H. B. 2472
(By Delegates Doyle and Manuel)
[Introduced January 21, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section thirteen-i;
and to amend and reenact section nineteen, article five of
said chapter, all relating to education; the state board of
education; county boards of education; establishing a secure
residential school for juvenile status offenders; and
providing an alternative school at evening classes or night
school for children who are expelled or suspended from regular
school classes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
thirteen-i; and that section nineteen, article five of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-13i. Responsibility for administration and provision of
secure residential educational services.
The state board is responsible for the administration of
programs for the education of all school-age juveniles who have
been judicially declared as incorrigible, runaway children or
truant children or children who are otherwise declared status
offenders. The state board shall establish and operate a secure
residential school facility for all such school-age juveniles.
School-age juvenile means in this article any individual who would,
if not judicially declared incorrigible, runaway or truant, or a
status offender, be entitled to attend the public schools in
accordance with: (1) Section five, article two of this chapter;
(2) sections fifteen and eighteen, article five of this chapter; or
(3) section one, article twenty of this chapter.
Classroom teachers and other school personnel shall be hired
and provided as necessary to all secure residential school
juveniles by the state department of education to the extent
necessary to provide adequate and appropriate educational
opportunity. Adequate and appropriate educational opportunity
requires education services for secure residential school-age
juveniles on a twelve-month basis, excepting only normal school
holidays and those additional days determined by the state board of education in consultation with the appropriate department head to
be necessary. School personnel are responsible to the principal or
lead teacher while providing educational services but shall comply
with rules established by the state board to ensure security and
safety in the facility. Educational personnel employed at and by
the secure residential school facility are permitted to transfer to
comparable positions as school personnel of the state department of
education if those personnel meet the qualifications established
for those positions by the state department of education. The
daily rate of pay of educational personnel employed by the state
department of education shall be equivalent to the daily rate of
pay of the comparable position in the public schools of the county
where the secure residential school is located.
There shall be a separate line item account of the budget of
the state department of education for the education of school-age
juveniles in the secure residential school. All money that the
Legislature may annually appropriate for that purpose shall be
placed into this account. This account shall be used solely for
the education of such juveniles.
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-19. Night schools and other school extension activities;
use of school property for public meetings, etc.
County boards shall have authority to establish and maintain
evening classes or night schools, continuation or part-time day schools, alternative schools, and vocational schools, wherever
practicable to do so, and shall admit thereto adult persons and all
other persons, including persons of foreign birth. County boards
may admit school-age children and youth to these classes or schools
under the circumstances prescribed by a state board of education
policy governing alternative education programs: Provided, That
children and youths who are expelled or suspended from school are
permitted to attend evening classes or night school as an
alternative school. County boards shall have authority to use
school funds for the financial support of such schools and to use
the schoolhouses and their equipment for such purposes. Any such
classes of schools shall be conducted in accordance with the rules
of the state board.
County boards shall have authority to provide for the free,
comfortable and convenient use of any school property to promote
and facilitate frequent meetings and associations of the people for
discussion, study, recreation and other community activities, and
may secure, assemble and house material for use in the study of
farm, home and community problems, and may provide facilities for
the dissemination of information useful on the farm, in the home or
in the community.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a secure
residential school for juvenile status offenders; and to provide an
alternative school for children who are expelled or suspended from
regular school by permitting them to attend evening classes or
night school.
§18-2-13i is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.