A former basketball coach for Niles West High School won a slam-dunk legal victory against the high school that ousted him.
David Genis won reinstatement and back pay in a ruling last month, which the school district plans to appeal this week. Administrative law judge Katherine Levin found Niles West fired Genis because he sought union help in a disciplinary matter.
"I feel great," Genis said. "I think it was the right decision. It gives me the opportunity to get back into the game that I love wholeheartedly." '
Not a correct or fair ruling'
But Genis might not get his job back -- not yet, anyway. Supt. Neil Codell said School District 219 will appeal to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board "because we believe this not a correct or fair ruling."
And even though the job of boys basketball coach is currently open, "we're not offering him the job. He's not in the mix," Codell said. The conflict between the coach and Niles West started in February 2005 when Genis complained to the athletic director about overlapping schedules for football and basketball camp. In a scene he later apologized for, Genis griped that the football coach "does whatever the f--- he wants."
'A power struggle'
In the six weeks that followed, school officials held meetings with Genis about the incident. Representatives of the Niles Township Federation of Teachers -- the teachers union -- got involved because they "did not want the incident to affect Genis' teaching career," Levin wrote.
In addition to coaching, Genis has been a science teacher at Niles West for 18 years.
According to Levin, "the district advanced shifting reasons for Genis' dismissal," but that anti-union bias was the real reason.
She also noted Genis was "a successful coach," who in his first year coaching the boys varsity team helped it win its first conference championship in 27 years. With another coach in the 2005-2006 season, the team went 6-18.
"It's a power struggle, essentially. They wanted to show him up, and they wanted to show the union up," said Gilbert Feldman, a lawyer for the Niles Township Federation of Teachers.
