HB5262 S ED AM #1 3-4
Hager 7871
The Committee on Education moved to amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
(a) A school counselor means a professional educator school counselor who holds a valid school counselor's certificate in accordance with §18A-1-1(c)(2) of this code.
(b) Each county board shall provide counseling services for each pupil enrolled in the public schools of the county.
(c) The school counselor shall work with individual pupils and groups of pupils in providing developmental, preventive and remedial guidance and counseling programs to meet academic, social, emotional, and physical needs; including programs to identify and address the problem of potential school dropouts. The school counselor also may provide consultant services for parents, teachers, and administrators and may use outside referral services, when appropriate, if no additional cost is incurred by the county board.
(d) The state board may adopt rules consistent with the provisions of this section that define the role of a school counselor based on the "National Standards for School Counseling Programs" of the American School Counselor Association. A school counselor is authorized to perform such services as are not inconsistent with the provisions of the rule as adopted by the state board. To the extent that any funds are made available for this purpose, county boards shall provide training for counselors and administrators to implement the rule as adopted by the state board.
(e) Each county board shall develop a comprehensive drop-out prevention program utilizing the expertise of school counselors and any other appropriate resources available.
(f) School counselors shall be full-time professional personnel, shall spend at least 80 percent of work time in a direct counseling relationship with pupils, and shall devote no more than 20 percent of the work day workday to administrative activities: Provided, That such activities are counselor related directly related to their counseling duties: Provide further, That school counselors may not perform the following duties without a written agreement:
(1) Building the master schedule;
(2) Administering cognitive, aptitude, and achievement testing programs: Provided, That school counselors may administer make up tests and any tests that are required for virtual students, should no other person be available to administer the test;
(3) Routinely signing excuses for students who are tardy or absent;
(4) Performing disciplinary actions or assigning discipline consequences;
(5) Providing more than eight sessions of counseling in schools to address psychological disorders: Provided, That students who have experienced an emergency situation such as, but not limited to, CPS investigation, death, abuse, or home removal may be addressed regardless of how many sessions have previously been utilized.
(6) Covering classes when teachers are absent or to create teacher planning time;
(7) Maintaining student records: Provided, That school counselors may have access to student records;
(8) Computing grade-point averages: Provided, That school counselors may compute grade-point averages for the purpose of determining a student’s eligibility for scholarships or post-secondary goals;
(9) Supervising classrooms or common areas;
(10) Keeping clerical records: Provided, That school counselors may access clerical records;
(11) Coordinating Individual Education Plans;
(12) Coordinating 504 Plans;
(13) Coordinating Student Study Teams;
(14) Coordinating Response to Intervention Plans;
(15) Coordinating the Multi-Tiered System of Support: Provided, That school counselors may perform duties related to a Multi-Tiered System of Support when the supports address truancy or behavioral interventions; and
(16) Overseeing School Attendance Review Boards: Provided, That school counselors may access attendance records.
(g) Beginning with the 2024—25 school year, school counselors shall participate in the training set forth below.
(1) At least once every two years, school counselors serving students in grades Pre-K through 12 shall participate in the School Counselors Conference, which shall address the following components:
(A) Career Counseling and Life Planning;
(B) Career awareness;
(C) Career and life planning;
(D) Career and life success;
(E) Opportunities with Career Technical Education available in West Virginia;
(F) Post secondary options;
(G) Academic Counseling and Personalized Planning;
(H) Academic motivation;
(I) Goal setting;
(J) Academic scheduling;
(K) Personalized Education Plans;
(L) Dual credit;
(M) Learning skills;
(N) Personal and Social Counseling;
(O) Decision making;
(P) Personal responsibility;
(Q) Conflict resolution; and
(R) Prevention.
(2) Upon completion of the School Counselor Conference training, an advanced credential in Career Counseling and non-degree graduate credits shall be available. Further, Licensed Professional Counselor continuing education credits shall be available, when applicable, as approved by the West Virginia Board of Examiners in counseling.
(3) Every two years, school counselors serving students in grades seven through 12 shall receive training regarding building and trades and apprenticeship programs available to students in West Virginia. This training shall be administered by the department of education and provided at no cost to the counselors.
(g) (h) Nothing in this section prohibits a county board from exceeding the provisions of this section, or requires any specific level of funding by the Legislature.
(i) School counselors shall be afforded the protections set forth in §18A-2A-1 et seq. of this code.
(a) Self-contained and resource classrooms, as well as any special education environment, shall not have a student/instructor ratio over the current limit provided for in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 and State Board Policy 2419. A two-week waiver may be signed with the understanding that the local county board is responsible to remediate the situation while compensating the teacher with overage pay provided by the county per county funds. This waiver shall be good for two weeks to allow the district time to find an additional classroom teacher. Should the district be unable to find an additional classroom teacher, the district, upon the agreement of the teacher, may submit a waiver to the state board of education. This waiver shall have the teachers signature acknowledging that although they are over the limit, they recognize that this is a dire situation, and that they are entitled per compensation per student per county funds.
(b) The county may not submit a waiver to exceed the current limit of students set forth in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 and Policy 2419 without the written consent of the special education instructor. If the instructor chooses to sign the waiver to exceed the limit, that instructor shall be entitled to the full amount of compensation as provided per county.
(c) The county may not allow more than three students over the limit, even with the additional pay for the teacher.
Special education teachers shall be afforded the protections set forth in §18A-2A-1 et seq. of this code.
The definitions contained in §18-1-1 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 a 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 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) "School counselor" means a certified school counselor who holds a master's degree in school counseling from an accredited university and certification through the state board of education and who is entitled to receive the same salary and benefits as a professional educator.
(2) (3) "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 responsibility is the general supervision of all the schools and all school activities involving students, teachers and other school personnel;
(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 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 §18-1-1 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 18 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 §18A-3a-2b of this code;
(g) "Center for Professional Development" means the center created pursuant to §18A-3a-1 of this code;
(h) (g) "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) (h) "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 in §18A-4-7a of this code; and
(4) Has obtained a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education within the past year;
(j) (i)"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 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;
(k) (j) "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; and
(l) (k)"Long-term substitute" means a substitute employee who fills a vacant position:
That the county superintendent expects to extend for at least thirty consecutive days, and is either:
(A) Listed in the job posting as a long-term substitute position of over thirty 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 §5-16-2 of this code, long-term substitute does not include a retired employee hired to fill the vacant position.
(a) Before entering upon their duties, all teachers shall execute a contract with their county boards, which shall state the salary to be paid and shall be in the form prescribed by the state superintendent. Each contract shall be signed by the teacher and by the president and secretary of the county board and shall be filed, together with the certificate of the teacher, by the secretary of the office of the county board. When necessary to facilitate the employment of employable professional personnel and prospective and recent graduates of teacher education programs who have not yet attained certification, the contract may be signed upon the condition that the certificate is issued to the employee prior to the beginning of the employment term in which the employee enters upon his or her duties.
(b) Each teacher's contract, under this section, shall be designated as a probationary or continuing contract. A probationary teachers contract shall be for a term of not less than one nor more than three years, one of which shall be for completion of a beginning teacher internship pursuant to the provisions of section two-b, article three of this chapter, if applicable. If, after three years of such employment, the teacher who holds a professional certificate, based on at least a bachelor's degree, has met the qualifications for a bachelors degree and the county board enter into a new contract of employment, it shall be a continuing contract, subject to the following:
(1) Any teacher with less than a bachelor's degree who holds a valid certificate and is employed in a county beyond the three-year probationary period shall be granted continuing contract status upon qualifying for the professional certificate based upon a bachelor's degree, if the teacher becomes reemployed; and
(2) A teacher holding continuing contract status with one county shall be granted continuing contract status with any other county upon completion of one year of acceptable employment if the employment is during the next succeeding school year or immediately following an approved leave of absence extending no more than one year.
(c) The continuing contract of any teacher shall remain in full force and effect except as modified by mutual consent of the school board and the teacher, unless and until terminated, subject to the following:
(1) A continuing contract may not be terminated except:
(A) By a majority vote of the full membership of the county board on or before May 1 of the then current year, after written notice, served upon the teacher, return receipt requested, stating cause or causes and an opportunity to be heard at a meeting of the board prior to the board's action on the termination issue; or
(B) By written resignation of the teacher on or before May 1 to initiate termination of a continuing contract;
(2) The termination shall take effect at the close of the school year in which the contract is terminated;
(3) The contract may be terminated at any time by mutual consent of the school board and the teacher;
(4) This section does not affect the powers of the school board to suspend or dismiss a principal or teacher pursuant to section eight of this article;
(5) A continuing contract for any teacher holding a certificate valid for more than one year and in full force and effect during the school year 1984-1985 shall remain in full force and effect;
(6) A continuing contract does not operate to prevent a teacher's dismissal based upon the lack of need for the teacher's services pursuant to the provisions of law relating to the allocation to teachers and pupil-teacher ratios. The written notification of teachers being considered for dismissal for lack of need shall be limited to only those teachers whose consideration for dismissal is based upon known or expected circumstances which will require dismissal for lack of need. An employee who was not provided notice and an opportunity for a hearing pursuant to this subsection may not be included on the list. In case of dismissal for lack of need, a dismissed teacher shall be placed upon a preferred list in the order of their length of service with that board. A teacher may not be employed by the board until each qualified teacher on the preferred list, in order, has been offered the opportunity for reemployment in a position for which he or she is qualified, not including a teacher who has accepted a teaching position elsewhere. The reemployment shall be upon a teacher's preexisting continuing contract and has the same effect as though the contract had been suspended during the time the teacher was not employed.
(d) In the assignment of position or duties of a teacher under a continuing contract, the board may provide for released time of a teacher for any special professional or governmental assignment without jeopardizing the contractual rights of the teacher or any other rights, privileges or benefits under the provisions of this chapter. Released time shall be provided for any professional educator while serving as a member of the Legislature during any duly constituted session of that body and its interim and statutory committees and commissions without jeopardizing his or her contractual rights or any other rights, privileges, benefits or accrual of experience for placement on the state minimum salary schedule in the following school year under the provisions of this chapter, board policy and law.
(e) A teacher is disqualified to teach in any public school in the state for the duration of the next ensuing school year, if that teacher:
(1) Fails to fulfill his or her contract with the board, unless prevented from doing so by personal illness or other just cause or unless released from his or her contract by the board, or
(2) Violates violates any lawful provision of his or her contract: Provided, That the marriage of a teacher is not considered a failure to fulfill, or violation of, the contract.
The State Department of Education or board may hold all papers and credentials of the teacher on file for a period of one year for the violation and shall report such disqualification status in the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) database system.
(f) Any classroom teacher, as defined in section one, article one of this chapter, who desires to resign employment with a county board or request a leave of absence, the resignation or leave of absence to become effective on or before July 15 of the same year and after completion of the employment term, may do so at any time during the school year by written notification of the resignation or leave of absence and any notification received by a county board shall automatically extend the teacher's public employee insurance coverage until August 31 of the same year.
(g) (1) A classroom teacher who gives written notice to the county board on or before March 1 of the school year of his or her retirement from employment with the board at the conclusion of the school year shall be paid $500 from the early notification of retirement line item established for the Department of Education for this purpose, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. If the appropriations to the Department of Education for this purpose are insufficient to compensate all applicable teachers, the Department of Education shall request a supplemental appropriation in an amount sufficient to compensate all such teachers. Additionally, if funds are still insufficient to compensate all applicable teachers, the priority of payment is for teachers who give written notice the earliest. This payment may not be counted as part of the final average salary for the purpose of calculating retirement.
(2) The position of a classroom teacher providing written notice of retirement pursuant to this subsection may be considered vacant and the county board may immediately post the position as an opening to be filled at the conclusion of the school year. If a teacher has been hired to fill the position of a retiring classroom teacher prior to the start of the next school year, the retiring classroom teacher is disqualified from continuing his or her employment in that position. However, the retiring classroom teacher may be permitted to continue his or her employment in that position and forfeit the early retirement notification payment if, after giving notice of retirement in accordance with this subsection, he or she becomes subject to a significant unforeseen financial hardship, including a hardship caused by the death or illness of an immediate family member or loss of employment of a spouse. Other significant unforeseen financial hardships shall be determined by the county superintendent on a case-by-case basis. This subsection does not prohibit a county school board from eliminating the position of a retiring classroom teacher.
(a) In this section, "supplemental duty" means a duty other than a duty assigned under an employee's contract that is generally expected to be performed during an educational day and which may be governed by an agreement, other than the employee's contract, between the district and the employee.
(b) Not later than the 15th day before the first day of the employment term of each school year, the County Board professional staff of a school district shall adopt and provide to each classroom teacher, full-time counselor, and full-time librarian employed by the district a calendar that specifies the days each employee is expected to work for that school year: Provided, That any duty exceeding the eight hour contracted day shall be by agreement with the employee, unless the duty is the result of an unanticipated emergency, and shall be paid a minimum of that employee's hourly rate in excess of eight hours: Provided further, That overtime shall be by agreement and approved by the county superintendent or by his or her designee.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) The mission of public schools is to prepare students for equal and responsible citizenship and productive adulthood;
(2) Democratic citizenship and productive adulthood begin with standards of conduct in schools;
(3) Schools should be safe havens for learning with high standards of conduct for students; and
(4) Rights necessarily carry responsibilities.
(b) In recognition of the findings in this section, the following Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Students and School Personnel is established:
(1) The right to attend a school and ride a bus that is safe, orderly and drug free;
(2) The right to learn and work in a school that has clear discipline codes, as defined in state, county, or school policy, with fair and consistently enforced consequences for misbehavior;
(3) The right to learn and work in a school that has alternative educational placements for violent or chronically disruptive students;
(4) The right to be treated with courtesy and respect;
(5) The right to a attend a school and ride on a bus that is free from bullying;
(6) The right to support from school administrators when enforcing discipline policies;
(7) The right to support from parents, the community, public officials and businesses in their efforts to uphold high standards of conduct; and
(8) The responsibility to adhere to the principles in this Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Students and School Personnel, and to behave in a manner that guarantees that other students and school personnel enjoy the same rights.
(c) The rights of teachers as otherwise set forth in §18A-2A-1 et seq. of this code are applicable for purposes of this section.
Adopted
Rejected