Senate Bill No. 611
(By Senator Sprouse)
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[Introduced March 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Education.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5A-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to allowing the public school
faculty senate to determine whether any new program or
curriculum may be implemented in a school.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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 is 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 during the times provided in
accordance with subdivision (12), subsection (b) of this section as
determined by the faculty senate. Emergency meetings may be held
during noninstructional time 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. For emergency
meetings the agenda shall be available 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 prohibits
the 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 are available for expenditure in the next school year: Provided, however, That the amount of county funds budgeted in a
fiscal year may 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 does 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 shall be chaired by
the school principal and 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 has 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 is subject to normal
auditing procedures.
(11) Any faculty senate may review the evaluation procedure as
conducted in their school to ascertain whether the 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 creates
any new right of access to or review of any individual's
evaluations.
(12) A local board shall provide to each faculty senate a
two-hour block of time for a faculty senate meeting on a day
scheduled for the opening of school prior to the beginning of the
instructional term, and a two-hour block of time on each
instructional support and enhancement day scheduled by the Board
for instructional activities for students and professional
activities for teachers pursuant to section forty-five, article
five of this chapter. A faculty senate may meet for an unlimited
block of time per month during noninstructional days to discuss and
plan strategies to improve student instruction and to conduct other
faculty senate business. A faculty senate meeting scheduled on a
noninstructional day shall be considered as part of the purpose for
which the noninstructional day is scheduled. This time may be utilized and determined at the local school level and includes, but
is not limited to, faculty senate meetings.
(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 the strategic plan
to the superintendent of the county board of education periodically
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 developing 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 placing 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 faculty senate shall, by a positive majority vote of
all members, decide if and when any new program or curriculum, of
any type, may be implemented within their school.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the public school
faculty senate to determine whether any new program or curriculum
may be implemented in a school.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.