H. B. 2827
(By Delegates Stalnaker and Mezzatesta)
[Introduced January 31, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article five, chapter
eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to setting forth
certain requirements for transferring school aides.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, 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-5-8. Authority of certain aides to exercise control over
pupils; compensation; transfers.
(a) Within the limitations provided herein, any aide who
agrees to do so shall stand in the place of the parent or guardian and shall exercise such authority and control over pupils as is
required of a teacher as defined and provided in section one of
this article. The principal shall designate aides in the school
who agree to exercise that authority on the basis of seniority as
an aide and shall enumerate the instances in which the authority
shall be exercised by an aide when requested by the principal,
assistant principal or professional employee to whom the aide is
assigned: Provided, That the authority does not extend to
suspending or expelling any pupil, participating in the
administration of corporal punishment or performing instructional
duties as a teacher or substitute teacher.
An aide designated by the principal under this subsection
shall receive a salary not less than one pay grade above the
highest pay grade held by the employee under section eight-a,
article four of this chapter, and any county salary schedule in
excess of the minimum requirements of this article.
(b) An aide may not be required by the operation of this
section to perform noninstructional duties for an amount of time
which exceeds that required under the aide's contract of employment
or that required of other aides in the same school, unless the
assignment of such duties is mutually agreed upon by the aide and the county superintendent, or the superintendent's designated
representative, subject to board approval. The terms and
conditions of the agreement shall be in writing, signed by both
parties, and may include additional benefits. The agreement shall
be uniform as to aides assigned similar duties for similar amounts
of time within the same school. Aides shall have the option of
agreeing to supervise students and of renewing related assignments
annually: Provided, That should an aide elect not to renew the
previous agreement to supervise students, the minimum salary of
the aide shall revert to the pay grade specified in section
eight-a, article four of this chapter for the classification title
held by the aide and any county salary schedule in excess of the
minimum requirements of this article.
(c) For the purposes of this section, aide shall mean and
include any aide class title as defined in section eight, article
four of this chapter, regardless of numeric classification.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, no aide may be transferred from one job position to
another position within a school or to a position in another school
unless the aide is the successful applicant of a posted position as
provided in section eight-b, article four of this chapter and no aide may be transferred from a job position unless the aide?s
classroom job is abolished. Should it be necessary to reduce the
number of aides in a school for the ensuing school year by
eliminating their positions, the affected aide or aides shall be
notified of recommendation for transfer and subsequent assignment
in compliance with the requirements of section seven, article two
of this chapter: Provided, That an aide may not be required as a
condition of accepting a position to waive any right to which the
employee is entitled under section seven, article two of this
chapter or section eight-b, article four of this chapter, nor may
any designation or title applied to an aide position negate
compliance with these provisions.
(d) (e) An aide may transfer to another position of employment
one time only during any one half of a school term, unless
otherwise mutually agreed upon by the aide and the county
superintendent, or the superintendent's designee, subject to board
approval: Provided, That during the first year of employment as an
aide, an aide may not transfer to another position of employment
during the first one-half school term of employment, unless
mutually agreed upon by the aide and county superintendent, subject
to board approval.
(e) (f) Regular service personnel employed in a category of
employment other than aide who seek employment as an aide shall
hold a high school diploma or shall have received a general
educational development certificate and shall have the opportunity
to receive appropriate training pursuant to subsection (10),
section thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of this code and
section two, article twenty of said chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set forth certain
requirements for transferring school aides.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.