Terminating an educator during his or her probationary period

Terminating an educator during his or her probationary period
Green v Bd. of Ed., 262 AD2d 411

The Green decision succinctly sets out the basic guidelines used by courts in determining if an educator was lawfully terminated if he or she was dismissed during, or at the end of, his or her probationary period without being given a statement of the reasons for the termination or an administrative hearing.

Verna Green, a New York City School District probationary teacher, was dismissed by the Board of Education during probation.

The Appellate Division, affirming a lower court’s dismissal of Green’s Article 78 action seeking reinstatement, said:

1. A probationary employee may be terminated without a statement of any reasons for the termination or per-termination hearing provided the termination (1) was not made in bad faith, (2) did not constitute a violation of statutory or decisional law, or (3) was not based on any unconstitutional or illegal reasons;

2. The former probationary employee has the burden of establishing that his or her termination was made in bad faith or for illegal reasons;

3. The former probationer’s conclusory allegations that the employer acted in bad faith do not meet this burden or warrant a hearing.

In another probationary termination case, Williams v Franklin Square Union Free School District, 261 A.D.2d 628, the Appellate Division dismissed an Article 78 action brought by Jeanne M. Williams. Williams had asked the court to order the district to “restore [her] to her position as an elementary [school] teacher.”

The court dismissed her petition, stating that there was no evidence in the record that the district’s denying Williams tenure was for a legally impermissible reason. In addition, the Appellate Division held that “there is no evidence that [Williams] acquired tenure by estoppel.”
NYPPL