Ley 102 del 2008
Resumen
Esta ley enmienda la Ley Núm. 149 de 1999 para requerir que el Secretario de Educación establezca un procedimiento interno de transición para gestionar los cambios en las posiciones de Directores Escolares. El procedimiento busca asegurar la transferencia ordenada de información administrativa y fiscal entre directores salientes y entrantes, incluyendo la preparación de un informe escrito.
Contenido
(No. 102)
(Approved June 30, 2008)
AN ACT
To add a new subsection
(i) to Section 6.04 of Act No. 149 of 1999, as amended, and to designate the subsequent subsections, to provide that the Secretary of Education shall establish an internal transition procedure to manage the changes in the positions of School Directors.
STATEMENT OF MOTIVES
School Directors are considered the "backbones" of the public schools of Puerto Rico. They are the ones who establish discipline and oversee compliance with the same in school facilities. All schools need a guide, a leader, and those are the School Directors of Puerto Rico.
The objective of this Act is to require that the Department of Education, through the Secretary of Education in his/her function as Administrative Director of the Public Education System of Puerto Rico, establish an internal mechanism to manage the changes in the positions of School Directors in an orderly manner so that the information they have acquired in the performance of their official duties may be transferred and preserved.
The School Directors are the officials that implement the Education System on a daily basis. Among other duties, they supervise the teaching activity in the schools in their jurisdiction; they are the custodians of academic and personnel files; they know the needs and strong points of teachers, students and the community, in addition to having the
responsibility of facilitating all the documents that are required for audits related to administrative and fiscal functions. In spite of these and other great responsibilities, experience has shown that in the cases in which a new School Director arrives at a school, there is no one to provide orientation as to the administrative, school or fiscal issues of that particular school; nor is there a mechanism for the transfer of the custody of the documents that were in the care of the previous School Director.
This Legislature has a commitment with the teaching class of Puerto Rico, and it is for this reason that it deems that the measure introduced is necessary in order for the Secretary of Education to establish an internal transition procedure to manage the changes in the positions of School Directors in our schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:
Section 1.- A new subsection
(i) is hereby added to Section 6.04 of Act No. 149 of 1999, as amended, to read as follows: "Section 6.04.- Administrative Duties and Obligations of the Secretary in the Administrative Scope
In his/her duty as Administrative Director of the Puerto Rico Public Education System, the Secretary shall:
(a) ...
(b) ...
(i) Adopt an orderly transition procedure applicable to the position of School Director through which its occupant, before ceasing his/her functions or changing position due to promotion, change or any other administrative mechanism, shall be compelled to share the information on administrative and fiscal affairs acquired in the exercise of his/her functions with the incoming
School Director or with any other Department official especially designated for it so that the latter may later orient the incoming School Director. This procedure shall require, among other things, the preparation of a written report and shall specify the minimum topics or issues that the same shall contain.
Section 2.- The present subsections
(i) to
(y) are hereby redesignated as
(j) to
(z) of Section 6.04 of Act No. 149 of July 15, 1999, as amended.
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 102 (H.B. 1335) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $15^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to add a new subsection
(i) to Section 6.04 of Act No. 149 of 1999, as amended, and to designate the subsequent subsections, to provide that the Secretary of Education shall establish an internal transition procedure to manage the changes in the positions of School Directors, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $15^{ ext {th }}$ of July of 2008.
Francisco J. Domenech Director