ENROLLED
H. B. 4414
(By Delegates Mezzatesta, Williams, Paxton, Susman and Willis)
[Passed March 11, 2000; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section one, article one, chapter
eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section three, article two of said chapter, all relating to
county boards of education; defined terms; employment of
substitute teachers; and allowing the county superintendents
to hire prospective employable professional personnel.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that
section three,
article two of said chapter be amended and reenacted, 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 thereto shall, unless the context clearly
indicates a different meaning, be construed as follows:
(a) "School personnel" means all personnel employed by a
county board of education whether employed on a regular full-time
basis, an hourly basis or otherwise. School personnel shall be
comprised of two categories: Professional personnel and service
personnel.
(b) "Professional personnel" means persons who meet the
certification and/or licensing requirements of the state, and
includes the professional educator and other professional
employees.
(c) "Professional educator" is synonymous with and has the
same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one, article one,
chapter eighteen of this code. Professional educators shall be
classified as:
(1) "Classroom teacher" -- The professional educator who has
direct instructional or counseling relationship with pupils,
spending the majority of his or her time in this capacity.
(2) "Principal" -- The professional educator who as agent of
the board has responsibility for the supervision, management and
control of a school or schools within the guidelines established
by said board. The major area of such responsibility shall be
the general supervision of all the schools and all school
activities involving pupils, teachers and other school personnel.
(3) "Supervisor" -- The professional educator who, whether by this or other appropriate title, is responsible for working
primarily in the field with professional and/or other personnel
in instructional and other school improvement.
(4) "Central office administrator" -- The superintendent,
associate superintendent, assistant superintendent and other
professional educators, whether by these or other appropriate
titles, who are charged with the administering and supervising of
the whole or some assigned part of the total program of the
county-wide school system.
(d) "Other professional employee" means that person from
another profession who is properly licensed and is employed to
serve the public schools and includes a registered professional
nurse, licensed by the West Virginia board of examiners for
registered professional nurses and employed by a county board of
education, who has completed either a two-year (sixty-four
semester hours) or a three-year (ninety-six semester hours)
nursing program.
(e) "Service personnel" means those who serve the school or
schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such
areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation,
school lunch and as aides.
(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 professional employees who wish to divide between
them the duties and responsibilities of one authorized full-time
position.
(i) "Prospective employable professional personnel" means
certified professional educators who:
(1) Have been recruited on a reserve list of a county board;
(2) Have been recruited at a job fair or as a result of
contact made at a job fair;
(3) Have not obtained regular employee status through the
job posting process provided for in section seven-a, article four
of this chapter; and
(4) Have obtained a baccalaureate degree from an accredited
institution of higher education within the past year.
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
§18A-2-3. Employment of substitute teachers and prospective
employable professional personnel.
(a) The county superintendent, subject to approval of the
county board, may employ and assign substitute teachers to any of
the following duties: (a) To fill the temporary absence of any
teacher or an unexpired school term made vacant by resignation,
death, suspension or dismissal; (b) to fill a teaching position
of a regular teacher on leave of absence; and (c) to perform the
instructional services of any teacher who is authorized by law to
be absent from class without loss of pay, providing the absence is approved by the board of education in accordance with the law.
The substitute shall be a duly certified teacher.
(b) Prospective employable professional personnel may be
employed in accordance with this subsection.
(1) As an aid in recruiting teachers in the state, and
notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary,
a superintendent of a county that meets the requirements in
subdivision (3) of this subsection or obtains approval from the
state board in accordance with subdivision (4) of this subsection
may employ up to twenty-five full-time prospective employable
professional personnel each year on a reserve list at the county
level. Regular employment status for such personnel may be
obtained only in accordance with the provision of section seven-
a, article four of this chapter.
(2) Prior to the employment of the full-time prospective
employable professional personnel on a reserve list, the
superintendent shall obtain from the county board:
(A) General approval to employ the personnel on the reserve
list;
(B) General approval as to the form of the contract to be
used in employing the personnel; and
(C) Approval of the number of personnel to be employed from
the reserve list.
(3) Unless a county is eligible under subdivision (4) of
this subsection, a county is eligible to hire professional
personnel in accordance with this subsection only if the county's net enrollment during the year is more than one hundred students
greater than the fourth year prior to the current year.
(4) Unless a county is eligible under subdivision (3) of
this subsection, a county is eligible to hire professional
personnel in accordance with this subsection only if the county
requests and receives approval from the state board. The state
board shall determine the criteria for granting approval
including, but not limited to, vacancies in professional
personnel positions and the need to recruit teachers in specific
subject matter areas. The state board annually shall determine
the number of prospective employable professional personnel to be
hired: Provided, That the number may not exceed twenty-five.
(5) The state board annually shall review the status of
employing personnel under the provisions of this subsection, and
annually shall report to the legislative oversight commission on
education accountability on or before the first day of November
of each year. The report shall include, but not be limited to,
the following:
(A) The counties that participated in the program;
(B) The number of personnel hired;
(C) The teaching fields in which personnel were hired;
(D) The venue from which personnel were employed;
(E) The place of residency of the individual hired; and
(F) The state board's recommendations on the prospective
employable professional personnel program.