Hayes v. Board of Education of Auburn Community Unit School District

PRESIDING JUSTICE GREEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

We confront here troublesome problems arising in the application of the tenure provisions of section 24—12 of The School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 122, par. 24—12) when, as is increasingly the case, a school district reduces its teaching staff because of declining enrollments. At issue is the meaning of that portion of section 24—12 which requires the district to “remove or dismiss” téachers of lower seniority before dismissing a tenured teacher of higher seniority “who is legally qualified to hold a position” currently held by a…