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Introduced Version Senate Bill 719 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 719

(By Senators Plymale, Barnes and Stollings)

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[Introduced February 18, 2008; referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §18A-2-9a, all relating to setting standards for assignment of high school athletic directors.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18A-2-9a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

§18A-1-1. Definitions.
The definitions contained in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code apply to this chapter. In addition, the following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings pursuant to this chapter have the meanings ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(a) "School personnel" means all personnel employed by a county board whether employed on a regular full-time basis, an hourly basis or otherwise. "School personnel" is comprised of two categories: Professional personnel and service personnel;
(b) "Professional person" or "Professional personnel" means those persons or employees who meet the certification requirements of the state, licensing requirements of the state, or both, and includes the professional educator and other professional employee;
(c) "Professional educator" has the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code. Professional educators are shall be classified as follows:
(1) "Classroom teacher" means a professional educator who has a direct instructional or counseling relationship with students and who spends the majority of his or her time in this capacity;
(2) "Principal" means a professional educator who functions as an agent of the county board and has responsibility for the supervision, management and control of a school or schools within the guidelines established by the county board. The principal's major area of the responsibility is the general supervision of all the schools and all school activities involving students, teachers and other school personnel;
(3) "Athletic director" means a professional educator who is responsible for supervising the management and operation of the athletic programs and activities of the school to which he or she is assigned;
(3) (4) "Supervisor" means a professional educator who is responsible for working primarily in the field with professional and other personnel in instructional and other school improvement. This category includes other appropriate titles or positions with duties that fit within this definition; and
(4) (5) "Central office administrator" means a superintendent, associate superintendent, assistant superintendent and other professional educators who are charged with the administering and supervising the whole or some assigned part of the total program of the countywide school system. This category includes other appropriate titles or positions with duties that fit within this definition;
(d) "Other professional employee" means a person from another profession who is properly licensed and who is employed to serve the public schools. This definition includes a registered professional nurse, licensed by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses, who is employed by a county board and has completed either a two-year (sixty-four semester hours) or a three-year (ninety-six semester hours) nursing program;
(e) "Service person" or "Service personnel", whether singular or plural, means a nonteaching school employee who is not included in the meaning of "teacher" as defined in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code, and who serves the school or schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation, school lunch and aides. Any reference to "service employee" or "service employees" in this chapter or chapter eighteen of this code means service person or service personnel as defined in this section;
(f) "Principals academy" or "Academy" means the Academy created pursuant to section two-b, article three-a of this chapter;
(g) "Center for Professional Development" means the center created pursuant to section one, article three-a of this chapter;
(h) "Job-sharing arrangement" means a formal, written agreement voluntarily entered into by a county board with two or more of its employees who wish to divide between them the duties and responsibilities of one authorized full-time position;
(i) "Prospective employable professional person" whether singular or plural, means a certified professional educator who:
(1) Has been recruited on a reserve list of a county board;
(2) Has been recruited at a job fair or as a result of contact made at a job fair;
(3) Has not obtained regular employee status through the job posting process provided for in section seven-a, article four of this chapter; and
(4) Has obtained a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education within the past year;
(j) "Dangerous student" means a student who is substantially likely to cause serious bodily injury to himself, herself or another individual within that student's educational environment, which may include any alternative education environment, as evidenced by a pattern or series of violent behavior exhibited by the pupil student, and documented in writing by the school, with the documentation provided to the student and parent or guardian at the time of any offense; and
(k) "Alternative education" means an authorized departure from the regular school program designed to provide educational and social development for students whose disruptive behavior places them at risk of not succeeding in the traditional school structures and in adult life without positive interventions.
(l) "Long-term substitute" means a substitute employee who fills a vacant position:
(1) That the county superintendent expects to extend for at least ninety consecutive days, and is either:
(A) Listed in the job posting as a long-term substitute position of over ninety days; or
(B) Listed in a job posting as a regular, full-time position and:
(i) Is not filled by a regular, full-time employee; and
(ii) Is filled by a substitute employee.
For the purposes of section two, article sixteen, chapter five of this code, long-term substitute does not include a retired employee hired to fill the vacant position.
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.

§18A-2-9a. Duties and responsibilities of high school athletic directors.

(a) Upon the recommendation of the county superintendent of schools, the county board of education shall employ and assign through written contract, athletic directors to supervise the management and the operation of high school athletic activities to which they are assigned. An athletic director shall hold valid credentials appropriate for his or her assignment. Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand eight, the prerequisites for assignment as a high school athletic director are:
(1) A minimum of five years interscholastic or intercollegiate coaching experience; and
(2) Compliance with one of the following education requirements:
(A) A college degree in athletic administration;
(B) A masters degree in educational administration; or
(C) Completion of the following Leadership Training Classes provided through the National Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association (NIAAA) Leadership Training Program:
LTC 501 - Athletic Administration: Philosophy, Leadership, Organizations and Professional Programs;
LTC 502 - Athletic Administration: Principles, Strategies and Methods; and
LTC 504 - Athletic Administration: Legal Issues I (Risk Management).
(b) Any person employed in the capacity of athletic director during, or prior to, the 2007 - 2008 school year is exempt from the prerequisites set forth in subsection (a), except that the person must complete the Leadership Training Courses set forth in subdivision (2)(C), subsection (a) within three years of the effective date of this legislation.
(c) Under the supervision of the school principal and in accordance with the rules of the county board of education, the athletic director shall assume administrative responsibility for the planning, management, operation and evaluation of the total athletic program for the school for which he or she is assigned. The responsibilities of the athletic director include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Supervision of games; (2) overseeing the athletic budget; (3) hiring of game officials; (4) scheduling athletic contests; (5) knowing and upholding all county, West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC) and league rules; (6) maintain proper records which includes a permanent file of players; medical forms, insurance forms, participation records, parent consent forms and birth certificates; (7) scheduling transportation for athletic teams; (8) prepare and verify athletic eligibility lists; (9) supervise, observe and evaluate coaches; (10) secure all needed personnel for basic athletic event operations; (11) procure and care for athletic equipment; and (12) other duties involving athletics as assigned by the principal or as a part of a county job description for athletic directors.
(d) Upon recommendation of the county superintendent of schools, the county board of education shall, when needed, employ and assign through written contract, assistant athletic directors who shall work under the direction of the school principal and athletic director. An assistant athletic director shall hold valid credentials appropriate for his or her assignment. Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand eight, the prerequisite for assignment as a high school assistant athletic director is the completion of the Leadership Training Courses set forth in subdivision (2)(C), subsection (a).
(e) Any person employed in the capacity of assistant athletic director during, or prior to, the 2007 - 2008 school year is exempt from the prerequisite set forth in subsection (d), except that the person must complete the Leadership Training Courses set forth in subdivision (2)(C), subsection (a) within three years of the effective date of this legislation.
(f) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand eight, the county board of education shall employ an athletic director for each high school in the county. Each high school that participates in twelve or less varsity sports, as defined by the WVSSAC, shall have an athletic director who is assigned to those athletic activities at least one-half of the school day, with teaching duties not to exceed twenty hours per week. Each school with thirteen or more varsity sports, as defined by the WVSSAC, shall have an athletic director who is assigned to those athletic activities full-time and who may not be assigned any teaching duties except on a temporary emergency basis.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set standards for school athletic directors. The bill also requires a high school to assign a full-time athletic director if the school has thirteen or more varsity sports, and at least a half-time athletic director if the school has twelve or less varsity sports.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.


§18A-2-9a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.


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