Reversing arbitration to a public school, the Massachusetts Appeals Court sided with one of the school's former teachers, concluding she was improperly discharged and denied tenure after taking maternity leave.

In a Friday decision, the Massachusetts Appeals Court reversed and vacated an arbitration decision in favor of Westwood Public Schools, which held that Pauline Chaloff hadn't completed "three consecutive school years" in order to reach employment safeguards offered by professional teacher status. The arbitrator ruled that Chaloff's partial year of teaching during her maternity leave did not count toward the overall time calculation, and her teaching contract was not renewed.