H. B. 3068
(By Delegates Fragale and M. Poling)
[Introduced February 14, 2007; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-3-2b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §18A-5-4 of said
code, all relating to providing school counselors are entitled
to receive mentor status and mileage reimbursement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-3-2b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §18A-5-4 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRAINING, CERTIFICATION, LICENSING, PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT.
§18A-3-2b. Beginning teacher internships.
(a) Every person to whom a professional teaching certificate
or professional counseling certificate is awarded,
after the first
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two,
The beginning teacher internship program and beginning
counselor internship program is a are school based program programs
intended to provide appropriate staff development activities and
supervision to beginning teachers and beginning counselors to
assure their competency for licensure to teach and counsel in the
public schools of this state. The beginning teacher internship
program and the beginning counselor internship program shall
consist of the following components:
(1) A professional support team comprised of the school
principal, who shall be the chair of the professional support team,
a member of the county professional staff development council and
an experienced classroom teacher at the school who teaches the same
or similar subject and grade level as the beginning teacher and who
shall serve as a mentor for the beginning teacher. In the case of
a beginning counselor, the professional support team shall consist
of the same persons named in this subdivision for a beginning
teacher, except that instead of an experienced teacher an
experienced counselor shall mentor the beginning counselor.
(2) An orientation program to be conducted prior to the
beginning of the instructional term, but within the employment term, supervised by the mentor teacher and the mentor counselor,
respectively;
(3) The scheduling of joint planning periods for the
respective mentor mentors and beginning teacher and beginning
counselor throughout the school year;
(4) Mentor observation of the classroom teaching skills of the
beginning teacher and mentor observation of the counseling skills
of the beginning counselor for at least one hour per week during
the first half of the school year and which may be reduced at the
discretion of the mentor to one hour every two weeks during the
second half of the school year;
(5) Weekly meetings between the respective mentor and the
beginning teacher or the beginning counselor, as the case may be,
at which the mentor and the beginning teacher or beginning
counselor discuss the performance of the beginning teacher or
beginning counselor and any needed improvements, which meetings may
be reduced at the discretion of the mentor to biweekly meetings
during the second half of the school year;
(6) Monthly meetings of the professional support team to
discuss the performance of the beginning teacher or the beginning
counselor, as the case may be, which meetings may include all
mentor members of all professional support teams at the school if
helpful in the judgment of the participants;
(7) In-service professional development programs provided through the professional development project of the center for
professional development for beginning teachers or beginning
counselors, as the case may be, and for mentors both of which will
be held in the first half of the school year;
(8) The provision of necessary release time from regular
duties for the mentor teacher or the mentor counselor, as the case
may be, as agreed to by the principal and the mentor teacher or
mentor counselor, and a stipend of at least six hundred dollars for
the mentor teacher or mentor counselor, as the case may be, for
duties as a mentor teacher or mentor counselor; and
(9) A final evaluation of the performance of the beginning
teacher or beginning counselor, as the case may be, completed by
the principal on a form developed by the state Board of Education.
(b) The final evaluation form shall be submitted by the
principal to the county school superintendent and shall include one
of the following recommendations:
(1) Full professional status: A recommendation of full
professional status indicates that the beginning teacher or
beginning counselor, as the case may be, has successfully completed
the internship program and in the judgment of the principal has
demonstrated competence as a professional educator or professional
counselor;
(2) Continuing internship status: A recommendation of
continuing internship status indicates that in the judgment of the principal the beginning teacher or the beginning counselor requires
further supervision and further employment in the district should
be conditioned upon successful completion of an additional year
under a beginning teacher internship program or beginning counselor
internship program, as the case may be; or
(3) Discontinue employment: A recommendation to discontinue
employment indicates that in the judgment of the principal the
beginning teacher or the beginning counselor has completed two
years of employment under supervision in a beginning teacher
internship program or a beginning counselor internship program, as
the case may be, and has not demonstrated competence as a
professional educator or professional counselor, as the case may
be, and will not benefit from further supervised employment in the
district.
ARTICLE 5. AUTHORITY; RIGHTS; RESPONSIBILITY.
18A-5-4. Educational meetings.
A county board of education may approve the attendance of any
or all teachers at educational conventions, conferences, or other
professional meetings of teachers on school days when in the
judgment of the superintendent it is necessary or desirable.
Attendance at such meetings may be substituted for an equal amount
of teaching or employment and teachers attending shall not suffer
loss of pay. Further, the board is authorized to pay all or any
part of expenses of any personnel whom it may designate to represent the board at any such professional or educational
meetings or in visitation to another school system.
Every county board of education shall adopt a policy under
which professional educators and professional counselors serving as
mentor teachers, serving on state and county professional staff
development councils, serving on school curriculum teams, and
serving on professional support teams will be granted professional
time if required for performance of their duties during the
instructional day or extra duty compensation if required at other
times and for reimbursement for necessary expenses actually
incurred in attending meetings of the bodies upon which they serve
upon. Such policy shall provide for the coverage of the
professional personnel's regular duties during such release times
through the use of paraprofessional aides, substitutes and other
methods if necessary to avoid the interruption of instruction.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that school
counselors are entitled to receive mentor status and mileage
reimbursement.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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