing Davis defendant had failed to comply with the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, that Davis was entitled to tenure as a teacher and ordered mandamus to issue directing defendant to assign him to duties as a full-time teacher. Defendant appealed, the appellate court affirmed (23 Ill. App.3d 649), and we allowed defendant's petition for leave to appeal. The opinion of the appellate court contains a detailed statement of the facts and they need not be repeated here.
On March 18, 1971, while in his second consecutive year of employment by the defendant, Davis was advised by letter signed by the assistant superintendent of School District 218 that for nine enumerated reasons a recommendation would be submitted to the defendant board, at its meeting on March 22, 1971, that his services be terminated on the last day of the school term. Davis requested a hearing, and a hearing was held on March 29, 1971. By letter dated March 30, 1971, enumerating substantially the same reasons as the earlier letter, Davis was advised that his employment was terminated effective June 8, 1971, the last day of the school term.
*129 Plaintiff association and defendant had entered into a collective bargaining agreement. Appendix XXX to the collective bargaining agreement set forth procedures for "teacher evaluation" (see 23 Ill. App.3d 649, 655) and provided:
Although Davis's classroom teaching performance was formally evaluated during the second semester of his second year of employment, no such evaluation was made during the first semester. It is agreed, and the letter to Davis showed, that the reasons for terminating his employment are not related to his "classroom teaching performance."
In its memorandum and judgment order the circuit court said:
Following a brief analysis of the provisions of Appendix XXX, the memorandum continued:
Although the circuit court considered and decided only the issue defined in its memorandum and order, the appellate court considered five issues and decided four of them. The parties have briefed and argued a number of issues, but we need consider only the question whether the termination of Davis's services, effected in compliance with section 24-11 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 122, par. 1-1 et seq.), was rendered invalid by reason of defendant's failure to comply with the provisions of paragraph M of Appendix XXX to the collective bargaining agreement, resulting in his attaining status as a tenured teacher.
Davis was a full-time probationary teacher completing his second consecutive school term, and section 24-11 of the School Code, in pertinent part provided:
The School Code imposed upon the defendant school board the duty to appoint teachers (section 10-20.7), and empowered it, subject to the provisions of sections 10-22.4 and 24-11 to 24-15, to terminate the employment of teachers by dismissal or the nonrenewal of probationary teachers' contracts. These are discretionary powers and may not be delegated. (Lindblad v. Board of Education, 221 Ill. 261, 271.) The Teacher Tenure Law (section 24-11 et seq.) created a liability where none would otherwise exist and must, therefore, be strictly construed. (Anderson v. Board of Education, 390 Ill. 412.) Strict construction requires us to hold that neither the powers conferred nor the rights granted by section 24-11 were restricted or expanded by the provisions of paragraph *131 M of Appendix XXX to the collective bargaining agreement. The termination of Davis's services having been effected in compliance with the provisions of section 24-11 was valid, and in ordering mandamus to issue the circuit court erred.
By what we have said here, we do not intend to indicate either approval or disapproval of the other conclusions reached by the appellate court. For the reasons stated the judgments of the appellate and circuit courts are reversed.
Judgments reversed.
RYAN and CREBS, JJ., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.