48 A.D.2d 727 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1975
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered August 15, 1974 in Albany County, which denied petitioner’s application, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 to annul the decision of the Commissioner of Education which upheld the determination of respondent Board of Education denying petitioner tenure and terminating her services. For purposes of this appeal, it is agreed that petitioner’s probationary period as a teacher in the employ of the respondent board commenced on February 1, 1969, the effective date of her employment to fill the vacant regular position of a language teacher who had resigned. At that time, pursuant to section 3012 of the Education Law, her probationary term was for three years and would have expired on February 1, 1972, but subsequent statutory amendments (L 1971, ch 116; L 1971, ch 1102; L 1972, ch 953) had the net result of postponing the expiration date until June 30, 1972. On August 1, 1972, despite the fact that she had received the favorable recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board voted to deny petitioner tenure and, in a letter to her the following day, cited her attendance record during the probationary period as a basis for its action. After she then submitted a statement from her personal physician in regard to her health and the dates on which she had received medical treatment, the board reconsidered and confirmed its original decision on August 15, 1972. Both the Commissioner of Education and Special Term sustained this