H. B. 2813
(By Delegates Tomblin, Miller, Leggett, Clements,
Prezioso, Mezzatesta and Dempsey)
[Introduced February 24, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article five-a, chapter
eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to giving county
school boards the option to have faculty senate meetings one
full day every other month and to prohibit the gathering of
data for the evaluation of teachers during faculty senate
meetings.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article five-a, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. LOCAL SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT.
§18-5A-5. Public school faculty senates established; election
of officers; powers and duties.
(a) There is established at every public school in this
state a faculty senate which shall be comprised of all permanent,
full-time professional educators employed at the school who shall
all be voting members. Professional educators as used in this
section means professional educators as defined in chapter
eighteen-a of this code. A quorum of more than one half of the
voting members of the faculty shall be present at any meeting of
the faculty senate at which official business is conducted.
Prior to the beginning of the instructional term each year, but
within the employment term, the principal shall convene a meeting
of the faculty senate to elect a chair, vice chair and secretary
and discuss matters relevant to the beginning of the school year.
The vice chair shall preside at meetings when the chair is
absent. Meetings of the faculty senate shall be held on a
regular basis as determined by a schedule approved by the faculty
senate and amended from time to time if needed. Emergency
meetings may be held at the call of the chair or a majority of
the voting members by petition submitted to the chair and vice chair. An agenda of matters to be considered at a scheduled
meeting of the faculty senate shall be available to the members
at least two employment days prior to the meeting, and in the
case of emergency meetings, as soon as possible prior to the
meeting. The chair of the faculty senate may appoint such
committees as may be desirable to study and submit
recommendations to the full faculty senate, but the acts of the
faculty senate shall be voted upon by the full body.
(b) In addition to any other powers and duties conferred by
law, or authorized by policies adopted by the state or county
board of education or bylaws which may be adopted by the faculty
senate not inconsistent with law, the powers and duties listed in
this subsection are specifically reserved for the faculty senate.
The intent of these provisions is neither to restrict nor to
require the activities of every faculty senate to the enumerated
items except as otherwise stated. Each faculty senate shall
organize its activities as it deems most effective and efficient
based on school size, departmental structure and other relevant
factors.
(1) Each faculty senate shall control funds allocated to the school from legislative appropriations pursuant to section nine,
article nine-a of this chapter. From such funds, each classroom
teacher and librarian shall be allotted fifty dollars for
expenditure during the instructional year for academic materials,
supplies or equipment which in the judgment of the teacher or
librarian will assist him or her in providing instruction in his
or her assigned academic subjects, or shall be returned to the
faculty senate:
Provided, That nothing contained herein shall
prohibit such funds from being used for programs and materials
that, in the opinion of the teacher, enhance student behavior,
increase academic achievement, improve self-esteem and address
the problems of students at-risk. The remainder of funds shall
be expended for academic materials, supplies or equipment in
accordance with a budget approved by the faculty senate.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law to the contrary,
funds not expended in one school year shall be available for
expenditure in the next school year:
Provided, however, That the
amount of county funds budgeted in a fiscal year, shall not be
reduced throughout the year as a result of the faculty
appropriations in the same fiscal year for such materials, supplies and equipment. Accounts shall be maintained of the
allocations and expenditures of such funds for the purpose of
financial audit. Academic materials, supplies or equipment shall
be interpreted broadly, but shall not include materials, supplies
or equipment which will be used in or connected with
interscholastic athletic events.
(2) A faculty senate may establish a process for faculty
members to interview new prospective professional educators and
paraprofessional employees at the school and submit
recommendations regarding employment to the principal, who may
also make independent recommendations, for submission to the
county superintendent:
Provided, That such process must permit
the timely employment of persons to perform necessary duties.
(3) A faculty senate may nominate teachers for recognition
as outstanding teachers under state and local teacher recognition
programs and other personnel at the school, including parents,
for recognition under other appropriate recognition programs and
may establish such programs for operation at the school.
(4) A faculty senate may submit recommendations to the
principal regarding the assignment scheduling of secretaries, clerks, aides and paraprofessionals at the school.
(5) A faculty senate may submit recommendations to the
principal regarding establishment of the master curriculum
schedule for the next ensuing school year.
(6) A faculty senate may establish a process for the review
and comment on sabbatical leave requests submitted by employees
at the school pursuant to section eleven, article two of this
chapter.
(7) Each faculty senate shall elect three faculty
representatives to the local school improvement council
established pursuant to section two of this article.
(8) Each faculty senate may nominate a member for election
to the county staff development council pursuant to section
eight, article three, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(9) Each faculty senate shall have an opportunity to make
recommendations on the selection of faculty to serve as mentors
for beginning teachers under beginning teacher internship
programs at the school.
(10) A faculty senate may solicit, accept and expend any
grants, gifts, bequests, donations and any other funds made available to the faculty senate:
Provided, That the faculty
senate shall select a member who shall have the duty of
maintaining a record of all funds received and expended by the
faculty senate, which record shall be kept in the school office
and shall be subject to normal auditing procedures.
(11) On or after the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-two, any faculty senate may review the evaluation
procedure as conducted in their school to ascertain whether such
evaluations were conducted in accordance with the written system
required pursuant to section twelve, article two, chapter
eighteen-a of this code and the general intent of this
Legislature regarding meaningful performance evaluations of
school personnel. If a majority of members of the faculty senate
determine that such evaluations were not so conducted, they shall
submit a report in writing to the state board of education:
Provided, That nothing herein shall create any new right of
access to or review of any individual's evaluations.
(12) Each faculty senate shall be provided by its local
board of education at least a two-hour per month block of
noninstructional time within the school day:
Provided, That any such designated day shall constitute a full instructional day.
This time may be utilized and determined at the local school
level and shall include, but not be limited to, faculty senate
meetings.
Alternatively, the county board of education may
provide the faculty senate with one full day of noninstructional
time every other month in which to conduct the faculty senate
meeting.
(13) Each faculty senate shall develop a strategic plan to
manage the integration of special needs students into the regular
classroom at their respective schools and submit said strategic
plan to the superintendent of the county board of education by
the first day of March, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five,
and periodically thereafter pursuant to guidelines developed by
the state department of education. Each faculty senate shall
encourage the participation of local school improvement councils,
parents and the community at large in the development of the
strategic plan for each school.
Each strategic plan developed by the faculty senate shall
include at least: (A) A mission statement; (B) goals; (C) needs;
(D) objectives and activities to implement plans relating to each goal; (E) work in progress to implement the strategic plan; (F)
guidelines for the placement of additional staff into integrated
classrooms to meet the needs of exceptional needs students
without diminishing the services rendered to the other students
in integrated classrooms; (G) guidelines for implementation of
collaborative planning and instruction; and (H) training for all
regular classroom teachers who serve students with exceptional
needs in integrated classrooms.
(14) The gathering of data for the evaluation of teachers
during faculty senate meetings is prohibited.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give county school
boards the option to have faculty senate meetings one full day
every other month and to prohibit the gathering of data for the
evaluation of teachers during faculty senate meetings.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.