Relph v. Board of Education of DePue Unit School District No. 103

The original petitioners in these consolidated cases, Norma Relph, Robert B. Hagopian, and Mary E. Foley, were tenured teachers who were dismissed because of the economic conditions of their respective school districts. Section 24 — 12 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 122, par. 24 — 12) provides that in such cases the board of education shall first remove nontenured teachers before removing a teacher who has attained tenured status and “who is legally qualified to hold' a position currently held by a teacher who has not entered upon contractual continued services.” The…