(a)
All vacancies in the classified service shall be filled pursuant to this article and the rules of the commission, from applicants on eligibility lists which, wherever practicable, as determined by the commission, shall be made up from promotional examinations, or appointments may be made by means of transfer, demotion, reinstatement, and reemployment in accordance with the rules of the commission. All applicants for promotional examinations shall have the required amount of service in classes designated by the commission or meet the minimum qualifications of education, training, experience, and length of service, which shall be determined by the commission to be appropriate for the class for which they have applied. Any promotional applicant who has served the required amount of time in a designated class or who meets the minimum qualifications for admission to a promotional examination shall be admitted to the examination. The commission shall place applicants on the eligibility lists in the order of their relative merit as determined by competitive examinations. The final scores of candidates shall be rounded to the nearest whole percent for all eligibles. All eligibles with the same percentage score will be considered as having the same rank. Appointments shall be made from the eligibles having the first three ranks on the list who are ready and willing to accept the position.
(b)
Upon the request of a majority of the members of the governing board of a district, the commission may exempt one or more executive secretarial positions from the requirements of this section. Exemptions authorized under this subdivision shall be limited to executive secretarial positions reporting directly to members of the governing board, the district superintendent, or not more than four principal deputies of the district superintendent, or all of these positions.
Any person employed in an exempt executive secretarial position shall continue to be afforded all of the rights, benefits, and burdens of any other classified employee serving in the regular service of the district, except he or she shall not attain permanent status in an executive secretarial position. Positions of executive secretary shall be filled from an unranked list of eligible employees who have been found to be qualified for the positions as specified by the district superintendent and determined by the personnel commission. Any person whose services in an executive secretarial position are discontinued for a cause other than a cause for disciplinary action specified in this code or in a rule of the commission shall have the right to return to a position in a classification he or she previously occupied or, if that classification no longer exists, in a similar classification, as determined by the commission.
Nothing contained in this section shall authorize the selection of eligible candidates in circumvention of the affirmative action programs of any school district.