Prato v. Vallas

771 N.E.2d 1053

331 Ill. App.3d 852

265 Ill.Dec. 94

Maria PRATO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Paul VALLAS, Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, Illinois State Board of Education, and Julius Menacker, Defendant-Appellees.

No. 1-01-0964.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fifth Division.

May 31, 2002.

William J. Quinlan and Robert A. Wolf, Chicago, for Appellant.

Board of Education of the City of Chicago, Law Department (Lee Ann Lowder, General Counsel, of counsel), for Appellees, the Board of Education of the City of Chicago and Paul Vallas.

Attorney General, Solicitor General (Erik G. Light, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for Appellees, Illinois State Board of Education and Julius Menacker.

Presiding Justice CAMPBELL delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from the dismissal of a complaint for administrative review by the circuit court of Cook County. Defendants, Paul Vallas (Vallas), then the chief executive officer (CEO) of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees (the School Board or Board), brought charges for dismissal against plaintiff, Dr. Maria Prato, alleging violations of her employment contract as principal of the Clay Elementary School (Clay). Following an administrative hearing, plaintiff was discharged from her position. The circuit court dismissed plaintiff's subsequent complaint for administrative review against the above-named defendants in addition to other defendants, the Illinois State Board of Education (State Board) and hearing officer, Julius Menacker. Defendants Vallas and the Board filed a separate brief from defendants the State Board and Menacker.

On appeal, plaintiff contends that: (1) the School Board lacked jurisdiction to terminate plaintiff from her employment contract for failure to issue a statutorily required formal warning; (2) plaintiff's 1998-2002 performance contract rights were improperly terminated by discharge proceedings involving conduct occurring during a prior performance contract; and (3) the statute under which plaintiff was terminated is unconstitutional. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

BACKGROUND

I. CHRONOLOGY

The following chronology outlines the events relevant to plaintiff's appeal:

JUNE 22, 1998: Chicago Public Schools and Vallas (The Board) bring charges against Prato.

JUNE 23, 1998: Prato requests a hearing under 34-85 of the Illinois School Code

JULY 15, 1998: Pre-suspension hearing.

JULY 27, 1998: Prato suspended without pay.

NOVEMBER 1998: Hearing begins.

MAY 12, 1999: Hearing officer recommends upholding Board's dismissal of Prato.

JUNE 17, 1999: Prato files complaint for administrative review in circuit court.

JUNE 23, 1999: School Board formally adopts recommendations of hearing officer.

JUNE 24, 1999: Vallas informs Prato that Board accepts hearing officer's recommendation and discharges Prato.

AUGUST 17, 1999: Prato files seven-count amended complaint in circuit court.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1999: Circuit court dismisses count I.

NOVEMBER 22, 1999: Circuit court has hearing on remaining counts and dismisses counts III, IV, VI and VII with prejudice, and allows Prato to replead count V, the due process claim. DECEMBER 16, 1999: Prato files notice of appeal in the circuit court (No. 1-99-4489).

DECEMBER 17, 1999: Prato files second amended complaint which is identical to 1st amended complaint.

JUNE 2000: Appellate court dismisses X-XX-XXXX for want of prosecution.

FEBRUARY 7, 2001: Following hearing, circuit court finds in favor of Board on count II, determines that Board's decision was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

FEBRUARY 20, 2001: Circuit court determines that Prato did not file an amended complaint per order of November 22, 1999, and dismisses count V with prejudice.

MARCH 9, 2001: Prato files notice of appeal of the orders entered on February 7, 2001, and February 20, 2001, pertaining to count II.

II. FACTS

The record reveals the following relevant facts. On June 22, 1998, the Chicago Public Schools, through its CEO, Vallas, and the Board, brought charges against plaintiff, Dr. Maria Prato, seeking her discharge from her position as principal of the Clay Elementary School. Plaintiff was charged with: (1) conduct unbecoming a principal; (2) gross dereliction of duties; (3) violation of her uniform performance contract; (4) improper recruitment activities for the Options for Knowledge program; (5) violations of student confidentially; (6) retaliation in violation of the Whistle Blower Protection section of the Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/34-2.4c. (West 1998)); (7) insubordination; (8) disregard of practice and procedure; (9) refusing to enroll students; and (10) conduct causing harm to the students of Clay Elementary School.

The Board arranged for a hearing officer to hold a hearing to determine if plaintiff should be suspended without pay pending a hearing on the changes. A presuspension hearing was conducted on July 15, 1998, and plaintiff was represented by counsel. On July 24, 1998, the hearing officer recommended plaintiff's suspension without pay. On July 27, Vallas notified plaintiff that she was suspended without pay effective immediately.

In accordance with section 34-85 of the School Code (105 ILCS 5/34-85 (West 1998)), the State Board sent resumes of five prospective impartial hearing officers to both the Board and to plaintiff. A process of elimination resulted in the selection of Julius Menacker as the hearing officer.

On August 18, 1998, plaintiff filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (District Court), alleging violations of her right to due process and breach of contract. She sought a temporary retraining order, demanding her reinstatement as principal at Clay, and a preliminary injunction. On August 20, 1998, the District Court found that plaintiff's presuspension hearing was adequate and denied her request for an injunction. Plaintiff's dismissal hearing commenced on November 17, 1998, and continued for 16 days.

The Board first alleged that plaintiff violated Board guidelines regarding obtaining confidential information. Clay has an "Options for Knowledge" (Options) program which offers advanced classes to gifted students. Known within the CPS as a "magnet program," Clay gives first preference to neighborhood students. If more space is available, parents outside the neighborhood may apply to send their children to Clay. On May 19, 1997, plaintiff sent out more than 100 acceptance letters to students from 18 to 20 different schools who had achieved high standardized test scores. These students had not applied to admission to Clay, and the Board alleged plaintiff wrongfully obtained access to the students' names, addresses, grades, test scores and class rank. Parents complained about the letters. The Board alleged that plaintiff enrolled one student, "K.H.," who resided outside of the school boundaries.

The Region 6 Education Officer called a meeting of all the principals in the district to discuss the acceptance letters sent out by plaintiff. At the meeting plaintiff claimed that she obtained the names of the students from a computer disk which was kept by the Clay Options Clerk, who died in March 1996. Plaintiff stated that she thought the disk contained the names of students who had applied for admission to Clay. Plaintiff was asked to produce the disk but was unable to do so, stating that she searched for the disk both at work and at home and could not find the disk. Plaintiff also stated that Clay had 30 vacancies in the Options program. One week later, however, plaintiff informed Jack Harnedy, the CPS desegregation implementation coordinator, that Clay had no Options vacancies.

The hearing officer rejected plaintiff's explanation that she was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the acceptance letters because of the death of the Options clerk. The hearing officer noted that plaintiff determined that no vacancies existed in the Options program for qualified applicants only after discovery of plaintiff's unauthorized mailing. The hearing officer further found that plaintiff's testimony that the disc containing the names of improperly recruited students was lost was not credible, and that her behavior was in clear violation of Board regulations and policy.

The Board further charged that plaintiff improperly retaliated against teachers in violation of the Whistle Blower Protection section of the Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/34-2.4c). On June 12, 1996, the Board charged plaintiff with permitting security breaches that allowed students at Clay to study and practice taking standardized tests before they were administered. As a result, all Clay students were tested twice in 1996. After a hearing, plaintiff was suspended without pay for ten school days. Substitute teacher Janet Tisza testified at the July 9, 1996, hearing against plaintiff. Thereafter, plaintiff gave Tisza a negative evaluation, followed by a dismissal letter dated July 1, 1996, postmarked July 17, 1996.

Eileen Reardon, taught at Clay from September 1995 until June 1996. Reardon testified at plaintiff's hearing in July 1996, that she reported testing violations to the Clay Curriculum Coordinator, Ms. Margaris. On May 3, 1996, in the middle of the day, Board investigators pulled Reardon out of her classroom for questioning. The same day, plaintiff was removed from the school and assigned to the Central Office. The next day, Reardon received a telephone call at home from plaintiff's husband, an attorney. Reardon testified that plaintiff's husband threatened Reardon's job and demanded that she tell him what happened at Clay on the previous day. Reardon testified that on June 13, 1996, she received a negative evaluation from plaintiff. On July 20, 1996, Reardon received a letter from plaintiff dated July 1, 1996, postmarked July...