Kalinowski

A school district appeals from a judgment ordering it to reinstate, with back pay, a school teacher discharged by it. We modify the judgment and affirm it as so modified.

Petitioner had been, for some years, a certified teacher in appellant district. In the summer of 1974, she experienced severe emotional disturbances, as a result of which she was granted a one-year leave of absence for the term beginning in September of 1974, and the district employed a temporary teacher in her place. She was placed on sick leave, which was exhausted by January 31, 1975. On March 4, 1975, the district, acting through its assistant superintendent, wrote to her as follows:

On February 24, 1977, through her attorneys, she requested reinstatement. After negotiations over that request had failed, she filed the present action in mandate on September 8, 1977.

I

It is admitted that due to the failure of the district to follow the procedure set forth in then section 13411 of the Education Code (now § 44942), neither the letter of March 4, 1975, nor the letter of April 1, 1976, was effective to change her status. The district’s primary contention on this appeal is that the teacher’s…