Senate Bill No. 116
(By Senators Bailey, Love, Weeks and Ross)
____________
[Introduced January 10, 2003 ; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on 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 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.