Lyznicki v. Board of Educ., School Dist. 167, Cook County, Ill., 82-2201
| Decision Date | 19 May 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-2201,82-2201 |
| Parties | 11 Ed. Law Rep. 448 Joseph LYZNICKI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, SCHOOL DISTRICT 167, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Marilyn F. Longwell, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.
Ralph Miller, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before PELL, POSNER and COFFEY, Circuit Judges.
Joseph Lyznicki was the principal of an Illinois public high school. In February 1980 the school district's board of education voted to renew his contract for the next academic year (1980-1981), but in June, at the recommendation of the school superintendent and without notice to Lyznicki, the board changed its vote and directed that Lyznicki's principal's contract not be renewed for the next year, that instead he be demoted to a regular classroom teacher but with no reduction in salary. Later the board sent him a written notice stating only that the change was in the best interests of the district. Lyznicki then brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against the superintendent, the board, and various members of the board, seeking damages and reinstatement. He alleged that the defendants had infringed his freedom of speech under the First Amendment, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment; deprived him of a property right in continued employment as a principal, without due process of law and therefore in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment; and violated the Illinois School Code. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on all but the First Amendment claim, which went to trial, resulting in a verdict for the defendants. The district court then entered a final judgment dismissing the complaint, and Lyznicki has appealed--but has dropped his First Amendment claim.
Lyznicki had tenure as a teacher, and if he had been discharged from his teaching position he would have been able to complain that he had been deprived of a property right within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972). Whether demotion without loss of pay would be a "deprivation" in a constitutional sense may be doubted but is not a question we need decide. A prior question is whether he had any right under state law, see Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972), to continued employment as a principal. Lyznicki cannot base such a right on contract. He had only a yearly contract as a principal and he was not terminated till the end of the contract year, which was in June. It is true that in February the board had voted to renew his contract, and if he had then signed a contract with the board for the following year, and the board had broken the contract, he would be able to complain of the deprivation of a property right under Hostrop v. Board of Junior College Dist. No. 515, 471 F.2d 488, 494 (7th Cir.1972), and under our very recent decision in Vail v. Board of Educ. of Paris Union School Dist. No. 5, 706 F.2d 1435 (7th Cir.1983). But no contract was signed. There was at most an offer; there was no acceptance.
Lyznicki argues that the Illinois School Code gave him a property right in continued employment as a principal, quite apart from any contract. He relies on Ill.Rev.Stat. 1981, ch. 122, Sec. 10-23.8b, which is also the basis of his pendent state law claim. That section provides that no principal who like Lyznicki has completed two or more years of administrative service in the school district "may be reclassified by demotion or reduction in rank from one position to another for which a lower salary is paid without written notice from the board of the proposed reclassification by April 1 of the year in which the contract expires." Within ten days of receiving such notice, the principal may request, and is entitled to receive, a private hearing, and if he is not satisfied with its results a public hearing, before the board of education. But "nothing in this Section prohibits a board from ordering lateral transfers of principals to positions of similar rank and equal salary." Lyznicki received no notice by April 1.
Although the statute confers a right to a hearing, no standards are prescribed for the board to follow at the hearing; it seems it can reclassify a principal, after expiration of his yearly contract, for any reason or no reason. It is hard to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Warfield v. Adams
...federal claims are dismissed before trial, any pendent state-law claim is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction."); Lyznicki v. Board of Education, 707 F.2d 949, 953 (7th Cir.1983). Although defendants argue strenuously for the dismissal with prejudice of plaintiff's two tort claims (Counts V ......
-
Jackson Court Condominiums v. City of New Orleans
...interest. See, Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972). In Lyznicki v. Board of Education, School District 167, Cook County, Illinois, 707 F.2d 949 (7th Cir.1983), plaintiff complained that the school board deprived him of a property interest without due proc......
-
Okeson v. Tolley School Dist. No. 25, Civ. No. A4-82-18.
...577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Accord Orloff v. Cleland, 708 F.2d 372, 377 (9th Cir.1983); Lyznicki v. Board of Education, 707 F.2d 949, 951 (7th Cir.1983). Defendants argue that "state law does not provide a right to a hearing" and that "Okeson was in fact given a hearing......
-
Brown v. Brienen
...order): Turnquist v. Elliott, 706 F.2d 809 (7th Cir.1983); Vail v. Board of Educ., 706 F.2d 1435 (7th Cir.1983); Lyznicki v. Board of Educ., 707 F.2d 949 (7th Cir.1983); Smith v. Board of Educ., 708 F.2d 258 (7th Cir.1983); Grimes v. Eastern Illinois Univ., 710 F.2d 386 (7th Cir.1983); Hadl......