Senate Bill No. 547
(By Senator Dugan)
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[Introduced February 19, 1996; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article five, chapter
eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to school
personnel; authority, rights and responsibility; and
authorizing county boards of education to extend the
instructional year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article five, chapter eighteen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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.
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.
When any such holiday falls within the employment term, it
shall be considered as a day of the employment term and the full-
time school personnel shall receive his or her pay for same.
When any of the above designated holidays, except a special
election, falls on Saturday, the schools shall be closed on the
preceding Friday; when any such falls on Sunday, the schools
shall be closed on the following Monday.
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 teachers and service
personnel shall be remunerated in ratio to the regularly
contracted pay.
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. Under any or all of the above provisions, the time lost
by the closing of schools is may not be counted as days of
employment and as meeting a part of the requirements of the
minimum term of one hundred eighty days of instruction. On such
day or days, county boards of education 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. Professional and service personnel
shall receive pay the same as if school were in session. 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.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary,
the county board of education has the authority to, and may, by
vote of the board, extend the instructional year as necessary to
provide one hundred eighty instructional days.
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: This bill authorizes county boards of education to
extend the instructional year to provide 180 instructional days
when schools are closed because of contagious disease, weather or
other calamitous causes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.