§302A-605  Principals and vice-principals.  (a)  Principals shall meet the department's certification requirements and shall have at least five years of appropriate school-level experience, including at least three years as a teacher, or equivalent experience, as determined by the department.

     (b)  Vice-principals shall meet the department's certification requirements and shall have appropriate school-level or equivalent experience, as determined by the department.

     (c)  The department shall establish alternative routes to certification for principals and vice-principals pursuant to rules adopted under chapter 91.

     (d)  For purposes of this section, "alternative routes to certification" has the same meaning as determined by United States Department of Education regulations for state applications for Race to the Top fund allocations under section 14001 of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as amended. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2000, c 31, §1; am L 2001, c 256, §2 and c 287, §1; am L 2010, c 34, §2; am L 2011, c 75, §2]