Senate Bill No. 121
(By Senators Plymale and Facmire)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; 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)(1) "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.
(2) 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
July 1, 2009, 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 July 1, 2009, 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 July 1, 2009, 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
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.