Senate Bill No. 677
(By Senators Wells, Plymale, Browning, Kessler and Foster)
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[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-45a, relating
to school calendars; requiring each county board of education
to create a county school calendar committee; requiring the
committee to develop multiple school calendar options for
presentation to all employees for vote; requiring the
generation of new calendar options if the county board or
state board rejects the selected calendar; and requiring the
process to continue until a school calendar is approved by the
county board and state board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-45a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-45a. County school calendar committee; county-wide vote.
(a) Each county board shall create one county school calendar
committee. The committee shall develop multiple school calendar
options for presentation to all employees of the county board for
vote. All calendars presented to the employees for selection shall
comply with all applicable sections of this code, including but not
limited to, section forty-five of this article.
(b) Each county school calendar committee shall consist of at
least seven and no more than eleven members. The committee shall
be comprised of teachers, service personnel, administrators and one
designee chosen by the county superintendent. The membership of
the committee shall be proportionally representative of the number
of county board employees in each job category represented on the
committee. The committee shall meet at least three times a year.
(c) The county school calendar committee shall generate at
least three calendar options for presentation to the employees of
the county board for a county-wide vote. The election shall be
administered by the county board. Voting shall be conducted by a
secret ballot election, and is optional to each employee. At least
two representatives from the committee shall oversee the counting
of returned votes. A simple majority of the votes returned to the
county board constitutes selection of a school calendar.
(d) If the county board or the state board rejects a calendar
selected by the majority of employees in the district, the county
school calendar committee shall generate new calendar options for
consideration of the employees and the process set forth in this section shall continue until the county board and the state board
approve a school calendar selected by the majority of employees in
the district. The county board shall approve a school calendar
prior to June 1 of each year. If the state board has delegated
approval of school calendars to the state superintendent pursuant
to section forty-five of this article, the reference in this
subsection to the state board rejection and approval of a school
calendar means the state superintendent's rejection and approval of
a school calendar.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require each county board
of education to create a county school calendar committee; require
the committee to develop multiple school calendar options for
presentation to all employees for vote; and require the generation
of new calendar options if the county board or state board rejects
the selected calendar and require the process to continue until a
school calendar is approved by the county board and state board.
§18-5-45a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.