2005 Idaho Code - 33-512 — GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS

                                  TITLE  33
                                  EDUCATION
                                  CHAPTER 5
                              DISTRICT TRUSTEES
    33-512.  GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS. The board of trustees of each school
district shall have the following powers and duties:
    (1)  To fix the days of the year and the hours of the day when schools
shall be in session. However:
    (a)  Each school district shall annually adopt and implement a school
    calendar which provides its students at each grade level with the
    following minimum number of instructional hours:
                  Grades                             Hours
                   9-12                               990
                   4-8                                900
                   1-3                                810
                   K                                  450
    (b)  School assemblies, testing and other instructionally related
    activities involving students directly may be included in the required
    instructional hours.
    (c)  When approved by a local school board, annual instructional hour
    requirements stated in paragraph (a) may be reduced as follows:
         (i)   Up to a total of twenty-two (22) hours to accommodate staff
         development activities conducted on such days as the local school
         board deems appropriate.
         (ii)  Up to a total of eleven (11) hours of emergency school closures
         due to adverse weather conditions and facility failures.
    However, transportation to and from school, passing times between classes,
    recess and lunch periods shall not be included.
    (d)  Student and staff activities related to the opening and closing of
    the school year, grade reporting, program planning, staff meetings, and
    other classroom and building management activities shall not be counted as
    instructional time or in the reductions provided in paragraph (c)(i) of
    this section.
    (e)  For multiple shift programs, this rule applies to each shift (i.e.,
    each student must have access to the minimum annual required hours of
    instructions).
    (f)  The instructional time requirement for grade 12 students may be
    reduced by action of a local school board for an amount of time not to
    exceed eleven (11) hours of instructional time.
    (g)  The state superintendent of public instruction may grant an exemption
    from the provisions of this section for an individual building within a
    district, when the closure of that building, for unforeseen circumstances,
    does not affect the attendance of other buildings within the district.
    (2)  To adopt and carry on, and provide for the financing of, a total
educational program for the district. Such programs in other than elementary
school districts may include education programs for out-of-school youth and
adults; and such districts may provide classes in kindergarten;
    (3)  To provide, or require pupils to be provided with, suitable textbooks
and supplies, and for advice on textbook selections may appoint a textbook
adoption committee as provided in section 33-512A, Idaho Code;
    (4)  To protect the morals and health of the pupils;
    (5)  To exclude from school, children not of school age;
    (6)  To prescribe rules for the disciplining of unruly or insubordinate
pupils, including rules on student harassment, intimidation and bullying, such
rules to be included in a district discipline code adopted by the board of
trustees and a summarized version thereof to be provided in writing at the
beginning of each school year to the teachers and students in the district in
a manner consistent with the student's age, grade and level of academic
achievement;
    (7)  To exclude from school, pupils with contagious or infectious diseases
who are diagnosed or suspected as having a contagious or infectious disease or
those who are not immune and have been exposed to a contagious or infectious
disease; and to close school on order of the state board of health or local
health authorities;
    (8)  To equip and maintain a suitable library or libraries in the school
or schools and to exclude therefrom, and from the schools, all books, tracts,
papers, and catechisms of sectarian nature;
    (9)  To determine school holidays. Any listing of school holidays shall
include not less than the following: New Year's Day, Memorial Day,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other days listed in
section 73-108, Idaho Code, if the same shall fall on a school day, shall be
observed with appropriate ceremonies; and any days the state board of
education may designate, following the proclamation by the governor, shall be
school holidays;
    (10) To erect and maintain on each schoolhouse or school grounds a
suitable flagstaff or flagpole, and display thereon the flag of the United
States of America on all days, except during inclement weather, when the
school is in session; and for each Veterans Day, each school in session shall
conduct and observe an appropriate program of at least one (1) class period
remembering and honoring American veterans;
    (11) To prohibit entrance to each schoolhouse or school grounds, to
prohibit loitering in schoolhouses or on school grounds and to provide for the
removal from each schoolhouse or school grounds of any individual or
individuals who disrupt the educational processes or whose presence is
detrimental to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of
the pupils. A person who disrupts the educational process or whose presence is
detrimental to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of
the pupils or who loiters in schoolhouses or on school grounds, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
    (12) To supervise and regulate, including by contract with established
entities, those extracurricular activities which are by definition outside of
or in addition to the regular academic courses or curriculum of a public
school, and which extracurricular activities shall not be considered to be a
property, liberty or contract right of any student, and such extracurricular
activities shall not be deemed a necessary element of a public school
education, but shall be considered to be a privilege.
    (13) To govern the school district in compliance with state law and rules
of the state board of education.
    (14) To submit to the superintendent of public instruction not later than
July 1 of each year documentation which meets the reporting requirements of
the federal gun-free schools act of 1994 as contained within the federal
improving America's schools act of 1994.
    (15) To require that all persons hired for the first time by the district
or who have been in the employ of the district five (5) years or less, undergo
a criminal history  check as provided in section 33-130, Idaho Code. All such
employees who are required to undergo a criminal history check shall obtain
the history check within three (3) months of starting employment, or for
employees with five (5) years or less with the district, within three (3)
months from the date such employee is notified that he must undergo a criminal
history check. Such employees shall pay the cost of the criminal history
check. If the criminal history check shows that the employee has been
convicted of a felony crime enumerated in section 33-1208, Idaho Code, it
shall be grounds for immediate termination, dismissal or other personnel
action of the district, except that it shall be the right of the school
district to evaluate whether an individual convicted of one (1) of these
crimes and having been incarcerated for that crime shall be hired. The
district may require any or all persons who have been employed continuously
with the same district for more than five (5) years, to undergo a criminal
history check as provided in section 33-130, Idaho Code. If the district
elects to require criminal history checks of such employees, the district
shall pay the costs of the criminal history check or reimburse employees for
such cost. A substitute teacher who has undergone a criminal history check at
the request of one (1) district in which he has been employed as a substitute
shall not be required to undergo an additional criminal history check at the
request of any other district in which he is employed as a substitute if the
teacher has obtained a criminal history check within the previous three (3)
years.  If the district next employing the substitute still elects to require
another criminal history check within the three (3) year period, that district
shall pay the cost of the criminal history check or reimburse the substitute
teacher for such cost.
    (16) Each board of trustees of a school district shall be responsible for
developing a system for registering volunteers or contractors consistent with
maintaining a safe environment for their students.
    (17) To provide support for teachers in their first two (2) years in the
profession in the areas of: administrative and supervisory support, mentoring,
peer assistance and professional development.