Fleice

Respondent Chualar Union Elementary School District (District) erroneously classified appellant Marilyn Fleice as a permanent (tenured) employee after only one year of probationary service. After discovering its mistake, the District reclassified her as probationary and later decided not to rehire her for the next school year. The superior court denied Fleice’s petition for a writ of mandate to compel the District to rehire her as a permanent employee. Fleice appeals from the judgment, which we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

Fleice began to teach at Chualar Union Elementary, the District’s only school, during the spring 1985 semester. The position opened late in the school year because another teacher had resigned. Apparently satisfied with her service, the District rehired her for the next school year (1985-1986).

In March of 1986, near the end of Fleice’s first full year as a teacher, the District offered to rehire her for the 1986-1987 school year as a permanent employee. Fleice accepted the District’s offer and signed a contract reflecting the tenured classification.

A new superintendent, Richard Jukes, took office at the beginning of the 1986-1987 school…