from among the contestants until the dispute has been litigated. § 22. The commissioners shall pay the teachers their sal- Salary of teachers ary direct, upon the certificate of the trustees that the school has been taught. claims. § 23. No commissioner shall be allowed to buy any teach- Forbidden to buy er's claim at a discount, under the penalty of removal from office by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. eris successor. books, &c., to Penalty for fail ure. $24. Each commissioner when he resigns, vacates, is re- To deliver propmoved, or goes out of office, shall, within ten days thereafter, deliver to his successor, or to the county court clerk for him, any money, property, books, effects, or papers remaining in his hands, and for failure to do so, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars. be filled. § 25. In the case of the death, removal, resignation, or Vacancy, how to inability of the commissioner elected by the court of claims to act, the presiding judge of said county is hereby authorized to appoint a successor, to continue in office until the succeeding annual session of the court of claims. The incumbent to remain in office until successor is elected. 26. In the event of the failure on the part of the court of claims to elect a commissioner at the proper time, the incumbent shall continue in office until the next annual meeting of the court of claims. Nevertheless, it shall be For what may be competent for the county court, at any regular session, to remove a commissioner for inability, for habitual neglect of duty, or for malfeasance in office. 27. In case of a defaulting and absconding commissioner the Governor, upon information thereof being furnished by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall offer a reward, not exceeding in amount $500, for his arrest and delivery to justice. removed. Reward to be of fered for defaultcommissioner. ing & absconding ARTICLE VI. The districts as ized to remain at present organ until altered. § 1. The school districts of the several counties, as at present described and numbered, shall be retained until altered or abolished pursuant to this chapter; but no two districts in the same county shall be known by the same name or number. No change in the boundary of any dis- When alteration trict shall be made to take effect during any school year, unless made previous to taking the census for such school year. Nor shall the boundary of any district be enlarged, larged to take effect. No district en notice. without Number of chil dren to be includ ed in a district, regulations in respect thereof. each district to be kept in a book. unless notice, in writing, be first given to the trustees of other districts to be affected thereby, and an opportunity afforded them to resist the application for such enlargement. § 2. No district shall include more than one hundred white children, between the ages of six and twenty years, unless it contains a town or village within its limits, or there be established therein a high school, academy, or college, entitled, pursuant to this chapter, to a share of the revenue of the Common School Fund; and no one shall contain less than forty such children, except in cases of extreme necessity, and in no case less than twenty. In all cases where the number of such children shall exceed one hundred, or fall below forty, the commissioner shall state the reason thereof in his report to the Superintendent. The boundary of no district shall extend more than four miles square, unless it be necessary to enlarge the same so as to include the minimum number of children. Each school-house hereafter erected shall be located as near the centre of the district as practicable. 3. The commissioner shall, in a book kept in his office Description of for that purpose, and subject to public inspection, describe each district in his county by its number and boundary, and shall furnish to the trustee of each district a description of the boundary thereof. a division line of one neighborhood § 4. The commissioners of two adjoining counties, where Regulation when the division line intersects a neighborhood whose convenCounties bisects ience requires it, may lay off a district composed of parts of both counties. Such district shall be reported, together with its census of pupil children, only as belonging to the county in which the school-house of the same may be situated, by the commissioner of said county; and he shall make report and draw for the whole district, as though it lay entirely within his county. joining districts be taught in the venient. § 5. Where two school districts adjoin, it shall be lawful Children in ad for the children in either of such adjoining districts to be may, by consent, taught in and at such school-house as shall be most conschool most con- venient to them: Provided, however, That their tuition fees To what teacher shall be paid over to the teacher of that district in which they may be taught; and that no such change shall be made without the assent of the trustee of both said school districts. In case of an agreement of the kind provided for in this section, the trustee of the district in which the chil tuition fees to be paid. dren were reported shall notify the commissioner, and he shall deduct the tuition fees of said pupils from the district giving permission, and pay them over to the teacher in the district in which they are taught. § 6. When a city, town, or village establishes and maintains a system of common schools adequate to the teaching of all the children therein, and which all applying for instruction are permitted to attend free of charge, the same shall be deemed one district, and entitled to its proportion of the School Fund. Such city or town shall, through its school agents or other officers deputed for that purpose, make its annual report to the commissioner of the county, for the several schools therein, at the time, and in a similar manner, to that required of the trustee of a district. They shall also take the census of the white children therein, and make return thereof to such commissioner as, and at the time, trustees are required by this chapter to do; and shall, for neglect or violation of their duties in that respect, be liable to the same penalties. The commissioner shall have no control over the schools in such districts; but the same shall be governed in all respects by the local authorities. ARTICLE VII. Trustees. 223 cities, towns, or Provision as to ing a system of villages maintain common schools. tee provided for Election of a trus -who may vote -who to act as judge of his du how conducted § 1. Each school district shall be under the control of one trustee, an election for whom shall be held at the schoolhouse of such district, or such other convenient place as the trustee may select, from nine o'clock in the morning till ty. five o'clock in the evening, of the first Saturday of July in each year, notice thereof having been posted by the trustee at three prominent places in the district for ten days preceding. At this election, the qualified white voters of the county shall be the electors; and any white widow, having a child between six and twenty years of age, may also vote, in person or by written proxy. No person except a commissioner, or some person residing in the district, shall be competent to act as judge of said election. The judge, if not a commissioner, shall be chosen by a majority of the voters present and voting; give the casting vote in case of a tie; give a certificate of election to the person elected, signed by himself and the clerk of the meeting, and report the name of the trustee thus elected, in writing, to the com Duration of office. judge of election malfeasance. missioner of the county within five days after the holding of said election. § 2. The trustee so elected shall hold office for one year, and until his successor is elected and qualified. § 3. Any person who may be chosen to preside over the Penalty against election of a school trustee in any school district in this for misfeasance or Commonwealth, who shall knowingly, and with intent to commit a fraud, receive and count any illegal vote, or issue a certificate of election to any person not entitled thereto, or shall refuse to issue such certificate to any one duly elected, or who shall fail, for five days after the election, to report the name of the person thus elected trustee to the commissioner; and any person who shall, with fraudulent intent, deface, mutilate, or destroy the records of any such election, shall be fined the sum of fifty dollars for every such offense, or be confined for twenty days in the county jail in default of the payment of such fine, and it shall be the duty of the commissioner to report such offenses to the grand jury. be filled. § 4. If, from a failure to qualify according to law, or from Vacancy, how to any other cause, there be a vacancy in the office of trustee, the commissioner of the county shall supply the same by his appointment, in writing, and the trustee so appointed shall hold his office until the next election, or until his successor be elected and qualified. Declared a corporation sole, & rights as such. Record of transactions to be kept § 5. He and his successor shall be a sole corporation, with perpetual succession, by the name of the trustee for his school district; and as such may sue and be sued, take, hold, and dispose of real and personal estate, for the maintenance, use, and benefit of the common schools of his district, and receive and enforce payments of subscriptions for the like purpose. His private seals or scrolls shall stand in lieu of a corporate seal. § 6. The trustee shall keep a record of all his official transactions, which shall at all times be open to the inspection of the commissioner. § 7. The trustee may take land, by purchase or donation, Duty as to pro- for the purpose of erecting thereon a school-house, provide viding a school house, and herein for and secure the erection of the same, construct such out of power to ac quire land and se- buildings and inclosures as shall be conducive to the protec cure right of way for roads & pass- tion of the property and the comfort and decency of the pupils and teachers, make repairs, and provide the neces ways. sary furniture and apparatus. He shall have power to recover for any damages that may be done the property in his charge; and he may change the location of the schoolhouse, sell or dispose of the old site, and use the proceeds thereof towards procuring a new one. If he cannot agree with the owner of any land most suitable for a school-house site as to the price and terms of purchase and sale thereof, the county court shall issue a writ of ad quod damnum, directed to the sheriff, to be executed and returned to said court as in case of opening roads; and upon return of said writ, duly executed, and upon the payment in court for the benefit of the owner of the amount ascertained by the verdict of the jury, the said court shall issue a writ requiring the sheriff to put the trustee in possession of said lot; and thereupon the title to said lot shall vest in said trustee: Provided, He shall not have the right to condemn any private property, which is used by the owner as a residence, garden, or orchard, or located within forty rods thereof. The quantity of land thus condemned shall, in no case, exceed one One third of the school electors of any district may appeal from the decision of the trustee, in the location of the school-house, or site for same, to the school commissioner of the county, whose decision in the case shall be final. In such location, it shall be made as near the centre of the district as will be convenient of access to all the inhabitants of the district as practicable; and the trustee shall make provisions for such roads or passways to the schoolhouse as will accommodate all the pupils who may be entitled to attend, and may apply to the county court having jurisdiction to open the same, as other road-ways are opened for public necessity and convenience. acre. § 8. After the first day of July, 1873, if a majority of the qualified voters of such district, under this chapter, consent thereto, the county school commissioner may condemn any school-house which may be old, dilapidated, inconvenient, or unhealthy, or unfit to be occupied for the purposes of a common school; and shall notify the trustee of such district thereof, when he shall order a per capita tax not exceeding two dollars on each white male in the district over twentyone years of age, to be collected as similar State taxes usually are; and such tax shall be applied to the erection and furnishing of a school-house adapted to the wants of GEN. STAT.-15 |