Request By:
Mr. C. Kirk
Director of Pupil Personnel
Martin County Schools
Martin County Board of Education
P.O Box 366
Inez, Kentucky 41224
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
Due to the voluminous number of requests for opinions received after the passage of House Bill 940, this office has been unable to respond to your letter promptly. I regret the delay that this has caused. In your letter to this office you asked two questions. First, you asked "Can a local school board promulgate a policy which will designate a supervised smoking area for a secondary school. "
Under the current statutes, every school may have a designated smoking room for adult employees of the school system, and every secondary school may have a designated smoking area for all individuals, adults and students.
You are correct in pointing out that the legal standard on this topic is KRS 438.050 which states:
Any person, except adult employees of the school system who smoke in a room on the school premises designated by the superintendent or principal for the purpose, who smokes tobacco products in any school building or any part of any building used for school purposes, or upon school grounds, while children are assembled there for lawful purposes, except in areas in secondary schools designated and supervised by the superintendent or principal for the purpose, shall be fined not less than one dollar ($ 1.00) nor more than five dollars ($ 5.00). The exception granted for smoking areas designated by the superintendent or principal shall extend to all schools.
This office has issued an opinion interpreting KRS 438.050. In OAG 81-295 we were asked whether the statute would allow the Graves County Board of Education to permit smoking during the school day by adults in designated areas and to permit smoking by students on the school premises durind the school day in designated areas or whether it would be permitted to allow adults to smoke in designated areas and not students and vice versa. At the time of that opinion we concluded that every school could have a designated smoking area for adult employees of the school system, and secondary schools located in counties containing a city of the first or second class, or urban county government, could have a designated smoking area for all individuals, including adults and students.
In 1988, an amendment to KRS 438.050 extended "the exception granted for smoking areas designated by the Superintendent or principal" from "schools located in counties containing a city of the first class, a city of the second class, or an urban-county government," to "all schools."
Accordingly, OAG 81-295 is modified to the extent that not only may every school have a designated smoking room for adult employees of the school system, but secondary schools in all counties may have a designated smoking area for all individuals, adults and students.
Second, you ask whether House Bill 940 has changed the meaning and application of KRS 161.765. Specifically you ask:
Can a local board of education at the recommendation of the superintendent, legally demote a principal who has served for three (3) or more years in administration without fully abiding by KRS 161.765 as it is currently written?
You also ask:
Can a local board of education at the recommendation of the superintendent legally demote a central office administrator such as Assistant Superintendent, General Supervisor, Director of Pupil Personnel, etc. who has served in administration for three (3) or more years without fully abiding by KRS 161.765?
Effective July 13, 1990, the Kentucky Education Reform Act, House Bill 940, removed responsibility for personnel decisions from the local school board and placed that responsibility with the superintendent. Accordingly, the superintendent may legally demote a principal who has served three or more years in administrative service only upon fully abiding by KRS 161.765. Similarly, the superintendent may legally demote a central office administrator (such as an assistant superintendent, general superviros, director of pupil personnel, etc.,) only upon fully abiding by KRS 161.765.