Section 18-1-1 - DefinitionsThe following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings pursuant thereto have the meanings ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(a) "School" means the students and teachers assembled in one or more buildings, organized as a unit;(b) "Local educational agency" means a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within the State of West Virginia for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of the State, as authorized by West Virginia Code, including county school districts, schools and facilities under the supervision of the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE), and public charter schools;(c) "District" means county school district and is subsumed under the category of local educational agency;(d) "State board" means the West Virginia Board of Education;(e) "County board" or "board" means a county board of education and is subsumed under the category of local educational agency;(f) "State superintendent" means the state superintendent of Schools;(g) "County superintendent" or "superintendent" means a local educational agency superintendent of schools;(h) "Teacher" means a teacher, supervisor, principal, superintendent, public school librarian or any other person regularly employed for instructional purposes in a public school in this state;(i) "Service person" or "service personnel", whether singular or plural, means any nonteaching school employee who is not included in the meaning of "teacher" as defined in this section, and who serves the school or schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation, school lunch and aides. Any reference to "service employee" or "service employees" in this chapter or chapter eighteen-a of this code means service person or service personnel as defined in this section;(j) "Social worker" means a nonteaching school employee who, at a minimum, possesses an undergraduate degree in social work from an accredited institution of higher learning and who provides various professional social work services, activities or methods as defined by the state board for the benefit of students;(k) "Regular full-time employee" means any person employed by a local educational agency who has a regular position or job throughout his or her employment term, without regard to hours or method of pay;(l) "Career clusters" means broad groupings of related occupations;(m) "Work-based learning" means a structured activity that correlates with and is mutually supportive of the school-based learning of the student and includes specific objectives to be learned by the student as a result of the activity;(n) "School-age juvenile" means any individual who is entitled to attend or who, if not placed in a residential facility, would be entitled to attend public schools in accordance with: (1) Section five, article two of this chapter; (2) sections fifteen and eighteen, article five of this chapter; or (3) section one, article twenty of this chapter;(o) "Student with a disability" means an exceptional child, other than gifted and exceptional gifted, pursuant to section one, article twenty of this chapter;(p) "Casual deficit" means a deficit of not more than three percent of the approved levy estimate or a deficit that is nonrecurring from year to year; and(q) "Athletic director" means a person employed by a local educational agency to work in a school's athletic program pursuant to section one-a, article two, chapter eighteen-a of this code.Amended by 2024 Acts, ch. TBD (HB 5158), eff. 6/6/2024.