Grace

Plaintiff and appellant Del M. Grace (Grace) was a probationary school nurse with defendant and respondent Beaumont Unified School District (the District). On March 3, 2009, the District decided to terminate her employment for the 2009-2010 school year.

Grace filed a petition for writ of mandate to compel her reinstatement, arguing that the notice of her termination was insufficient. The trial court found that an e-mail notice from the District’s head of human resources was sufficient notice and denied the petition. Grace appeals from the ensuing judgment.

I

ISSUE

Education Code section 44929.21, subdivision (b) provides that the governing board of a school district must notify a probationary teacher on or before March 15 of the teacher’s second complete consecutive school year of employment of the decision to reelect or not reelect the teacher for the next succeeding school year. If the notice is not given, the teacher is deemed reelected for the next school year and must be classified as a permanent employee of the district at the commencement of that year.

No method of giving notice is stated in the section. The gap was filled by Hoschler v. Sacramento City…