W. Va. Code R. § 126-42-9

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 126-42-9 - County Board of Education Member (CBEM) Responsibilities

9.1. The CBEM shall ensure the following.

9.1.a. Policy Development. CBEM shall create and adopt policy as outlined in Appendix A.

9.1.b. Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO). Students may elect to participate in extended learning opportunities and may receive elective credit when approved by the CBEM. Students may earn no more than six elective credits through the extended learning programs.

9.1.b.1. The CBEM shall review ELO through an application process from entities, including but not limited to, nonprofit organizations, after school programs, businesses, and trade associations who have an interest in offering ELO.

9.1.b.2. The county will then submit all county approved applications to WVDE for WVBE approval.

9.1.c. Graduation Requirements. The state graduation requirements total 22 credits. For the 2024-2025 Freshman cohort the state graduation requirement is 23 credits. See the High School Programming Chart for specific credits required for graduation.

9.1.c.1. The CBEM have the authority to increase graduation requirements for schools in their counties. The county superintendent shall notify the WVDE of any changes in requirements beyond the state requirements.

9.1.c.2. The courses required for graduation requiring mastery of the WVBE- and county-approved content standards shall be offered to all students.

9.1.c.3. Additional courses not identified in the High School Programming chart may be offered to afford students the opportunity to attain mastery of the approved content standards, to broaden and enrich their education, and to support academic and career development. Any elective offering must be based on WVBE-approved content standards if available or based on written content standards that are approved by the CBEM.

9.1.c.4. All students complete four credits of mathematics; however, a student's enrollment in a mathematics course for each year of high school must be determined by county policy.

9.1.d. Alternate Delivery of Education Programs. CBEM shall establish policies for alternative delivery of education and service programs for students. A thorough and efficient education must be available to all students, whether they are placed in regular or alternative programs.

9.1.d.1. Provisions of Policy 4373 and Policy 2520.19 shall be adhered to, including but not limited to, the provision of behavioral components in addition to academic coursework.

9.1.e. Personnel.

9.1.e.1. Supervisory/Administrative Staff. CBEM shall:

9.1.e.1.A. employ supervisory/administrative staff who are professionally certified administrators. CBEM are encouraged to have school administrators participate in the West Virginia School Leadership Network (W. Va. Code § 18A-3-2(c)) as outlined in Policy 5500.03.

9.1.e.1.B. provide continuous, high quality, and sustained professional learning opportunities for principals through a variety of means that increase the principal's ability to be an instructional leader so that students can achieve high levels of performance in the approved West Virginia content standards.

9.1.e.2. Teaching Staff. CBEM shall:

9.1.e.2.A. employ highly qualified and certified teachers to implement each program of study;

9.1.e.2.B. ensure that professional staff members are working in the areas of endorsement specified on their certificates;

9.1.e.2.C. ensure that teachers have a specific knowledge of the approved content standards for all programmatic levels (Pre-K-12);

9.1.e.2.D. ensure that professional staff are provided continuous high quality, sustained, and classroom-focused professional learning as outlined in Policy 5500 that increases the knowledge and skills required to create conditions that result in students achieving high levels of performance in the approved West Virginia content standards series (Policy 2520 series, W. Va. 126CSR44AA through 126CSR44U);

9.1.e.2.E. ensure Alternative Education Programs, as outlined in Policy 4373, provide for the participation of content area certified teachers in the development of the academic curriculum and the assessment measures to determine mastery of approved content standards;

9.1.e.2.F. provide intentional, coordinated efforts to provide a comprehensive system of support that culminates into the professional learning component of the County Strategic Plan for all teachers and administrators per provisions of W. Va. Code § 18A-3C-3;

9.1.e.2.G. ensure that all teachers and library/media professionals are provided a duty free planning period that is the length of the usual class period and is not less than 40 minutes per day (W. Va. Code § 18A-4-14);

9.1.e.2.H. ensure that all teachers who teach College Board AP® courses have completed the required professional learning for their content area. (See Appendix B.)

9.1.e.2.I. ensure that an administrator from each high school attends a College Board endorsed AP® related workshop once every two years. (See Appendix B.)

9.1.e.2.J. ensure that all AP® coordinators attend an AP® Coordinator's workshop annually. (See Appendix B.)

9.1.e.2.K. annually provide training for all personnel, during a non-instructional day of the school term, in the study of diversity and multicultural education (W. Va. Code § 18-5-15a).

9.1.e.3. Aides/Early Childhood Classroom Assistant Teaching Staff. CBEM shall:

9.1.e.3.A. employ aides and/or Early Childhood Classroom Assistant Teachers (ECCAT) to enhance the instructional environment and provide time to ensure educational quality in the classroom;

9.1.e.3.A.1. aides assist teachers with non-instructional duties and in instructional-related activities in appropriate programs. Duties may include, but are not limited to:

a) clerical and technical assistance;

b) in-class assistance;

c) tutorial services;

d) distribution of instructional resources;

e) supervision of students in the instructional environment or as otherwise assigned (W. Va. Code § 18A-5-8);

f) assistance with technology utilization; and

g) in some cases, performance of basic or specialized health care procedures.

9.1.e.3.A.1.(a). All Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom aides must hold an Early Classroom Assistant Teacher Permanent Authorization or Temporary Authorization (W. Va. Code § 18-5-18).

9.1.e.3.A.1.(b). Any newly assigned aide to a Grade 1, 2, or 3 classroom must complete the requirements for an ECCAT, paraprofessional, or aide, including courses in the science of reading, numeracy, appropriate measures for exercising authority and control over students (W. Va. Code § 18-5-18a).

9.1.e.3.A.1.(c). One ECCAT is assigned to a Kindergarten classroom if the class enrollment exceeds 10 students. One ECCAT, aide, paraprofessional, or interventionist is assigned to a Grade 1, 2, and 3 classroom if the class enrollment exceeds 12 students. (See chart at section 9.1.f.3.)

9.1.e.3.A.1.(d). All West Virginia classrooms shall have adequate supervision at all times. When students are on the premises, a West Virginia Pre-K participating program shall ensure that two adults are present with children per Policy 2525. One of the two adults may be an ECCAT.

9.1.e.3.A.1.(e). Additional personnel may be necessary to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities. Student needs are determined by the IEP team as set forth in Policy 2419.

9.1.e.3.A.1.(f). ECCATs and aides assigned to a school are scheduled by the principal.

9.1.e.3.A.1.(g). ECCATs hired or placed in classrooms shall be scheduled adequate planning time, as determined by the building principal, with the teacher to whom they are primarily assigned.

9.1.e.3.B. use community resources, when appropriate, in innovative ways on a volunteer, part-time, or contractual basis in order to complement, support, or extend the instructional program, including the provision of experiential learning opportunities.

9.1.f. Maximum Teacher-Pupil Ratios (see chart titled Maximum Teacher-Pupil Ratios). Per W. Va. Code § 18-5-18a, CBEM shall provide sufficient personnel, equipment, and facilities as well ensure that each classroom does not exceed the enrollment guidelines.

9.1.f.1. Each school principal shall assign students equitably among the classroom teachers, taking into consideration reasonable enrollment differences due to subject area and/or grade levels.

9.1.f.2. Any Kindergarten teacher who has more than 20 pupils per session and any classroom teacher of Grades 4-6 who has more than 25 pupils shall be paid additional compensation based on the affected classroom teacher's average daily salary divided by 20 for Kindergarten teachers or 25 for teachers of Grades 4-6 for every day times the number of additional pupils enrolled up to the maximum pupils permitted in the teacher's classroom. All such additional compensation shall be paid exclusively from county funds.

9.1.f.3. Split grade classrooms must adhere to the ratio of the lowest grade level. Split grade classrooms must be determined per W. Va. Code § 18-5-18a(b).

Maximum Teacher-Pupil Ratios
Grade	Maximum Enrollment		Exceptions
Pre-K One ECCAT is required	20		0 Includes classrooms having two or more grades that includes Pre-K
Kindergarten One ECCAT is required for enrollments of more than 10	20		three additional with compensation Includes classrooms having two or more grades one of which includes Kindergarten
Grade 1 (effective SY 2023-24) Grade 2 (effective SY 2024-25) Grade 3 (effective SY 2025-26) One ECCAT/aide/paraprofessional or interventionist is required for enrollments of more than 12	25		0 Includes classrooms having two or more grades that include Grades 1-3
Grades 4-6	25		three additional with compensation
Additional Exemptions to Maximum Teacher Pupil Ratios
Physical Education Grades 5-6 when in a middle school setting		Maximum Enrollment is at the discretion of the county [1]
Choral and band/orchestral music		Maximum Enrollment is at the discretion of the county
An exception may be made in Grades K-3 when time is utilized for adequate planning time between an ECCAT, aide, paraprofessional, or interventionist and the teacher to which they are primarily assigned. (See section 9.1.e.3.A.1.(g).)

9.1.g. Policy Development, Implementation, and Guidance. CBEM have oversight of county procedures, guidelines, and technical assistance documents necessary to implement county policy, WVBE policy, and state law.

9.1.h. Uniform Grading. All counties must use the uniform grading rules established by the WVBE for those courses for which high school credit is to be awarded (W. Va. Code §18-2-5). The Non-weighted Course Grading Scale must be used for any courses taken for high school credit, other than courses that CBEM are required or choose to weight (see Weighted Course Grading Scale).

Non-weighted Course Grading Scale
Average	Grade	Quality Points
90-100	A	4.0
80-89	B	3.0
70-79	C	2.0
60-69	D	1.0
0-59	F	0

9.1.h.1. CBEM may, but are not required to, adopt this grading scale for use in courses or grade levels for which high school credit is not involved.

9.1.h.2. Counties shall issue weighted grades for AP® courses, AC courses, Dual Credit (Dual Credit weighted grades will begin with the 2020-21 9^th grade cohort), and IB® courses for which high school credit is to be awarded. CBEM have discretionary authority to issue weighted grades for other advanced high school courses. Students transferring into a county will follow that county's policy on the weighting of other advanced high school courses with regard to class rank. Transcribed grades (including non-weighted and weighted) and grade point averages may not be changed once they are issued by a teacher and transcribed by a county unless a computation error occurred as verified by the teacher issuing the grade. Public school systems do not have the discretion to attribute a Pass/Fail credit with no quality points for courses merely because the student transferred from another public school system, home school, or non-public school system.

Weighted Course Grading Scale
Average	Grade	Quality Points
90-100	A	5.0
80-89	B	4.0
70-79	C	3.0
60-69	D	2.0
0-59	F	0

9.1.h.3. CBEM shall accept a transcript or other credential provided by a public school program, non-public school program, or home school program as record of a student's previous academic performance for the purpose of placement and credit assignment. CBES shall transcribe the student's letter grades and quality points from home school programs and non-public school programs denoting that the student received the credit from a source other than a program accredited through Policy 2330, and that the credit was accepted and recognized by a West Virginia public school pursuant to W. Va. Code §18-8-1a.

9.1.i. CBEM and all of those within their purview have the duty and responsibility to oversee educational equity.

¹ W. Va. Code §18-5-18a states: "the State Superintendent is authorized, consistent with sound educational policy, (a) to permit on a statewide basis, in grades 4-6, more than twenty-five pupils per teacher for the purposes of instruction in physical education . . . ." Accordingly, for physical education classroom for Grades 5 and 6 located in a middle school, counties are given the discretion to determine the maximum number of students permitted per class taking into consideration health, safety, and instructional needs of students.

W. Va. Code R. § 126-42-9