Senate Bill No. 149
(By Senators Bailey, Sprouse, Redd and Ross)
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[Introduced January 10, 2002; 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 closing schools
for the observance of Good Friday.
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
closing; special Saturday classes.
Schools shall may not be kept open on any Saturday nor or
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, Good Friday, 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 is a day of the employment term and the
full-time school personnel shall receive his or her pay for same
the holiday. 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 of the holidays
falls on Sunday, the schools shall be closed on the following
Monday.
Special classes may be conducted on Saturdays, provided if
they are conducted on a voluntary basis, for pupils and by
teachers and service personnel, and that such if the teachers
and service personnel shall be are 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 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
that 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 If 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 provide that schools
are closed on Good Friday.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.