§ 143B-146.21. Policies, reports, and other miscellaneous provisions. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 143B‑146.21.  Policies, reports, and othermiscellaneous provisions.

(a)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall consultwith the State Board of Education in its implementation of this act as itpertains to improving the educational programs at the residential schools. TheSecretary also shall fully inform and consult with the chairs of theAppropriations Subcommittees on Education and Health and Human Services of theSenate and the House of Representatives on a regular basis as the Secretary carriesout his duties under this act.

(b)        The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall adoptpolicies and offer training opportunities to ensure that personnel who providedirect services to children in the State schools for the deaf become proficientin sign language within two years of their initial date of employment or withintwo years of the effective date of this act, whichever occurs later. Thissubsection shall not apply to preschool personnel in any oral, auditory, orcued speech preschool.

(c)        The Department of Public Instruction, the Board of Governorsof The University of North Carolina, and the State Board of Community Collegesshall offer and communicate the availability of professional developmentopportunities, including those to improve sign language skills, to thepersonnel assigned to the State's residential schools, particularly theGovernor Morehead School and the schools for the deaf.

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

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