2005 West Virginia Code - §18A-1-1. — Definitions.

§18A-1-1. Definitions.
The definitions contained in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code apply to this chapter. In addition, the following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings pursuant to this chapter shall, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning, be construed as follows:
(a) "School personnel" means all personnel employed by a county board whether employed on a regular full-time basis, an hourly basis or otherwise. School personnel shall be comprised of two categories: Professional personnel and service personnel;
(b) "Professional personnel" means persons who meet the certification requirements of the state, licensing requirements of the state or both and includes the professional educator and other professional employees;
(c) "Professional educator" has the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code. Professional educators shall be classified as:
(1) "Classroom teacher" means a professional educator who has direct instructional or counseling relationship with pupils, spending the majority of his or her time in this capacity;
(2) "Principal" means a professional educator who, as agent of the county board, has responsibility for the supervision, management and control of a school or schools within the guidelines established by the county board. The major area of the responsibility shall be the general supervision of all the schools and all school activities involving pupils, teachers and other school personnel;
(3) "Supervisor" means a professional educator who, whether by this or other appropriate title, is responsible for working primarily in the field with professional and other personnel in instructional and other school improvement; and
(4) "Central office administrator" means a superintendent, associate superintendent, assistant superintendent and other professional educators, whether by these or other appropriate titles, who are charged with the administering and supervising of the whole or some assigned part of the total program of the countywide school system;
(d) "Other professional employee" means that person from another profession who is properly licensed and is employed to serve the public schools and includes a registered professional nurse, licensed by the West Virginia board of examiners for registered professional nurses and employed by a county board, who has completed either a two-year (sixty-four semester hours) or a three-year (ninety-six semester hours) nursing program;
(e) "Service personnel" means those who serve the school or schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation, school lunch and as aides;
(f) "Principals academy" or "academy" means the academy created pursuant to section two-b, article three-a of this chapter;
(g) "Center for professional development" means the center created pursuant to section one, article three-a of this chapter;
(h) "Job-sharing arrangement" means a formal, written agreement voluntarily entered into by a county board with two or more of its employees who wish to divide between them the duties and responsibilities of one authorized full-time position;
(i) "Prospective employable professional personnel" means certified professional educators who:
(1) Have been recruited on a reserve list of a county board;
(2) Have been recruited at a job fair or as a result of contact made at a job fair;
(3) Have not obtained regular employee status through the job posting process provided for in section seven-a, article four of this chapter; and
(4) Have obtained a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education within the past year;
(j) "Dangerous student" means a pupil who is substantially likely to cause serious bodily injury to himself, herself or another individual within that pupil's educational environment, which may include any alternative education environment, as evidenced by a pattern or series of violent behavior exhibited by the pupil, and documented in writing by the school, with the documentation provided to the student and parent or guardian at the time of any offense; and
(k) "Alternative education" means an authorized departure from the regular school program designed to provide educational and social development for students whose disruptive behavior places them at risk of not succeeding in the traditional school structures and in adult life without positive interventions.