(a) As used in this
section:
(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 amount of hours provided by state board
rule;
(B) Instructional time is
used for instruction and cocurricular activities; and
(C) Other criteria as the
state board determines appropriate.
(2) "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
shall provide for one hundred eighty separate instructional days.
(c) The county board shall
provide a school term for its schools that contains the following:
(1) An employment term that
excludes Saturdays and Sundays and consists of at least two hundred days, which
need not be successive. The beginning and closing dates of the employment term
may not exceed forty-eight weeks;
(2) Within the employment
term, an instructional term for students of no less than one hundred eighty
separate instructional days, which includes an inclement weather and
emergencies plan designed to guarantee an instructional term for students of no
less than one hundred eighty separate instructional days;
(3) Within the employment
term, noninstructional days shall total twenty and shall be comprised of the
following:
(A) Seven paid holidays;
(B) Election day as
specified in section two, article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code;
(C) Six days to be
designated by the county board to be used by the employees outside the school
environment, with at least four outside the school environment days scheduled
to occur after the one hundred and thirtieth instructional day of the school
calendar; and
(D) The remaining days to
be designated by the county board for purposes to include, but not be limited
to:
(i) Curriculum development;
(ii) Preparation for
opening and closing school;
(iii) Professional
development;
(iv) Teacher-pupil-parent
conferences;
(v) Professional meetings;
(vi) Making up days when
instruction was scheduled but not conducted; and
(vii) At least four
two-hour blocks of time for faculty senate meetings with each two-hour block of
time scheduled once at least every forty-five instructional days; and
(4) Scheduled
out-of-calendar days that are to be used for instructional days in the event
school is canceled for any reason.
(d) A county board of
education shall develop a policy that requires additional minutes of
instruction in the school day or additional days of instruction to recover time
lost due to late arrivals and early dismissals.
(e) A county board may
develop a policy that permits it to accrue instructional days during years of
good weather and use those excess accrued instructional days in later school
years when inclement weather and emergencies would otherwise prevent a full
instructional term from being completed. For the purposes of this section an
instructional day is comprised of three hundred thirty minutes and proportional
days based on minutes accrued may be included in the accrual process.
(e) (f) If it is not possible to complete one
hundred eighty separate instructional days with the current school calendar,
the county board shall schedule instruction on any available noninstructional
day, regardless of the purpose for which the day originally was scheduled, or
an out-of-calendar day and the day will be used for instruction of students:
Provided, That the provisions of this subsection do not apply to:
(A) Holidays;
(B) Election day;
(C) Saturdays and Sundays.
(f) (g) The instructional term shall commence and
terminate on a date selected by the county board.
(g) (h) The state board may not schedule the
primary statewide assessment program more than thirty days prior to the end of
the instructional year unless the state board determines that the nature of the
test mandates an earlier testing date.
(h) (i) 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.
(i) (j) Extracurricular activities may not be used
for instructional time.
(j) (k) Noninstructional interruptions to the
instructional day shall be minimized to allow the classroom teacher to teach.
(k) (l) 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.
(l) (m) In formulation of a school's calendar, a
county school board shall hold at least two public meetings that allow parents,
teachers, teacher organizations, businesses and other interested parties within
the county to discuss the school calendar. The public notice of the date, time
and place of the public hearing must be published in a local newspaper of
general circulation in the area as a Class II legal advertisement, in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code.
(m) (n) The county board may contract with all or
part of the personnel for a longer term of employment.
(n) (o) The minimum instructional term may be
decreased by order of the state superintendent in any county declared a federal
disaster area and where the event causing the declaration is substantially
related to a reduction of instructional days.
(o) (p) Notwithstanding any provision of this code
to the contrary, the state board may grant a waiver to a county board for its
noncompliance with provisions of chapter eighteen, eighteen-a, eighteen-b and
eighteen-c of this code to maintain compliance in reaching the mandatory one
hundred eighty separate instructional days established in this section.
(p) (q) 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.
(q) (r) The amendments to this section during the
2013 regular session of the Legislature shall be effective for school years
beginning on or after July 1, 2014, and the provisions of this section existing
immediately prior to the 2013 regular session of the Legislature remain in
effect for school years beginning prior to July 1, 2014.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
permit county boards of education to
accumulate instructional days and use them when needed in a later instructional
term when inclement weather and emergencies prevent the otherwise full
instructional term from being completed.
The bill establishes an instructional day to be three hundred thirty minutes.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.
WEST virginia Legislature