A tenured New Suffolk teacher whose job was excessed by the school district in 2015 has had her appeal to the State Commissioner of Education sustained.
Martha Kennelly, of Mattituck, who appealed the decision of the New Suffolk Common School District to excess her position, resulting in her termination should be reinstated with back pay, according to a decision by Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia dated Aug. 8.
The commissioner ruled that a “hybrid tenure area” created by the New Suffolk school board in 2014 is not permitted under the State Education Law and so the board had no authority to create it. The board’s transfer of two elementary teachers to the new “hybrid” tenure area was void, Elia wrote. Both of those teachers had less seniority than Kennelly and the board’s excessing her position and terminating her employment was therefore improper, the commissioner ruled.
Kennelly, who was granted tenure in the elementarv education K-6 tenure area in the tiny district on Sept. 1, 2001, was the most senior of the district’s three elementary teachers when her employment was terminated. The board attempted to retain the two less senior teachers by creating a new tenure area they had no authority to create, according to the ruling.
“Obviously the district is disappointed in the decision,” said the district’s lawyer Robert Cohen. “They are reviewing their legal options, including the possibility of an Article 78 proceeding seeking judicial review of the commissioner’s ruling,” he said. “The board has not made any final decision yet. They are considering their options.”
Kennelly said she is “awaiting reinstatement by the district,” which has not yet contacted her.
A lawsuit she brought last year in federal court is still pending.
From July 2004 to July 2014, Kennelly served as a teacher on special assignment as the director of the Middle Eastern Suffolk Teacher center (“MESTRACT”), During that time, she remained an employee of the district, which was reimbursed for her compensation by MESTRACT and continued to accrue seniority in the elementarv education K-6 tenure area.
The school board on April 15, 2014 established a “hybrid tenure area: elementary education K-6/special education” to address the growing needs of the district’s students with special needs, according to the decision. Two of the district’s three tenured elementary teachers at the time were granted tenure in the new “hybrid” tenure area and their seniority credit was not affected. Their previous positions in elementarv education K-6 tenure area were abolished. A third teacher remained in the elementarv education K-6 tenure area.
Subsequently one of the teachers in the new “hybrid” tenure area resigned. In May 2014, Kennelly notified the district of her intent to return to the district that fall, in light of the other teacher’s resignation. She was notified that the position she was seeking to fill required a special education certification, which she did not possess but would obtain by the start of the school year. Beginning in August 2014, Kennelly was assigned to non-classroom curriculum development duties in the district, though she did hold a students with disabilities certification effective Aug. 1, 2014.
In April 2015, the New Suffolk school board voted to abolish one teaching position in the elementary education K-6 tenure area, effective June 30 that year. The board determined that Kennelly was the least senior teacher in that tenure area and was excessed. She appealed the decision to the state education commissioner, who this month ruled in her favor.
