may direct

Sec. 26. Said qualified voters may also, at any regular When vot'rs meeting, authorize and direct the sale of any School-house, sale of prop site, building or other property belonging to the District, erty. when the same shall no longer be needed for the use of the District.

regard to

Sec. 27. They may also give such directions, and make Directions in such provision as they shall deem necessary, in relation to suits. the prosecution or defense of any suit or proceeding in which the District may be a party, or interested.

Sec. 28. (This section was repealed by the act to amend certain sections of the Primary School Law, approved Feb. 15, 1859.)

MODERATOR.

powers and

Sec. 29. The Moderator shall have power, and it shall Moderator's be his duty, to preside at all meetings of the District, to duties. sign all warrants for the collection of rate bills after they shall have been prepared and signed by the Director, and to countersign all orders upon the Assessor for moneys to be disbursed by the District, and all warrants of the Director upon the Township Treasurer for moneys raised for District purposes, or apportioned to the District by the Township Clerk; but if the Moderator shall be absent from any District meeting, the qualified voters present may elect a suitable person to preside at the meeting.

Board, as would have been the case if the annual meeting had not voted.

3. The month in section 24 must be interpreted to mean twenty-six work days. The Saturday afternoons, or every other Saturday usually allowed to teachers, may be included in the count, as also the customary holidays. No Dis trict is entitled to a share of the Primary School Moneys unless three months School has been taught therein by a qualified Teacher during the year. See sec. 80.

(Section 29.) 1. A variety of practice prevails, in the matter of drawing moneys from the Township Treasurer. In some Districts the warrants are drawn payable directly to the Teacher or his order, and in others they are drawn. payable to the Assessor, and then the Teacher is given an order on the Assessor. The latter is the more regular

Moderaror

to keep or. der, etc.

Penalty for

disturbing meeting.

Assessor to collect and pay over

moneys.

Sec. 30. If at any District meeting any person shall conduct himself in a disorderly manner, and after notice from the Moderator or person presiding, shall persist therein, the Moderator or person presiding, may order him to withdraw from the meeting, and on his refusal, may order any constable or other person or persons to take him into custody until the meeting shall be adjourned.

Sec. 31. Any person who shall refuse to withdraw from such meeting on being so ordered, as provided in the preceding section, or who shall willfully disturb such meeting, shall, for every such offence, forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty dollars.

ASSESSOR.

Sec. 32. The Assessor shall pay over all moneys in his hands belonging to the District, on the warrant of the Director, countersigned by the Moderator; and shall collect all rate bills for tuition and fuel, in obedience to the command contained in the warrant annexed thereto.

Sec. 33. In case any person shall neglect or refuse to pay the amount on such rate bill for which he is liable, on de

mode, and seems to be the intention of the law. In this way the Assessor is the sole Treasurer of the District, and his accounts will exhibit the entire expenditures. The Assessor should keep an account with each particular fund belonging to the District: as Primary School Moneys, Building Fund, Incidental Expense Fund, &c.

2. He is not authorized to sign an order on the Assessor for public money to be paid to a Teacher who was not duly "qualified."

(Section 31.) The penalty provided in this section may be recovered by a suit brought before a justice of the peace. See Compiled Laws, p. 1351.

(Sections 32, 33, 34.) 1. No property is exempted from sale for the payment of a rate bill.

2. The Assessor is entitled to five cents on each dollar of the rate bill for the collection thereof, and such collection must be made within sixty days, unless the time is duly extended by the endorsement of the other officers.

pay, Asses

mand, the Assessor shall collect the same by distress and On refusal to sale of any goods or chattels of such person, wherever found, or to colwithin any county in which the District, or any part of it, tress. is situated.

lect by dis

sale.

Sec. 34. The Assessor shall give at least ten days' notice Notice of of such sale, by posting up written notices thereof in three public places in the township where such property shall be sold.

make ret'rn

Sec. 35. At the expiration of his warrant, the Assessor Assessor to shall make a return thereof, in writing, with the rate bill to Director. attached, to the Director; stating the amount on said rate bill collected, the amount uncollected, and the names of the persons from whom collections have not been made.

essor to ap

rector.

Sec. 36. The Assessor shall appear for and on behalf of When Asthe District in all suits brought by or against the same, pear for Dwhen no other directions shall be given by the qualified voters in District meeting, except in suits in which he is interested adversely to the District, and in all such cases the Director shall appear for such District, if no other direction be given as aforesaid.

See Sections 45, 46 and 47. In case the Assessor shall fail to give bonds, or is unable to attend to his duties, the Board may appoint an acting Assessor. See Sec. 67.

3. It is doubtful whether the Assessor's authority to collect rate bills, by distress and sale, extends to the case of non-resident pupils. It will be found safer, therefore, for the District Board to fix a rate of tuition for such pupils, and collect the same, as is usual in the Union Schools, in advance. Authority to fix such rates of tuition is given to the District Board by Section 168.

(Section 35.) Should there remain any portion of the rate bill uncollected, after all due efforts on the part of the Assessor, the deficiency should be met by a tax on the taxable property of the District. The law gives no authority to levy a second rate bill to make up such deficiency.

(Section 36.) For direction for suits, &c., against School Districts, see Sections 122 to 128.

Director to be Clerk.

To record

etc.

DIRECTOR.

Sec. 37. The Director shall be the clerk of the District Board, and of all District meetings when present, but if he shall not be present at any District meeting, the qualified voters present may appoint a clerk of such meeting, who shall certify the proceedings thereof to the Director, to be recorded by him.

Sec. 38. The Director shall record all the proceedings of proceeding, the District, in a book to be kept for that purpose, and preserve copies of all reports made to the School Inspectors, and safely preserve and keep all books and papers belonging to his office.

Contract for

whom and

Sec. 39. The Director, with the advice and consent of Teacher, by the Moderator and the Assessor, or one of them, or under how made. their direction, if he shall not concur, shall contract with and hire qualified Teachers for and in the name of the District, which contract shall be in writing, and shall have the consent of the Moderator and Assessor, or one of them, endorsed thereon, and shall specify the wages per week or month as agreed by the parties, and a duplicate thereof shall be filed in his office.

(Section 39.) 1. This section was amended February 15, 1859, so as to give the authority to employ Teachers to the majority of the District Board, whether the Director was one of that majority or not. The Director is merely the legal agent for making the contract, and has only an equal voice with the other members of the Board in the choice of a Teacher. A Director refusing to make a contract in accordance with the directions of the Moderator and Assessor, is liable to a penalty of ten dollars for each offence. See Section 130.

2. When not otherwise stipulated in the contract, the month must be understood to imply twenty-six work days. A universal and healthful custom has established the usage of allowing the Teacher to dismiss School Saturday afternoons, or every alternate Saturday in lieu thereof, without any loss of time, five and a half days of actual teaching being counted as one week. The District, Board cannot therefore require a Teacher to teach Saturday afternoons,

requisite

fuel for each

person, and

to furnish,

Sec. 40. He shall ascertain, as near as practicable, be- To ascertain fore the commencement of each School Term, if the Dis- quantity of trict at any regular meeting so direct, the just proportion which each person having scholars to send to the School give notice ought to furnish, of the fuel for such term, and give each etc. such person at least five days' notice of the time within See sec. 21. which he is required to deliver the same at the Schoolhouse; and if any person shall not deliver his proportion as required, the same shall be furnished by the Director, and the amount thereof shall be assessed on the rate bill to the person neglecting to deliver his proportion as aforesaid.

or make up any time lost by omitting School Saturday afternoons, without specifying it in the contract.

3. It is also customary to allow Schools such holidays as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving days, Christmas and New Years, without any loss of the Teacher's time.

4. As this section authorizes the Director to contract with "qualified teachers" only, it is an implied condition of the contract that the Teacher shall keep himself qualified," in the legal sense, i. e., by holding a valid certificate from the Inspectors. Should his certificate therefore be annulled, his contract is no longer binding. If, however, the Board continue to employ him, he can still collect his pay of those that employ him, though no public money can be paid to him. The District Board, as such, cannot legally employ an unqualified teacher; their action, therefore, in employing such Teacher, cannot bind the District, as a District, but only those who shall send to the School taught by such Teacher.

5. A District Board cannot properly annul a Teacher's contract without said Teacher's consent. If a Teacher proves incompetent or negligent, application may be made to the School Inspectors, and should they find sufficient cause to annul his certificate, his contract necessarily is made void. It would perhaps avoid occasional difficulties if it were agreed between the parties that the contract might be annulled by either party on giving some sufficient notice of the same.