Maas v. Board of Trustees of Community College Dist. No. 529, 78-274

• Decision Date: 20 March 1981
• Docket Number: No. 78-274,78-274
• Citation: 94 Ill.App.3d 562,418 N.E.2d 1029,50 Ill.Dec. 35
• Parties: , 50 Ill.Dec. 35 Christine G. MAAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT NO. 529, Counties of Richland, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Hamilton, Jasper, Lawrence, Wabash, Wayne and White, and State of Illinois, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1029

418 N.E.2d 1029 94 Ill.App.3d 562, 50 Ill.Dec. 35 Christine G. MAAS, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT NO. 529,
Counties of Richland, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland,
Edwards, Hamilton, Jasper, Lawrence, Wabash, Wayne and
White, and State of Illinois, Defendants-Appellees. No. 78-274. Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District. March 20, 1981.

[94 Ill.App.3d 563]

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[50 Ill.Dec. 36] Stephen M. O'Byrne, Reno, O'Byrne & Kepley, Champaign, for plaintiff-appellant.

Laurence L. Arnold, Olney, for defendants-appellees.

JONES, Justice:

Plaintiff appeals from a summary judgment rendered for defendant Board by the circuit court of Richland County in her action for certiorari for review of an administrative hearing conducted by the Board, and for mandamus.

In and prior to the fall of 1974 the plaintiff was a tenured faculty member of Community College District No. 529. She was an instructor in physical education and was teaching on the campus of Olney Central

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[50 Ill.Dec. 37] College, one of three constituent colleges which comprise Community College District No. 529. In the fall of 1974 the plaintiff made an application for sabbatical leave for the 1975-76 academic year. In response to plaintiff's request, George Williams, Dean of Instruction and a member of the Sabbatical Leave Committee, sent plaintiff a letter dated March 6, 1975, voicing reservations about Western Colorado University, which plaintiff proposed to attend, and requesting a written proposal for study, the objective she would be pursuing and how that objective would benefit Olney Central College. The letter also asked plaintiff to submit a copy of a catalogue or brochure that would describe Western Colorado University. In compliance with this request plaintiff submitted a proposal which envisioned 36 semester hours of study which, when taken with her post-graduate work at Eastern Illinois University, would entitle her to a doctor's degree from Western Colorado University. The required 36 semester hours would be comprised of 8 hours of in-residence work at the Grand Junction campus of Western Colorado University and 28 hours to be earned in Illinois by using the facilities of the University of Illinois and/or Eastern Illinois University.

It is plaintiff's own description of Western Colorado University that it is a "non-traditional school in that it refers to itself as a university without walls," and that "many of its students are non-resident and pursue their degrees while using the facilities of other institutions pursuant to inter-college cooperating agreements."

By letter dated May 6, 1975, the Sabbatical Leave Committee notified plaintiff that a sabbatical leave had been granted her for one quarter with full pay (1/3 of her base salary of $16,450 based upon FY-76 salary, equal to $5,483) and stated that the committee would recommend "that the administration grant Mrs. Maas a leave of absence for the two remaining quarters of the academic year of 1975-76." The letter also recited: "If you are prepared to accept the action of the Sabbatical Leave [94 Ill.App.3d 564] Committee, please advise me. The administration would also need your request submitted in writing for a leave of absence for the two remaining quarters of the academic year 1975-76."

The record indicates that there were one or more conversations between college officials and the plaintiff that took place in May 1975 in which plaintiff was told that she could have a sabbatical leave of one quarter with pay and a two quarter professional leave without pay. Paul Thompson testified that part of such conversations occurred while he was president of Olney Central College and that he informed plaintiff in June 1975 that the proposal of the Sabbatical Leave Committee was not severable. Plaintiff testified that she did not recall this conversation.

By letter dated May 12, 1975, plaintiff advised the Dean of Instruction and the Sabbatical Leave Committee that it was her request that if another faculty member was granted leave and did not use it, then the unused portion be granted to her. Her letter stated that with that stipulation she would be most happy to accept the action of the Committee and would submit a written request for leave of absence for the two remaining quarters of the 1975-76 academic year in the event no additional sabbatical leave became available.

Dean Williams responded with a letter dated May 20, 1975, which advised plaintiff that any sabbatical leave money unused by another faculty member would not be made available for her use. He asked her early response to the sabbatical as it had been offered to her.

Plaintiff sent Dean Williams the following letter dated June 11, 1975:

"This letter is to advise you that I will accept the sabbatical leave granted me for one quarter with full pay.

I will, therefore, take the sabbatical leave fall quarter of the 1975-76 school year."

It is to be noted that this letter made no reference to a request for professional leave for the two remaining quarters of the 1975-76 school year.

In the latter part of May 1975 plaintiff found a teaching contract for school year

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[50 Ill.Dec. 38] 1975-76 in her mailbox at the college, The contract was dated May 20, 1975, and had been placed in her mailbox as a part of the ongoing administrative routine of the college. Plaintiff executed the contract by signing it and placing it in the mailbox of John Stencil, her division chairman.

On June 18, 1975, the chancellor of the college, James Spencer, sent plaintiff a letter notifying her that her sabbatical leave had been approved by the Board of Trustees. This letter stated, in part, that "(t)he specifics of your leave are stated on page three in the Report of the Chancellor of the June meeting, should you have any questions regarding these recommendations."

A second teaching contract for the 1975-76 academic year which [94 Ill.App.3d 565] reflected the grant of sabbatical leave, dated June 17, 1975, was prepared and placed in plaintiff's faculty mailbox. This contract recited that plaintiff's base salary would be "$5,483.33 (1/3 of salary for Sabbatical Leave)."

On July 5, 1975, plaintiff left Illinois to fulfill her on-campus residence requirement at Western Colorado University and did not return until mid-August. Plaintiff testified that she had learned of the Board of Trustees' action which granted her one quarter of sabbatical leave and two quarters of professional leave of absence for 1975-76 from a local newspaper's report of the Board's action at its June meeting. She had expressed surprise at the grant of professional leave because she had never requested it. She also stated that she had not been aware that the Board was considering a grant of professional leave. This testimony was apparently contradicted by the Board's exhibits Nos. 11 and 12. Exhibit No. 11 was a copy of the memorandum of the sabbatical leave committee to Chancellor Spencer, dated May 28, 1975, detailing the leave recommended for plaintiff as one quarter at full pay and recommending the granting of her request for two quarters of professional leave. Exhibit No. 12 was a copy of page 3 of the Report of the Chancellor to the Board as an agenda item for its June 17 meeting. Page 3 detailed the sabbatical leave recommendation for plaintiff of one quarter with pay; it also stated that plaintiff requested professional leave for two quarters and recommended that the Board grant the request. Exhibits 11 and 12 had been mailed to plaintiff prior to the meeting of the Board. Plaintiff explained her failure to receive these items, and the second teacher's contract, by her testimony that she was on sick leave and did not teach in the spring of 1975 and was seldom on campus. On the few occasions she was on campus the lounge (the location of the faculty mailboxes) had been locked. She stated that she had not received these materials until September of 1975 when the accumulated mail had been sent to her at her home address in Olney.

Continuing her testimony, plaintiff stated that upon learning of the action of the Board at its June meeting she had approached a Mr. Lathrop regarding the grant of unrequested leave and, according to plaintiff, he told her a request for professional leave need be made only at least one quarter prior to the leave time requested. Acting on this information plaintiff had decided to do nothing regarding the matter until she returned in the fall.

After plaintiff returned from Colorado she contacted President Thompson to pursue the matter of the professional leave of absence. She met with him on September 5, 1975, and told him she did not want the professional leave of absence; she wanted to resume her teaching. Thompson told plaintiff that it was his interpretation that acceptance of the sabbatical leave constituted an acceptance of the two-quarters of [94 Ill.App.3d 566] professional leave as well. He also told plaintiff that she was not on the payroll for 1975-76 at all since the district had not received either the teacher's contract of May 20, 1975, or the sabbatical leave contract of June 17. He advised plaintiff that if she did not agree with his interpretation she could appeal his decision to Chancellor Spencer. President Thompson confirmed the content of this meeting with plaintiff by a letter to plaintiff dated September 5, 1975, with a copy to Chancellor Spencer.

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[50 Ill.Dec. 39] Following the meeting with Thompson, plaintiff sought an appeal to Chancellor Spencer. A meeting was accordingly arranged for the following day September 6, 1975, at the residence of Chancellor Spencer, with plaintiff, Chancellor Spencer and President Thompson present. The meeting was essentially a reprise of plaintiff's meeting the previous day with President Thompson. Plaintiff's contract status and sabbatical leave were discussed. Plaintiff persisted in her request of a...