Request By:
Mr. Paul D. Montgomery
Director of Pupil Personnel
and Transportation
Campbellsville Independent School District
230 W. Main Street
Campbellsville, Kentucky 42718
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Robert L. Chenoweth, Deputy Attorney General
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General for an advisory opinion as to whether being appointed the director of transportation for a public school system would create a conflict with your responsibilities as director of pupil personnel. The director of transportation would supervise the bus drivers, bus routes and handle parental complaints. The duties of a director of pupil personnel are set out in KRS 159.140. See also 704 KAR 3:230. The reason you believe holding the two positions in a school system would create a conflict is that the language of Subsection (1) of KRS 159.140 which provides that a director of pupil personnel is to "devote his entire time to the duties of his office."
This office has previously considered this issue in various forms. In OAG 63-97 we interpreted KRS 159.140 as meaning a director of pupil personnel could not take another position which would in any way interfere with his normal working hours as set out by the local board of education. In OAG 60-1027 we concluded that the position of county director of pupil personnel and city director of pupil personnel were incompatible and that KRS 159.140 would preclude an individual from holding both positions. However, the previous opinion that we believe is principally dispositive of the issue you have presented is a 1959 opinion, OAG 43,204, copy attached. This opinion was written just two years after the former Kentucky Court of Appeals considered a KRS 159.140(1) dual capacity issue in Board of Education of London Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Miller, Ky., 299 S.W.2d 626 (1957). In Miller, the Court stated at page 628:
"The Legislature may provide that a public officer devote his entire time to his duties, whether or not the entire time of the officer is in fact required for the complete and faithful performance of his duties."
In OAG 43,204, supra, this office took the consideration of this matter an additional step. Reference was made to what is now KRS 157.360(9). That minimum foundation related provision now reads as follows:
"In allotting classroom units for directors of pupil personnel, one (1) classroom unit shall be allotted each district which is allotted thirty-six (36) to one hundred and sixty-five and nine-tenths (165.9) classroom units under subsection (2) and a unit for each additional two hundred and sixty-six (266) classroom units or fraction thereof allotted under subsection (2). For districts having fewer than thirty-six (36) classroom units, a proportionate fraction of a classroom unit shall be allotted. "
This office stated, in looking at KRS 159.140 and KRS 157.360 together:
"Considering these two provisions in conjunction, we arrive at the conclusion that where a school district has a proportionate fraction of a classroom unit allotted for the director of pupil personnel, then serving in this capacity a number of hours in the same proportion to the normal school day as the unit fraction hours to the classroom unit constitutes devoting the entire time to the duties of the office. For example, if the school district were allotted a proportionate fraction for director of pupil personnel of one-half unit, then if a person served in this capacity one-half of a normal school day, this would constitute devoting the entire time to the duties of the office as required by KRS 159.140 and, therefore, a person so situated could then be employed in another capacity by the board of education, and such employment would not be repugnant to the provisions of KRS 159.140."
We are of the continued belief that in a situation where a proportionate fraction of a unit is involved, the requirement of KRS 159.140(1) would be met by spending an amount of time in the same proportion to the normal school day that the fraction bears to the unit will constitute devoting the entire time to the duties of the office. In the situation where an entire unit is involved, we are of the opinion the director of pupil personnel must devote his or her entire time to the duties of that office.
Therefore, assuming an entire unit for director of pupil personnel is involved in your situation, you would not be able to share your time fulfilling the responsibilities of the director of transportation but would be required to devote your time exclusively to the responsibilities and duties of the administrative position of director of pupil personnel.