Adopted by House 4-10-2009
SB249 H ED AM 4-8 #1
The Committee on Education moves to amend the bill on page
one, following the enacting clause, by striking the remainder of
the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
"That §18-5-45 and §18-5A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-45. School calendar.
(a) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Instructional day" means a day within the instructional
term which meets the following criteria:
(A) Instruction is offered to students for at least the
minimum amounts of time provided by State Board rule;
(B) Instructional time is used for instruction, cocurricular
activities and approved extracurricular activities and, pursuant to
the provisions of subdivision (12), subsection (b), section five,
article five-a of this chapter, faculty senates; and
(C) Such other criteria as the State Board determines
appropriate.
(2) "Accrued instructional time" means instructional time
accruing during the instructional term from time added to the instructional day beyond the time required by State Board rule for
an instructional day. Accrued instructional time may be
accumulated and used in larger blocks of time during the school
year for instructional or noninstructional activities as further
defined by the State Board.
(3) "Extracurricular activities" are activities under the
supervision of the school such as athletics, noninstructional
assemblies, social programs, entertainment and other similar
activities as further defined by the State Board.
(4) "Cocurricular activities" are activities that are closely
related to identifiable academic programs or areas of study that
serve to complement academic curricula as further defined by the
State Board.
(b) Findings. -
(1) The primary purpose of the school system is to provide
instruction for students.
(2) The school calendar, as defined in this section, is
designed to define the school term both for employees and for
instruction.
(3) The school calendar traditionally has provided for one
hundred eighty actual days of instruction but numerous
circumstances have combined to cause the actual number of
instructional days to be less than one hundred eighty.
(4) The quality and amount of instruction offered during the instructional term is affected by the extracurricular and
cocurricular activities allowed to occur during scheduled
instructional time.
(5) Within reasonable guidelines, the school calendar should
be designed at least to guarantee that one hundred eighty actual
days of instruction are possible.
(6) School systems typically provide for instructional days
that exceed the number of minutes per day of instructional time
required by the state board. As a result, the total instructional
time provided by these systems during their instructional terms
exceeds the total instructional time required by one hundred eighty
actual standard length days of instruction.
(c) The county board shall provide a school term for its
schools that contains the following:
(1) An A minimum employment term for teachers of no less than
two hundred days, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays. The
beginning and ending dates of the minimum two hundred-day
employment term may not exceed forty-three weeks; and
(2) Within the employment term, an instructional term for
students of no less than one hundred eighty separate instructional
days.
(d) The instructional term for students shall include one
instructional day in each of the months of October, December,
February, April and June which is an instructional support and enhancement day scheduled by the board to include both
instructional activities for students and professional activities
for teachers to improve student instruction. Instructional support
and enhancement days are subject to the following provisions:
(1) Two hours of the instructional support and enhancement day
shall be used for instructional activities for students. The
instructional activities for students are subject to the following
provisions:
(A) The instructional activities for students require the
direct supervision or involvement by teachers;
(B) The instructional activities for students shall be limited
to two hours;
(C) The instructional activities for students shall be
determined and scheduled at the local school level;
(D) The instructional activities for students may include, but
are not limited to, both in-school and outside of school activities
such as student mentoring, tutoring, counseling, student research
and other projects or activities of an instructional nature,
community service, career exploration, parent student/parent and
teacher conferences, visits to the homes of students, college and
financial aid workshops and college visits;
(E) To ensure that the students who attend are properly
supervised, the instructional activities for students shall be
arranged by appointment with the individual school through the principal, a teacher or other professional personnel at the school;
and
(F) Each school shall establish a policy relating to the use
of the two-hour block scheduled for instructional activities for
students;
(2) The instructional support and enhancement day shall
include a two-hour block of time for professional activities for
teachers during which the faculty senate shall have the opportunity
to meet;
(3) All time remaining in the school day after meeting the
requirements of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, not
including the duty-free lunch period, shall be used for other
professional activities for teachers to improve student instruction
which may include, but are not limited to, professional staff
development, curriculum team meetings, individualized education
plan meetings, student assistance team meetings, local school
improvement council meetings and other meetings between teachers,
principals, aides, and paraprofessionals, parents and students to
improve student instruction as determined and scheduled at the
local school level;
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or policy to
the contrary, the presence of any specific number of students in
attendance at the school for any specific period of time shall not
be required on instructional support and enhancement days and the transportation of students to the school shall not be required;
(5) Instructional support and enhancement days are also a
scheduled work day for all service personnel and shall be used for
training or other tasks related to their job classification if
their normal duties are not required; and
(6) Nothing in this section may be construed to require that
the instructional activities for students, faculty senate meetings
and other professional activities for teachers be scheduled in any
certain order.
(e) The instructional term shall commence no earlier than the
twenty-sixth day of August and terminate no later than the eighth
day of June.
(f) Noninstructional days shall total twenty and shall be
comprised of the following:
(1) Seven holidays as specified in section two, article five,
chapter eighteen-a of this code;
(2) Election day as specified in section two, article five,
chapter eighteen-a of this code;
(3) Six days to be designated by the county board to be used
by the employees outside the school environment; and
(4) Six days to be designated by the county board for any of
the following purposes:
(A) Curriculum development;
(B) Preparation for opening and closing school;
(C) Professional development;
(D) Teacher-pupil-parent conferences;
(E) Professional meetings; and
(F) Making up days when instruction was scheduled but not
conducted.
(g) At least three of the days described in subdivision (4),
subsection (f) of this section shall be scheduled prior to the
twenty-sixth day of August first day of the instructional term for
the purposes of preparing for the opening of school and staff
development. At least one of these days shall be reserved solely
for the use of the teacher for classroom preparation.
(h) At least one of the days described in subdivision (4),
subsection (f) of this section shall be scheduled after the eighth
day of June for the purpose of preparing for the closing of school.
If one hundred eighty separate instruction days occur prior to the
eighth day of June, this day may be scheduled on or before the
eighth day of June.
(i) At least four of the days described in subdivision (3),
subsection (f) of this section shall be scheduled after the first
day of March.
(j) At least two of the days described in subdivision (4),
subsection (f) of this section will be scheduled for professional
development. The professional development conducted on these days
will be consistent with the goals established by the state board pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-three-a, article two
of this chapter.
(k) Subject to the provisions of subsection (h) of this
section, all noninstructional days will be scheduled prior to the
eighth day of June.
(l) The State Board may not schedule the primary statewide
assessment program prior to the fifteenth day of May of the
instructional year unless the State Board determines that the
nature of the test mandates an earlier testing date.
(m) If, on or after the first day of March, the county board
determines that it is not possible to complete one hundred eighty
separate days of instruction, the county board shall schedule
instruction on any available noninstructional day, regardless of
the purpose for which the day originally was scheduled,
and the day
will be used for instruction, subject to the following:
(1) The noninstructional days scheduled for professional
development shall be the last available noninstructional days to be
rescheduled as instructional days;
(2) On or after the first day of March, the county board also
may require additional minutes of instruction in the school day to
make up for lost instructional days in excess of the days available
through rescheduling and, if in its judgment it is reasonable and
necessary to improve student performance, to avoid scheduling
instruction on noninstructional days previously scheduled for professional development;
and
(3) The provisions of this subsection do not apply to: (1)
Holidays; and (2) election day.
(n) (m) The following applies to accrued instructional time:
(1) Accrued instructional time may be accumulated and used in
larger blocks of time, including full days, during the school year
for instructional or noninstructional activities as further defined
by the State Board;
(1) (2)
Except as provided in subsection (m) of this section,
Accrued instructional
time may not be used to avoid scheduling in
the initial approved school calendar one hundred eighty separate
days of instruction;
(2) (3) Accrued instructional
time may not be used to lengthen
the time provided in law for faculty senates;
(3) (4) The use of accrued instructional
time for
extracurricular activities will be limited by the State Board;
(4) (5) Accrued instructional time may be used by schools and
counties to provide additional time for professional staff
development and continuing education as may be needed to improve
student performance and meet the requirements of the federal
mandates affecting elementary and secondary education. The amount
of accrued instructional time used for this purpose may not exceed
three full instructional days;
(6)
The minutes of accrued instructional time added per day shall be totaled for each day on which they are accrued. The
total, less accrued instructional time used for noninstructional
purposes, shall be included along with the separate instructional
days for reporting the instructional days attained by the county.
Accrued instructional time shall be considered as an instructional
day equivalent on the reporting as follows: For elementary schools,
three hundred fifteen minutes equals one day; for middle schools,
three hundred thirty minutes equals one day; and for high schools,
three hundred forty-five minutes equals one day;
(7) When accrued instructional time is used at a school with
grade levels for which a different number of instructional minutes
per day are required by the state board, the minutes of accrued
instructional time deducted shall be the minutes required for the
lowest grade level;
(8) When accrued instructional time is used at the countywide
level, such as accounting for the recovery of instructional time
lost due to cancellations, the amount of accrued instructional time
at the school in the county with the least amount of accrued
instructional time shall be used;
and
(5) (9) Other requirements or restrictions The State Board may
provide in the rule required to be promulgated by this section,
other requirements and restrictions on accrued instructional time
not inconsistent with this section.
(n) If, on or after February 1, the county board determines that it is not possible within the school calendar as scheduled to
complete one hundred eighty separate days of instruction, the
county board shall schedule instruction on any available
noninstructional day, beginning with the next available day,
including any day of accrued instructional time and any remaining
instructional support and enhancement day,
and the day will be used
for instruction, subject to the following:
(1) A two hour block of time shall be provided for the faculty
senate to meet on an instructional support and enhancement day
rescheduled for instruction; and
(2) The provisions of this subsection do not apply to: (A)
Holidays; and (B) election day.
The county board also may, on or after February 1,
increase
the additional minutes of instruction required in the school day to
make up for lost instructional days in excess of the days available
through rescheduling and, if in its judgment it is reasonable and
necessary to improve student performance, to avoid scheduling
instruction on noninstructional days previously scheduled for
professional development.
(o) The following applies to cocurricular activities:
(1) The State Board shall determine what activities may be
considered cocurricular;
(2) The State Board shall determine the amount of
instructional time that may be consumed by cocurricular activities; and
(3) Other requirements or restrictions the State Board may
provide in the rule required to be promulgated by this section.
(p) The following applies to extracurricular activities:
(1) Except as provided by subdivision (3) of this subsection,
extracurricular activities may not be scheduled during
instructional time;
(2) The use of accrued instructional
time for extracurricular
activities will be limited by the State Board; and
(3) The State Board shall provide for the attendance by
students of certain activities sanctioned by the Secondary School
Activities Commission when those activities are related to
statewide tournaments or playoffs or are programs required for
Secondary School Activities Commission approval.
(q) Noninstructional interruptions to the instructional day
shall be minimized to allow the classroom teacher to teach.
(r) Nothing in this section prohibits establishing year-round
schools in accordance with rules to be established by the State
Board.
(s) Prior to implementing the school calendar, the county
board shall secure approval of its proposed calendar from the State
Board or, if so designated by the State Board, from the State
Superintendent.
(t) The county board may contract with all or part of the personnel for a longer term.
(u) The minimum instructional term may be decreased by order
of the state superintendent in any county declared a federal or
state disaster area and where the event causing the declaration is
substantially related to a reduction of instructional days.
(v) Where the employment term overlaps a teacher's or service
personnel's participation in a summer institute or institution of
higher education for the purpose of advancement or professional
growth, the teacher or service personnel may substitute, with the
approval of the county superintendent, the participation for up to
five of the noninstructional days of the employment term.
(w) The State Board shall promulgate a rule in accordance with
the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this
section.
(x) The provisions of this section in effect prior to July 1,
2009 are effective for the school year beginning on July 1, 2009.
The provisions of this section that become effective July 1, 2009
are effective for the school year beginning on July 1, 2010, and
each school year thereafter.
ARTICLE 5A. LOCAL SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT.
§18-5A-5. Public school faculty senates established; election of
officers; powers and duties.
(a) There is established at every public school in this state a faculty senate which is comprised of all permanent, full-time
professional educators employed at the school who shall all be
voting members. Professional educators, as used in this section,
means professional educators as defined in chapter eighteen-a of
this code. A quorum of more than one half of the voting members of
the faculty shall be present at any meeting of the faculty senate
at which official business is conducted. Prior to the beginning of
the instructional term each year, but within the employment term,
the principal shall convene a meeting of the faculty senate to
elect a chair, vice chair and secretary and discuss matters
relevant to the beginning of the school year. The vice chair shall
preside at meetings when the chair is absent. Meetings of the
faculty senate shall be held during the times provided in
accordance with subdivision (12), subsection (b) of this section as
determined by the faculty senate. Emergency meetings may be held
during noninstructional time at the call of the chair or a majority
of the voting members by petition submitted to the chair and vice
chair. An agenda of matters to be considered at a scheduled
meeting of the faculty senate shall be available to the members at
least two employment days prior to the meeting. For emergency
meetings the agenda shall be available as soon as possible prior to
the meeting. The chair of the faculty senate may appoint such any
committees as may be desirable necessary to study and submit
recommendations to the full faculty senate, but the acts of the faculty senate shall be voted upon by the full body.
(b) In addition to any other powers and duties conferred by
law, or authorized by policies adopted by the state or county board
of education or bylaws which may be adopted by the faculty senate
not inconsistent with law, the powers and duties listed in this
subsection are specifically reserved for the faculty senate. The
intent of these provisions is neither to restrict nor to require
the activities of every faculty senate to the enumerated items
except as otherwise stated. Each faculty senate shall organize its
activities as it deems determines most effective and efficient
based on school size, departmental structure and other relevant
factors.
(1) Each faculty senate shall control funds allocated to the
school from legislative appropriations pursuant to section nine,
article nine-a of this chapter. From such those funds, each
classroom teacher and librarian shall be allotted fifty dollars at
least $100 for expenditure during the instructional year for
academic materials, supplies or equipment which, in the judgment of
the teacher or librarian, will assist him or her in providing
instruction in his or her assigned academic subjects or shall be
returned to the faculty senate: Provided, That nothing contained
herein in this subdivision prohibits the funds from being used for
programs and materials that, in the opinion of the teacher, enhance
student behavior, increase academic achievement, improve self-esteem and address the problems of students at-risk. The
remainder of funds shall be expended for academic materials,
supplies or equipment in accordance with a budget approved by the
faculty senate. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law to
the contrary, funds not expended in one school year are available
for expenditure in the next school year: Provided, however, That
the amount of county funds budgeted in a fiscal year may not be
reduced throughout the year as a result of the faculty
appropriations in the same fiscal year for such the materials,
supplies and equipment. Accounts shall be maintained of the
allocations and expenditures of such the funds for the purpose of
financial audit. Academic materials, supplies or equipment shall
be interpreted broadly, but does not include materials, supplies or
equipment which will be used in or connected with interscholastic
athletic events.
(2) A faculty senate may establish a process for faculty
members to interview new prospective professional educators and
paraprofessional employees at the school and submit recommendations
regarding employment to the principal, who also may also make
independent recommendations, for submission to the county
superintendent: Provided, That such the process shall be chaired
by the school principal and must permit the timely employment of
persons to perform necessary duties.
(3) A faculty senate may nominate teachers for recognition as outstanding teachers under state and local teacher recognition
programs and other personnel at the school, including parents, for
recognition under other appropriate recognition programs and may
establish such appropriate recognition programs for operation at
the school.
(4) A faculty senate may submit recommendations to the
principal regarding the assignment scheduling of secretaries,
clerks, aides and paraprofessionals at the school.
(5) A faculty senate may submit recommendations to the
principal regarding establishment of the master curriculum schedule
for the next ensuing school year.
(6) A faculty senate may establish a process for the review
and comment on sabbatical leave requests submitted by employees at
the school pursuant to section eleven, article two of this chapter.
(7) Each faculty senate shall elect three faculty
representatives to the local school improvement council established
pursuant to section two of this article.
(8) Each faculty senate may nominate a member for election to
the county staff development council pursuant to section eight,
article three, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(9) Each faculty senate shall have an opportunity to make
recommendations on the selection of faculty to serve as mentors for
beginning teachers under beginning teacher internship programs at
the school.
(10) A faculty senate may solicit, accept and expend any
grants, gifts, bequests, donations and any other funds made
available to the faculty senate: Provided, That the faculty senate
shall select a member who has the duty of maintaining a record of
all funds received and expended by the faculty senate. which
The record shall be kept in the school office and is subject to
normal auditing procedures.
(11) Any faculty senate may review the evaluation procedure as
conducted in their its school to ascertain whether the evaluations
were conducted in accordance with the written system required
pursuant to section twelve, article, two, chapter eighteen-a of
this code and the general intent of this Legislature regarding
meaningful performance evaluations of school personnel. If a
majority of members of the faculty senate determine that such the
evaluations were not so conducted, they shall submit a report in
writing to the State Board: of Education Provided, That nothing
herein in this subdivision creates any new right of access to or
review of any individual's evaluations.
(12) A local board shall provide to each faculty senate a
two-hour block of time for a faculty senate meeting on a day
scheduled for the opening of school prior to the beginning of the
instructional term, and a two-hour block of time on each
instructional support and enhancement day scheduled by the board
for instructional activities for students and professional activities for teachers pursuant to section forty-five, article
five of this chapter. A faculty senate may meet for an unlimited
block of time per month during noninstructional days to discuss and
plan strategies to improve student instruction and to conduct other
faculty senate business. A faculty senate meeting scheduled on a
noninstructional day shall be considered as part of the purpose for
which the noninstructional day is scheduled. This time may be
utilized used and determined at the local school level and
includes, but is not limited to, faculty senate meetings.
(13) Each faculty senate shall develop a strategic plan to
manage the integration of special needs students into the regular
classroom at their respective schools and submit the strategic plan
to the superintendent of the county board of education periodically
pursuant to guidelines developed by the State Department of
Education. Each faculty senate shall encourage the participation
of local school improvement councils, parents and the community at
large in developing the strategic plan for each school.
Each strategic plan developed by the faculty senate shall
include at least: (A) A mission statement; (B) goals; (C) needs;
(D) objectives and activities to implement plans relating to each
goal; (E) work in progress to implement the strategic plan; (F)
guidelines for placing additional staff into integrated classrooms
to meet the needs of exceptional needs students without diminishing
the services rendered to the other students in integrated classrooms; (G) guidelines for implementation of collaborative
planning and instruction; and (H) training for all regular
classroom teachers who serve students with exceptional needs in
integrated classrooms.
"