2009 North Carolina Code
Chapter 143B - Executive Organization Act of 1973.
§ 143B-146.21. Policies, reports, and other miscellaneous provisions.

§ 143B‑146.21.  Policies, reports, and other miscellaneous provisions.

(a)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall consult with the State Board of Education in its implementation of this act as it pertains to improving the educational programs at the residential schools. The Secretary also shall fully inform and consult with the chairs of the Appropriations Subcommittees on Education and Health and Human Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives on a regular basis as the Secretary carries out his duties under this act.

(b)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall adopt policies and offer training opportunities to ensure that personnel who provide direct services to children in the State schools for the deaf become proficient in sign language within two years of their initial date of employment or within two years of the effective date of this act, whichever occurs later. This subsection shall not apply to preschool personnel in any oral, auditory, or cued speech preschool.

(c)        The Department of Public Instruction, the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina, and the State Board of Community Colleges shall offer and communicate the availability of professional development opportunities, including those to improve sign language skills, to the personnel assigned to the State's residential schools, particularly the Governor Morehead School and the schools for the deaf.

(d)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall adopt policies to ensure that students of the residential schools are given priority to residing in the independent living facilities on each school's campus.

(e)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Office of State Personnel, shall set the salary supplement paid to teachers, instructional support personnel, and school‑based administrators who are employed in the programs operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and are licensed by the State Board of Education. The salary supplement shall be at least five percent (5%), but not more than the percentage supplement they would receive if they were employed in the local school administrative unit where the job site is located. These salary supplements shall not be paid to central office staff. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to include "merit pay" under the term "salary supplement". (1998‑131, ss. 3, 10, 17; 2001‑424, s. 21.81(a); 2005‑276, s. 29.19(a).)