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the school) for any object of social, moral or religious improvement; for the worship of God upon the Sabbath; for a Sunday school on the same day, for lectures, debates, and for any literary, moral, useful or scientific purpose; and for any public purpose connected with the general welfare of the inhabitants. These are matters of toleration however, to be determined by the qualified voters.

SRC. 66. The said board shall have power to fill, by appointment, any vacancy that shall occur in their own number, and it shall be their duty to fill such vacancy within ten days after its occurrence.

FORM OF APPOINTMENT.

The undersigned, members of the district board of school district No. - township of, do hereby appoint A

of said district, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the removal, death or resignation] of C

Dated this

day of

D, the late

185.

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1. Persons appointed to fill vacancy, should file their acceptanee in pursuance of section 5, and the director should make record of the appointment, and date thereof.

2. See note to section 28.

3. A majority of the district board can act, in order to fill a vacancy.

4. Section 95 provides that if the district board fail to supply any vacancy that shall occur in their own number, within ten days after the time of its occurrence, the school inspectors shall fill the same by appointment.

5. The temporary absence of a district officer, in consequence of his being in attendance as a member of the Legislature, or for any other cause, does not create a vacancy.

SEC. 67. If the assessor shall fail to give bond as is required in this chapter, or from sickness or any other cause, shall be unable to attend to the duty of collecting any district rate bill, the said board shall appoint an acting assessor to collect the same, who shall possess all the powers of the district assessor for that purpose, and shali before proceeding to the collection thereof, give bond to the district in double the amount of money to be collected, in the same manner, and with the same effect as the district assessor is required to give such bond.

1. If the circumstances, whether arising from sickness or other cause, which created the necessity for the appointment of an acting assessor, have ceased to exist, it will not affect the collection of the tax by the acting assessor, if he has entered upon that duty and

filed his bond. The acting assessor should go on and collect the rate bill. The bond may be given at any time before he proceeds to collect.

The following is a clause of the law passed in 1850, and is here in its proper place, but is not numbered as a section:

[Every school district office shall become vacant upon the incumbent ceasing to be a resident of the district for which he shall have been elected, or upon the happening of either of the events specified in section three of chapter fifteen of the revised statutes of 1846.]

Section 3 of chapter 15 of the revised statutes, as amended by an act of June 27th, 1851, enacts that every office shall become vacant on the happening of either of the following events, before the expi ration of the term of such office:

1. The death of the incumbent:

2. His resignation:

3. His removal from office:

4. His ceasing to be an inhabitant of this State; or, if the office be local, of the district, county, township, city or village, for which he shall have been elected or appointed, or within which the duties of his office are required to be discharged:

5. His conviction of any infamous crime, or of any offence involving a violation of his oath of office:

6. The decision of a competent tribunal, declaring void his election or appointment; or,

7. His refusal or neglect to take his oath of office, or to give or renew any official bord, or to deposit such oath or bond in the manner and within the time prescribed by law.

TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS.

SEC. 68. The inspectors elected at the annual township meetings, together with the township clerk, shall constitute the township board of school inspectors; and the inspector elected at the annual township meeting having the shortest time to serve, shall be chairman of said board, and the said township clerk shall be the clerk thereof.

1. The new constitution has provided that there shall hereafter be elected in each organized township, one township clerk who shall be ex-officio school inspector, and one school inspector. This provision, however, will not be effective, until the present law, which provides for the election of two inspectors, is repealed, and a law passed conformable to and to carry out such constitutional provision.

2. The township clerk has a vote in the decision of the board, and possesses all the right and privileges of either of the elected of ficers as members of the board.

SEC. 69. The chairman of said board shall be the treasurer thereof, and shall give bond to the township in double the amount of library moneys to come into his hands during his term of office, as near as the same can be

ascertained, with two sufficient sureties to be approved by the township clerk, conditioned for the faithful appropriation of all moneys that may come into his hands by virtue of his office.

FORM OF BOND TO BE GIVEN BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS.

Know all men by these presents, that we, A- — B—, (the chairman of the board of school inspectors of the township of -) and C- D-, and E- -F, (his surety.) are held and firmly bound unto the said township, in the sum of [here insert the sum of double the amount to come into said chairman's hands, as nearly as the same can be ascertained, ] for the payment of which sum well and truly to be made to the said township, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents.

Sealed with our seals, and dated this 185.

day of

A. D.

The condition of this obligation is such, that if A- B chirman of the board of school inspectors, shall faithfully approprite all moneys that may come into his hands by virtue of his office, then this obligation shall be void, otherwise of full force and virtue.

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This bond should be endorsed as follows:

"I approve the within bond."

(Signed)

G—— H▬▬▬▬▬, Township Clerk.

SEC. 70. Said bond shall be filed with the township clerk, and in case of the non-fulfillment thereof, said clerk shall cause a suit to be commenced thereon, and the moneys collected in such suit shall be paid into the township treasury for the benefit of the township library.

SEC. 71. The inspectors shall divide the township into such number of school districts as may from time to time be necessary, which districts they shall number, and they may regulate and alter the boundaries of the same as circumstances shall render proper: but no district shall contain more than nine sections of land, and each district shall be composed of contiguous territory, and be in as compact a form as may be; but no land shall be taxed for building a school house, unless some portion of every legal sub-division of said land shall be within two and one-half miles of said school house site.

1. The division of the townships into school districts, the initiatory step in the establishment of the schools, is a matter which rests solely with the inspectors. There is no appeal from their decision, and in all cases involving the expediency of their acts, they are only responsible to the source of their power-the people. The duty

confided to them is not only one of the most important devolving upon school officers, but often times the basis and a fruitful source of difficulty.

The following notes are taken from the pamphlet edition of the school law of 1848:

2. School inspectors, by examining section 71 alone, sometimes proceed to district a township, and to alter the boundaries of districts already established, without giving any notice thereof. Great dissatisfaction is frequently and justly the result of such a course. The school inspectors may not be able to please every person residing in districts they are required to establish. This, indeed, might often be incompatible with the conscientious discharge of their official duty. They should, nevertheless, do what they reasonably can to harmonize conflicting interests; and in order to do this, they must give aggrieved individuals, and all others interested, a reasonable opportunity for a hearing. This they may do by giving the notice required by sections 86 and 91, which should invariably be done. 2. The Superintendent would caution inspectors against subdividing districts any farther than becomes actually necessary to accommodate the citizens of a township. Large and populous districts are able to build good school houses, and employ well qualified teachers; while small and feeble districts sometimes feel necessitated to occupy unsuitable houses, and to depend upon the services of incompetent teachers. It is better to go a mile and a half, or even two miles, if need be, to reach a good school, than to reside within half a mile of an indifferent one.

3. When a regularly organized school district, in which a school has been taught the time required by law, is divided so late in the school year, as not to allow time for a school to be taught three months before the expiration of the year, does the part set off lose its school money for the ensuing year?

4. If the division takes place after the annual report is made, and before the school money is received, does the original district receive all the public money, or is the part set off entitled to a portion of it?

5. Is the part set off entitled to draw books from the township library, before the beginning of a new school year; or, in other words, until after the director makes his annual report to the school

inspectors? or can the original district claim and receive, to the end of the year, all the books it would have been entitled to, had there been no division?

The opinion of the office heretofore given in relation to these several questions, is as follows:

"1st. Whenever a school district is divided, each of the districts formed from it has a right, in making its annual report, to embrace the time a school was taught between the commencement of the school year, and the time the division was made, and to add thereto the time a school has been taught in said district subsequently to the division. If each district, reckoning time thus, is enabled to report a school taught three months or more, by qualified teachers, each is entitled to draw public money. But if either district, reckoning time thus, is unable to report a school taught three months by qualified teachers, said district is not entitled to draw public money.

"2. In the distribution of school moneys to said districts, the same sum should be apportioned to the two, that the original district would have been entitled to receive had there been no division. This sum should be divided between them according to the rules of justice and equity. If the division of a district takes place immediately after the commencement of a school year, and before a school has been opened, the money should be apportioned to the new districts in proportion to the number of scholars within the legal ages residing in each of them at the time of the division. But if the division is made after the close of the winter school, and two-thirds (more or less) of the public money has been apportioned to said school, in which both of the districts were entitled to share equita"bly, the remaining one-third should be apportioned as in the first case named.

"3. Whenever a district is divided, the part set off, when duly organized, is entitled to draw books from the township library at the time for quarterly distribution among the districts of the township, provided the director files with the township librarian a statement of the number of scholars within his district at the time the division was made. The director of the other district should do the same. The original district has no advantage over the one set off in relation to

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