Opinion ID: 1135134
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the teacher is entitled to relief as though she had been reemployed as a half-time employee for the 1993-94 school year.

Text: The teacher asserts that she is entitled to reinstatement and damages, including back pay benefits. We conclude that the teacher is entitled to relief as though she had been reemployed as a half-time employee for the 1993-94 school year. Because the board did not take action as required under I.C. § 33-514 to notify the teacher that she would not be reemployed for the 1993-94 school year, the effect was the same as though the board had notified the teacher that she would be reemployed for the next year. Otherwise, the requirements of the statute become meaningless. The board could simply fail to take any action rather than following the requirements of the statute, and the teacher would have no relief. The legislature has carefully included requirements for board action in I.C. § 33-514. It would thwart the obvious legislative intent not to treat the lack of board action as, in effect, a decision to rehire. Therefore, we conclude that the teacher should be treated as though she had been rehired for the 1993-94 school year as a half-time employee of the district. We decline to reinstate the teacher for all the subsequent years. The teacher chose to delay suing the district until the end of the 1994-95 school year, when she could have sued during the 1993-94 school year. Even though there is no evidence in the record that the teacher intentionally delayed her suit in order to seek reinstatement for more than one year, we will not extend the relief to which she is entitled beyond the year for which she was entitled to reemployment.