Centinela Valley Secondary Teachers Ass'n v. Centinela Valley Union High School District

Mary Ianni (petitioner) 1 who is certified to teach at the secondary school level petitioned the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a writ of mandate to compel the Centinela Valley Union High School District (the District) to classify her as a probationary teacher, and thus to require the District to grant her certain rights under Education Code section 13447, and a hearing pursuant to Education Code section 13443 to determine the District’s right or lack thereof to refuse to rehire her for the 1972-1973 school year. The petition was denied and petitioner appeals.

Petitioner’s claim to the status of a probationary teacher and the rights attendant on such status flows from her contention that during the 1971-1972 school year she fulfilled the requirements of Education Code section *38 13336.5 which provides in pertinent part: “Any employee classified as a substitute employee, who teaches during one school year for at least 75 percent of the number of days the regular schools of the district were maintained in such school year any class or classes which would have been taught by one person absent from service, shall be deemed to have been a probationary employee…

I dissent. In my view petitioner qualified as a probationary employee under Education Code section 13336.5 by teaching during one school year classes which would have been taught by one person absent from service.

It is conceded that (1) petitioner was classified as a substitute employee; (2) she was employed by the school district as a teacher; (3) she taught the same classes (4) with the same pupils (5) in the same schoolroom (6) for one school year. To me it seems plain that the English classes petitioner taught were classes which would have been taught by one person, and that by teaching them for one school year petitioner qualified under the statute as a probationary employee.

The weakness of the body-slot principle, purportedly used by the school district, becomes self-evident on examining the facts of the present case, where, according to the school district’s calculations, petitioner was a substitute during the second term for Mrs. Harris, a foreign language teacher who was physically present and teaching during that term. Thus, although petitioner appeared in the starting lineup and played the same position *45 throughout the entire game, the school district maintains…

Mary Ianni (petitioner) [1] who is certified to teach at the secondary school level petitioned the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a writ of mandate to compel the Centinela Valley Union High School District (the District) to classify her as a probationary teacher, and thus to require the District to grant her certain rights under Education Code section 13447, and a hearing pursuant to Education Code section 13443 to determine the District's right or lack thereof to refuse to rehire her for the 1972-1973 school year. The petition was denied and petitioner appeals.

Petitioner's claim to the status of a probationary teacher and the rights attendant on such status flows from her contention that during the 1971-1972 school year she fulfilled the requirements of Education Code section 13336.5 which provides in pertinent part: "Any employee classified as a substitute employee, who teaches during one school year for at least 75 percent of the number of days the regular schools of the district were maintained in such school year any class or classes which would have been taught by one person absent from service, shall be deemed to have been a probationary…