Community and teachers slam district after job posting for teacher on medical leave

At a Wayne-Westland Community School District board meeting, community members and union representatives criticized the district for posting a full-time social studies position while a long-serving Wayne Memorial teacher was on extended medical leave.

An unidentified Wayne Memorial teacher, speaking in public comment, said she prepared a certified long-term substitute, left complete lesson plans and helped transition the classroom before beginning chemotherapy. She told the board she learned from colleagues that a posting for a full-time social studies job at Wayne had appeared online and that she was not contacted in advance. “Posting my job makes it seem like I am somehow making a choice about being on this medical leave,” she said, adding the decision left her “flabbergasted and devastated.”

Steve Conner, president of the Wayne Westland Education Association, said the union had to intervene to get the situation fixed and called the handling “wrong.” “We got it fixed today,” Conner told the board, while also criticizing the pace and tone of current contract bargaining and describing the negotiations as the longest in district history.

Several public commenters — including Shelby Patterson, Alana Cyrus and Janelle Mills — urged the board to change district practice so that teachers on medical leave do not fear losing their positions. Patterson said she was grateful the posting was later taken down but added that “it shouldn’t have taken so many people to reach out for you to backtrack.” Cyrus, a former student, said the stress caused by the episode was not good for the teacher’s recovery. Mills, a Wayne Memorial graduate, asked the board to “guarantee in words” that a teacher returning from medical leave would be able to return to the same position and students.

Board members and administrators acknowledged limitations imposed by federal law but said the district can choose to go beyond the Family Medical Leave Act’s minimum protections. The board president urged a review of district policy, saying the board should look at policy changes to avoid similar situations in future. “The requirements of the Family Medical Leave Act are a minimum,” he said during his closing remarks.

Meeting participants said HR contacted the teacher by phone the morning of the meeting and that the posting had been reversed before or during the public comment period; one commenter referenced an update that the position would no longer be posted. The union and multiple community speakers urged clearer district procedures and more timely communication with staff and unions when personnel decisions may affect employees on medical leave.

The meeting closed without formal board action altering district policy; speakers asked the board to follow up with policy committee work and to bring any proposed changes to a future meeting.