Senate Bill No. 610
(By Senators Plymale, Edgell, Foster and Unger)
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[Introduced February 7, 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-5-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to Saturday schooling; eliminating
prohibition against opening school on Saturday; and removing
requirement that special classes conducted on Saturday be
conducted on a voluntary basis.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-5-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. AUTHORITY; RIGHTS; RESPONSIBILITY.
§18A-5-2. Holidays; closing of schools; time lost because of such;
special Saturday classes.
(a) Schools shall not be kept open on any Saturday nor on the
following days which are designated as legal school holidays,
namely: Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving
Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King's birthday, Memorial Day, West Virginia Day, and any day on which a primary
election, general election or special election is held throughout
the state or school district and any day appointed and set apart by
the president or the Governor as a holiday of special observance by
the people of the state.
(b) When any such legal school holiday falls within the
employment term, it shall be is considered as a day of the
employment term and the full-time school personnel shall receive
his or her pay for same the day. When any of the above designated
holidays legal school holiday, except a special election, falls on
Saturday, the schools shall be closed on the preceding Friday; when
any such legal school holiday falls on Sunday, the schools shall be
closed on the following Monday.
(c) Special classes may be conducted on Saturdays provided
they are conducted on a voluntary basis, for pupils and by teachers
and service personnel. and that such The teachers and service
personnel shall be remunerated in ratio to the regularly contracted
pay.
(d) Any school or schools may be closed by proper authorities
on account of the prevalence of contagious disease, conditions of
weather or any other calamitous cause over which the board has no
control. When any school is closed due to any of the foregoing
causes:
(1) Under any or all of the above provisions, the Any time lost by the closing of schools due to the school closing is counted
as days of employment and as meeting a part of the requirements of
the minimum term of one hundred eighty days of instruction;
(2) On such day or days, county boards of education A county
board may provide appropriate alternate work schedules for
professional and service personnel affected by the closing; of any
school or schools under any or all of the above provisions.
(3) Professional and service personnel shall receive pay the
same as if school were in session.
(4) Insofar as funds are available or can be made available
during the school year, the board may extend the employment term
for the purpose of making up time that might affect the
instructional term.
(e) In addition to any other provisions of this chapter, the
board is further authorized to provide in its annual budget for
meetings, workshops, vacation time or other holidays through
extended employment of personnel at the same rate of pay.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the prohibition
against opening school on Saturday and to remove the requirement
that special classes conducted on Saturday be conducted on a
voluntary basis.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.