ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

administration in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 123.34, but, in so doing, it could not disregard
the contractual protection of an employee with continuing contract status.
Disposition: The court reversed and remanded and ordered that Klein be reinstated as the
half-time elementary school principal.
Ill. App.).
Citation: Board of Education v. Van Kast, 253 Ill. App. 3d 295; 625 N.E.2d 206, (1993
Key Facts: Carl Van Kast was the principal of Marshall High School in the Chicago
Public School System. He was reassigned to a district-level position under the pretense that his
behavior as the Marshall principal was irremediable. Van Kast was charged with failure to
address over 30 different mandates of mismanagement and misusage of financial accounts. The
Illinois State Board of Education conducted a formal hearing and investigation by Gerard A.
Fowler. Fowler, upon completion of his investigation, declared that he did not find the conduct
of Van Kast to be irremediable.
The Chicago Board of Education proceeded to trial where the trial court overturned the
decision of the state board investigation by Fowler. There were certain behaviors at question in
the proceeding such as frequent absences from the school by Van Kast, but the crux of the issue
revolved around fiscal negligence on the part of Van Kast. All told there was over $30,000 in
discrepant fund reports. For clarity, these funds were not missing, but they were not adequately
accounted for in the official ledgers, which were not in accordance with “the manual” of
accounting put in place by the state of Illinois. Van Kast was very quick to point out that he was
never charged with theft or misappropriation of funds.
147