H. B. 2032
(By Delegate Ennis)
[Introduced January 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
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 allowing schools
to be closed by proper authorities for a national day of
mourning for the death of a current president or former
president of the United States.
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 may 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 the 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, a national day of mourning for the death of the
president of the United States or death of a former president of the United States 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 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
the 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.
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 allow school
authorities to close schools on days of public mourning for the
death of a current or former President of the United States.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.