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Greenberg v. Camden County Vocational and Technical Schools5/6/1998
Argued April 21, 1998
This is an employment discrimination case involving a female teacher who, at the age of forty-eight and in her third year of employment, was not rehired and, thus, was denied tenure. Plaintiff, Evelyne Greenberg, filed a complaint against defendant, Camden County Vocational and Technical Schools, claiming that the decision not to rehire her violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49. She appeals from the trial Judge's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant dismissing her complaint. We reverse.
Plaintiff was born on July 9, 1946. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami, majoring in English and minoring in Spanish. She also received a Masters degree in bilingual bicultural studies from Marywood College. Thereafter plaintiff obtained her teaching certificates for Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Prior to working for defendant, plaintiff taught at several high schools and educational institutions from February 1986 to June 1991, but never gained tenure.
On January 11, 1993, defendant hired plaintiff, then forty-five, as a non-tenured high school teacher in the English department at the Pennsauken campus for the period of January 20, 1993 to June 30, 1993. The school district reviews and evaluates teachers annually for rehire using observations, teacher evaluation forms and annual written performance reports in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:27-3.1 and N.J.A.C. 6:3-4.1.
Plaintiff's written performance evaluations for her first year of employment with the district, conducted on February 1, 1993 and May 25, 1993, were all positive. The evaluator noted "the instructor's enthusiasm and positive dialogue that appears to have affected this class" and " good teaching/learning situated existed . . . ." However, during that year plaintiff received four "memos of concern" from Robert Morelli, the principal of the Pennsauken school. Three memos were for improperly filling out the sign in/out log and absence forms, and one memo was for submitting verification sheets late. Nevertheless, the district renewed plaintiff's employment for the 1993-94 school year.
Overall, Ms. Greenberg's written performance evaluations during the 1993-94 school year were positive, with few exceptions. Her October 25, 1993 evaluation, however, identified two areas in which her preparation performance was graded "NO" or "currently not acceptable." Her preparation plans failed to "make maximum use of technicians" and she failed to record her schedule in the long range section of her planning book. Yet, the evaluator noted that " ne key element of the class observed was the teacher enthusiasm for the material and her support for the participation of the students." Plaintiff's November 23, 1993, December 20, 1993 and February 2, 1994 evaluations were all positive in every respect.
However, again plaintiff received "memos of concern" from Mr. Morelli during the 1993-94 school year. They were similar to the earlier "memos of concern." Four memos addressed her failure to properly sign in/out and complete an absence form. One memo stated that she had submitted untimely verification sheets. And so, while her June 27, 1994 performance evaluation was overall positive and listed her strengths as " apport with students, nstructional techniques, lassroom management," it identified as needing improvement areas of "Management (Sign in/out sheets . . . absence slip . . .) and Preparation." The only professional improvement objectives listed were for plaintiff " o complete all school records accurately" " o maintain a complete long range plan" and " o include how you use
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