CHAPTER III. DISTRICT BOARD AND OFFICERS. district (44.) § 4666. SECTION 1. At the first meeting in each Election of school district there shall be elected by ballot a moderator for officers. the term of three years, a director for two years, and a treasurer for one year; and on the expiration of their respective Term of office. terms of office, and regularly thereafter at the annual meetings, their several successors shall be elected in like manner for a term of three years each. The time intervening between the first meeting in any school district and the first annual meeting thereafter shall be reckoned as one year. NOTE.-Act_165. 1901, amending Act 164, 1881, changes the word assessor to treasurer; Eff. Sept. 1, 1902. OFFICERS: The officers of a primary school district consist of a moderator, director and assessor. These officers are created by statute and have attached to them certain limited powers and particular duties. They have, therefore, neither common law power, nor rights, but are strictly confined to such as are conferred upon them by statute; and as no compensation for their official services has been provided [as the law stood prior to 1859] or in any manner authorized by statute, none can be legally claimed or recovered. -Hinman v. Sch. Dist., 4/168. The provisions relative to the election of school district officers by ballot are mandatory; but where they were unanimously chosen by viva voce vote at a regular meeting, and qualified and acted and no one else claimed the offices, a writ of quo warranto was dismissed.-People v. Gartland, 75 / 143. Parol evidence is admissible to show who are the district officers.-Crane v. Sch. Dist., 61/299. BALLOT: All ballots cast under statutory requirements are formal and final, if there is an election, and cannot be repeated. There can be no "informal" ballot.-People v. Stone, 78 / 635; Sch. Dist. v. Root, 61/373. offices to be (45.) § 4667. SEC. 2. A school district office shall be- When district come vacant upon any of the following events: come vacant. Fourth, His removal from the district; Fifth, His conviction of any infamous crime; Sixth, His election or appointment being declared void by a competent tribunal; Seventh, His neglect to file his acceptance of office, or to give or renew any official bond according to law; Eighth, His ceasing to be a taxpayer in the school district. Am. 1903, Act 21. offices, how (46.) § 4668. SEC. 3. In case any one of the district of- Vacancies in fices becomes vacant, the two remaining officers shall imme- filled. diately fill such vacancy; or in case two of the offices become vacant, the remaining officer shall immediately call a special meeting of the district to fill such vacancies; in case any vacancy is not filled as herein provided within twenty days after it shall have occurred, or in case all the offices in a district shall become vacant, the board of school inspectors of the township to which the annual reports of such district are made of appointed officer. Term of office shall fill such vacancies. Any person elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in a district office shall hold such office until the next succeeding annual meeting, at which time the voters of the district shall fill such office for the unexpired portion of the term. Who are eligible to hold office. To file accept ances. District board, Johnston v. Mitchell, 120 / 589. (47.) § 4669. SEC. 4. Any qualified voter in a school district whose name appears upon the assessment roll, and is the owner in his own right of the property so assessed, shall be eligible to election or appointment to office in such school district, unless such person be an alien. Am. 1899, Act 184. (48.) § 4670. SEC. 5. Within ten days after their election or appointment the several officers of each school district shall file with the director written acceptances of the office to which they have been respectively elected or appointed, accompanied by an affidavit, properly acknowledged, that they are qualified voters, that their name appears on the assessment roll, and that they are the owners in their own right of the property so assessed, and such acceptances and affidavits shall be entered in the records of the district by said director. Am. 1903, Act 21. (49.) § 4671. SEC. 6. The moderator, moderator, director, and when meetings treasurer shall constitute the district board. Meetings of the of, may be called. board may be called by any member thereof by serving on the other members a written notice of the time and place of such meeting at least twenty-four hours before such meeting is to take place; and no act authorized to be done by the district valid action by board shall be valid unless voted at a meeting of the board. A majority of the members of the board at a meeting thereof shall be necessary for the transaction of business. Necessity of meeting to board. Quorum of board. Board to purchase record books etc. Am. 1901, Act 165. A teacher cannot be hired by two members of the board without the concurrence of the third and without convening any meeting of the board.— Hazen v. Lerche, 47/626. A school teacher can be employed only by the action of a district board at a meeting of the board. Parol evidence is not admissible to show that the record of the meeting made by the director is not true.-Cowley v. Sch. Dist. No. 3, Harrisville, 130 / 634. (50.) § 4672. SEC. 7. The said district board shall purchase a record book and such other books, blanks and stationery as may be necessary to keep a record of the proceedings of the district meetings and of the meetings of the board, the accounts of the treasurer, and for doing the business of the district in an orderly manner. Am. 1903, Act 49. Officers having charge of school records are required to furnish proper facilities for the examination or copying of the same. See Act No. 76, P. A. 1903. Before the enactment of this provision it was held that the board had authority to purchase. at the expense of the district, record books, blanks and paper necessary for the use of the district in keeping the records required by law, without any vote of the district therefor.-Sch. Dist. v. Snell, 24/353. house. title or lease (51.) § 4673. SEC. 8. The district board shall purchase Board to or lease, in the corporate name of the district, such sites for purchase, etc.. site, and build, schoolhouses as shall have been lawfully designated, and shall etc., schoolbuild, hire, or purchase such schoolhouses as may be neces sary out of the fund provided for that purpose, and make sale of any site or other property of the district when lawfully directed by the qualified voters; but no district in any case Necessity of shall build a stone or brick schoolhouse upon any site without to site before having first obtained a title in fee to the same, or a lease for building ninety-nine years; nor shall any district build a frame schoolhouse on any site for which they have not a title in fee or a lease for fifty years, without securing the privilege of removing the said schoolhouse when lawfully directed so to do by the qualified voters of the district at any annual or special meeting, when lawfully convened. TITLE IN FEE: A lease to a school district "during the time it is used for school purposes" is a lease in perpetuity at the will of the lessee. Since the lessee is a corporation and words of inheritance are not required, the lease, if a present consideration is paid. operates as a bargain and sale and conveys a base or determinable fee. This is sufficient to satisfy the provisions of the school law.-Sch. Dist. v. Everett, 52 / 314. LEASES: School-house on leased land belongs to district and may be removed within reasonable period.-Hayward v. Sch. Dist. N. W. Rep. 102 / 999. schoolhouse. estimate tax (52.) § 4674. SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the district Board to board to estimate the amount necessary to be raised, in addi- for support of tion to other school funds, for the entire support of such schools. schools, including teachers' wages, fuel, and other incidental expenses, and for deficiencies of the previous year for such purposes. But in districts having less than thirty scholars, such estimate, including the district's share of the primary school interest fund and one-mill tax, shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars a month for the period during which school is held in such district; and when such amount has been estimated and voted by the district board, it shall be reported for assessment and collection, the same as other district taxes. When a tax has been estimated and voted by the district board when board under the provisions of this section, and is needed before it can be collected. the district board may borrow to an amount not exceeding the amount of said tax. (53.) § 4675. SEC. 10. The district board, or board of, School board, education, shall, between the second Monday in July and the when to report first Monday in August in each year, make out and deliver to the township clerk of each township in which any part of the district is situated. a report in writing under their hands of all taxes voted by the district during the preceding year, and of all taxes which said board is authorized to impose, to be levied on the taxable property of the district. Am. 1905, Act 36. may borrow money. taxes voted. (54.) § 4676. SEC. 11. The district board shall apply Board to and pay over all school moneys belonging to the district, in ac- apply moneys cordance with the provisions of law regulating the same, and according to no money raised by district tax shall be used for any other law. Sectarian schools barred from public moneys. Board to make annual reports. Contents of. Board to hire teachers. Contracts. School regis Record of attendance. purpose than that for which it was raised, without a consenting vote of two-thirds of the tax-paying voters of the district; and no moneys received from the primary school interest fund, nor from the one-mill tax except as provided by law shall be appropriated to any other use than the payment of teachers' wages, and no part thereof shall be paid to any teacher who shall not have received a certificate of qualification from proper legal authority before the commencement of his school. No school district shall apply any of the moneys received by it from the primary school interest fund, or from any and all other sources, for the support and maintenance of any school of a sectarian character, whether the same be under the control of any religious society, or made sectarian by the school district board. Proof of qualification.-Sch. Dist. v. Cook, 47/112. (55.) § 4677. SEC. 12. Said board shall present to the district, at each annual meeting, a report in writing, containing an accurate statement of all moneys of the district received by them, or any of them, during the preceding year, and of the disbursements made by them, with the items of such receipts and disbursements. Such report shall also contain a statement of all taxes assessed upon the taxable property of the district during the preceding year, the purposes for which such taxes were assessed, and the amount assessed for each particular purpose, and said report shall be entered by the director in the records of the district. (56.) § 4678. SEC. 13. The district board shall hire and contract with such duly qualified teachers as may be required; and all contracts shall be in writing and signed by a majority of the board in behalf of the district. Said contracts ter to be kept. shall specify the wages agreed upon and shall require the teacher to keep a correct list of the pupils, grading and the age of each, attending the school, and the number of days each pupil is present, the aggregate attendance average daily attendance and percentage of attendance, and to furnish the director with a correct copy of the same at the close of school. Contract to be Said contract shall be filed with the director and a duplicate copy of the contract shall be furnished to the teacher. No contract with any person not holding a legal certificate of qualifi cation then authorizing such person to teach, shall be valid, and all such contracts shall terminate if the certificate shall expire by limitation and shall not immediately be renewed, or if it shall be suspended or revoked by proper legal authority. School month A school month within the meaning of the school laws shall consist of four weeks of five days in each week, unless otherwise specified in the teachers' contract. filed. Teacher must have legal certificate. defined. Am. 1901, Acts 62 and 146. HIRE AND CONTRACT: The district in its corporate capacity is a necessary party to the contract.-Wall v. Eastman, 1/270. A teacher can be lawfully employed only by convening the board.-Hazen v. Lerche. 47/626. Contracts may be made before the beginning of the school year.-Sch. Dist. v. Cook. 47/112; Tappan v. Sch. Dist.. 44/500: Cleveland v. Amy, 88 / 376: V. QUALIFIED TEACHER: A teacher suing for his wages need not make profert of his certificate, but the granting of it may be proved by parol.-Sch. Dist. v. Cook, 47 / 112. Normal school certificate not filed or recorded in the proper office (see How. 4969) until after contract made.-Smith v. Sch. Dist., 69/591. Since the statute makes invalid a contract, where the teacher holds no legal certificate, such contract cannot be made the basis of a recovery of salary.-Bryan v. Sch. Dist., 111 / 67. HOLIDAYS AND INTERRUPTIONS: Teaching contracts for stated periods, are subject to the observance of recognized holidays and there can be no deductions for such occasions from a teacher's wages.-Sch. Dist. v. Gage, 39/484; Holloway v. Sch. Dist., 62 / 156. Suspension of school during the prevalence of smallpox is no defense to the payment of the teacher's wages for the time the school is closed.-Dewey v. Sch. Dist., 43 / 480. Payment of wages after the burning of the school-house.-Smith v. Sch. Dist., 69 / 589. WAGES NOT GARNISHABLE: A teacher's wages cannot be reached by garnishment.-Sch. Dist. v. Gage, 43 / 484. CONTRACTS: Under this section, providing that school teachers' contracts shall be in writing, and signed by a majority of the district board, and shall specify the wages, etc., a resolution of a school board authorizing the employment of a specified person, though supplemented by conversations between such person and individual members of the board in respect to the terms of employment, and by the action of the person designated in appearing at the school at the opening of the term, and teaching for two days without objection, does not constitute a contract of hiring binding upon the district.Langston v. Sch. Dist. No. 3 of Springwells Twp., 121 / 654. CONTRACTS: Under the above section, requiring all contracts by school-district boards with teachers to be in writing, an oral contract with a teacher to continue the school for a month after the expiration of his written contract is not enforceable, though such teacher has performed the services. Hutchins v. School District No. 1 of Colfax Township, 128 / 177. CONTRACTS AND QUALIFIED TEACHERS: A contract between a teacher and a graded school district is invalid, unless the teacher, at the time of making the contract has the certificate required by Section 180, authorizing her to teach during the term covered by the contract; obtaining a certificate after the making of the contract, and before the commencement of school, is not a compliance with the statute.-McCloskey v. Sch. Dist. No. 5 Wheatland, 134 / 235. house. (57.) § 4679. SEC. 14. The district board shall provide care and use a water supply for pupils, have the care and custody of the of schoolschoolhouse and other property of the district, except so far as the same shall by vote of the district be especially confided to the custody of the director, including all books purchased for the use of indigent pupils, and shall open the schoolhouse for public meetings unless by a vote at a district meeting it shall be determined otherwise: Provided, That said board Board may exclude public may exclude such public meetings during the five school days meetings at of each week of any and all school terms, or such parts thereof certain times. |