Filar v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago

Before FLAUM, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Valerie T. Filar formerly taught as an untenured, full-time teacher in the Polish bilingual education department at the Edwin G. Foreman High School in Chicago. In 1999, the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, then known as the Chicago School Reform Board, approved a decision by Foreman’s principal to change Filar’s status from a full-time teacher at Foreman to a substitute teacher who would fill vacancies in other Chicago public schools as they arose. Filar, who was 69 at the time, objected to the decision for at least two reasons. In the first place, she suspected that Foreman’s principal had deliberately retained younger teachers in the bilingual program at her expense. In addition, Filar’s osteoarthritis and dependence on public transportation made getting to the city’s various schools difficult, and the Board denied her request that she only be assigned to schools that were easily accessed from bus stops. This lawsuit followed, alleging age discrimination and that the Board failed to reasonably accommodate Filar’s disability. The district court granted the Board’s motions for summary judgment on both claims, and this appeal followed. For the reasons set out below, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment with respect to the age discrimination claim but affirm with respect to Filar’s disability claim.