Board of Educ. of Mundelein Elementary School Dist. No. 75 v. Illinois Educational Labor Relations Bd.

• Decision Date: 09 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 4-88-0241,IEA-NE,R,4-88-0241
• Citation: 128 Ill.Dec. 577,534 N.E.2d 1022,179 Ill.App.3d 696
• Parties: , 128 Ill.Dec. 577, 131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2911, 52 Ed. Law Rep. 177 BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MUNDELEIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 75, Petitioner, v. ILLINOIS EDUCATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and Mundelein Education Association,espondents.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1022

534 N.E.2d 1022

179 Ill.App.3d 696, 128 Ill.Dec. 577,

131 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2911,

52 Ed. Law Rep. 177

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MUNDELEIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT

NO. 75, Petitioner, v. ILLINOIS EDUCATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD and Mundelein

Education Association, IEA-NEA, Respondents.

No. 4-88-0241.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

Fourth District.

Feb. 9, 1989.

Everett E. Nicholas, Jr., Phillip H. Gerner III, Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor, Ltd., Chicago, for petitioner.

Gregory J. Malovance, William G. Miossi, Winston & Strawn, Chicago, Sandra Holman, Illinois Educ. Ass'n, Springfield, for Mundelein Education Ass'n.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Chicago, Robert J. Ruiz, Sol. Gen., William D. Frazier, Asst. Atty. Gen., for IELRB.

Presiding Justice McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion of the court:

Petitioner, Board of Education of Mundelein Elementary School District No. 75 (District or Board), appeals the revised order issued by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), requiring the District to engage in mandatory bargaining with the respondent, Mundelein Education Association, IEA-NEA (MEA), over the unilateral changes in the teachers' wages hours, or terms and conditions of employment. (Mundelein Elementary School District No. 75, 4 Pub. Employee Rep. (Ill.) par. 1052, case No. 85-CA-0057-C (Illinois Labor Relations Board, March 4, 1988).) The District's primary argument is that the revised order is the result of an improper reconsideration by the IELRB of its previous order. The District raises four additional arguments addressed to the revised order. We conclude that the IELRB had no authority to reconsider its previous order. We vacate the revised order and do not address the remaining issues presented in this appeal.

Prior to the 1985-86 school year, the District operated three elementary schools (grades K through 6) and a junior high school (grades 7 through 8). For the 1985-86 school year, the District adopted a middle school (grades 6 through 8) format.

On July 25, 1983, the Board directed that the administration study the possibility of adopting a middle school format in the District. In December 1983, the District's Systemwide Policy Committee (SPC) established a middle school committee to study the middle school concept. The SPC is a faculty curriculum council consisting of representatives from each school, the learning center area, the special services area, the business manager, the building principals, and the superintendent. The MEA president, Frances Hansen, was a member of the SPC.

The principal of the junior high was head of the middle school study committee which included several members of the MEA, including Joan Reese, who later became the MEA president. A report from this committee called for converting the junior high school to a middle school for grades 6 through 8. The middle school concept included "as a core component team planning and scheduling."

At a meeting in August 1984, the Board voted to reorganize the school for the 1985-86 school year. The Board held public hearings on the matter on October 8 and October 15, 1984. After these hearings, a report, which summarized the possible alternatives for reorganization, was submitted to the Board and was also given to the MEA. The Board scheduled a special meeting for October 29, 1984, at which a final decision was to be made.

While the meetings regarding reorganization were ongoing, the District and the MEA were in the process of negotiating a new collective-bargaining agreement. Negotiations began in the spring of 1984 and continued until an agreement was reached on October 24, 1984. During this time, both sides negotiated over a maintenance-of-standards clause. While the MEA repeatedly told the District it did not want to interfere with the reorganization plan, it wanted assurances that preparation time for teachers as well as the length of the work day would remain the same. Both of these matters were finally incorporated into the new collective-bargaining agreement reached on October 24, 1984.

On October 29, 1984, the District decided to establish a middle school, including grades 6 through 8, at the then junior high school. The MEA was then asked to become involved in implementing the new school format. In December 1984, meetings were held by the middle school committee which began discussions involving the new schedules for teachers. The District also met with the MEA president in December 1984 to discuss the reorganization. No bargaining was requested by the MEA at this time regarding any aspect of the reorganization or its impact on the teachers' working conditions.

Proposed teaching schedules were first presented to the middle school teachers in January 1985. However, no final decision on the new schedules was made until February 25, 1985. These proposed schedules reflected an increase of one period each day over the schedule as it then existed in the school.

On March 18, 1985, the junior high school teachers were provided with the final schedule for the 1985-86 school year. During the 1984-85 school year, the junior high school day included seven teaching periods, one of which was used as a teacher planning period and each of which was 52 minutes in length. Each teacher taught five academic classes and a "mini course." The mini courses were intensive, "exploratory" courses scheduled for one week after spring vacation. The 1985-86 teaching schedule consisted of eight teaching periods each day, each 45 minutes in length, one of which was a planning period. Teachers each taught an "exploratory" course, plus five academic classes. The exploratory courses were elective courses, scheduled for one period each school day for four and one-half weeks. Most of the teachers in the middle school were assigned an "exploratory course" in the same subject area as the "mini" course they had taught the previous year. The 1985-86 schedule did not lengthen or extend the teacher work day which remained from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. The record reflects that the parties disputed whether teacher-student contact time was changed in the 1985-86 schedule.

On April 3, 1985, the MEA president Hansen sent a letter to Board president Wayne DeVries stating that the District had "unilaterally made a change in the working conditions of the teachers at the Carl Sandburg middle school." Hansen demanded that the district "bargain on this working condition" and requested a meeting within 60 days. On May 10, 1985, Hansen again wrote to DeVries regarding the bargaining demand. DeVries replied by letter on May 17, 1985, stating that the issues "would be more appropriately discussed and clarified through a meeting of the mutual concerns committee as delineated in Article XIII of the contractual agreement." In reply, Hansen demanded bargaining on May 20, 1985. On June 4, 1985, new MEA president Joan Reese reiterated the demand to bargain and set a deadline of June 9, 1985, for the District to reply. On June 10, 1985, Reese again wrote to DeVries setting forth suggested dates for meetings. On June 18, 1985, DeVries wrote to the MEA stating that the District would not engage in mid-term bargaining, but again expressed a willingness to discuss the issue as a "mutual concern."

On July 23, 1985, the MEA filed an unfair labor practice charge, alleging that the District violated sections 14(a)(1) and 14(a)(5) of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA) (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 48, pars. 1714(a)(1), (a)(5)) by refusing to bargain with the MEA concerning changes made in employees' working conditions. The Executive Director of the IELRB investigated this charge and on November 18, 1985, issued a complaint. The complaint alleged that the District violated sections 14(a)(1) and 14(a)(5) of the IELRA by refusing to bargain with the MEA over the impact of the addition of one class period to the schedule and the change in the teachers' preparation time. Hearings were held on April 14, 15, and 16, 1986, in Chicago.

The hearing officer, in his recommended decision and order issued on October 23, 1986, found that the District unlawfully refused to bargain with the MEA over the impact of the decision to reorganize. However, he concluded that the decision to reorganize was a matter of inherent managerial policy which need not be bargained. The hearing officer further ordered make-whole relief with regard to those employees affected. Mundelein Elementary School District No. 75, 2 Pub. Employee Rep. (Ill.) par. 1135, case No. 85-CA-0057-C (Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Oct. 23, 1986) (Hearing Officer).

On November 7, 1986, the District filed exceptions to the hearing officer's decision and a brief in support of those exceptions. The MEA filed a response to the District's exceptions and a supporting brief on December 24, 1986. After review of the hearing officer's recommended decision and order and the exceptions thereto, the IELRB issued an order on October 29, 1987, reversing in part and affirming in part the hearing officer's recommended order. Mundelein Elementary School District No. 75, 3 Pub. Employee Rep. (Ill.) par. 1115, case No. 85-CA-0057-C (Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Oct. 29, 1987).

In its October 1987 order, the IELRB found that the District had a duty to bargain under section 4 of the IELRA (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 48, par. 1704) over the impact of its decision to reorganize on the MEA members' wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment. Specifically, the IELRB found that the District was required to bargain regarding the number of teaching periods, but not required to bargain over the alleged changes in the teacher's preparation time. The issue of preparation time was the subject of a clause in the parties' new collective-bargaining agreement signed in January 1985 and thus had already been bargained by the parties.

The IELRB declined to order make-whole relief...