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The board of school visitors must annually choose from themselves a chairman and a secretary. The chairman of the board of school visitors, or, in case of his absence or inability to act, the secretary, must call a meeting of the board at least once in six months, and whenever the chairman deems necessary, or is requested in writing to do so by three members. If no meeting is called within fourteen days after such request, one may be called by three members, by giving written notice. to the others.

The secretary must keep a record of the proceedings of the board and make to the town and to the State board of education annual written reports.

The board of school visitors must prescribe rules for the management, studies, classification, and discipline of the public schools, and, subject to the control of the State board of education, the text-books to be used. The board of school visitors may not change any textbook used in the schools except by a two-thirds vote and after one week's notice. They must, as a board, or by a committee appointed by them, examine all persons desiring to teach in the public schools and give to each person found qualified a certificate, authorizing the holder to teach in any of the schools of the town, or only in the district specified, for such time as may be stated in the certificate. They must revoke the certificate of any teacher found incompetent to teach or to manage a school. No teacher may be employed who has not received a certificate of approbation of the school visitors, and no teacher is entitled to receive pay who does not properly keep a school register.

If the town so direct, the board of visitors must employ the teachers for all its public schools, after consulting the several district committees; but the town has not so directed, and the employment of teachers is still in the hands of the district committees.

The board have authority to require that every child shall be vaccinated before entering school, and if the parents of any child are not able to pay for the same the town must bear the expense, on the recom mendation of the board.

It is the duty of the board of school visitors to make rules for the school libraries provided in part by the State and to approve the books selected therefor; to fill vacancies in district offices, fix sites, and approve plans for schoolhouses, and superintend the high school; to enforce the laws relating to the employment of children and to compulsory education; to receive reports from school district officers; to inspect school buildings and to approve sites and plans for new buildings; to examine the returns of enumeration of persons 4 to 16 years of age made by district committees and forward the same to the State comptroller, certifying at the same time what schools have been kept according to law; to meet with the selectmen of the town each year as a joint board to prepare estimates to be submitted to the town meeting, to fix the amount of the town appropriations to be apportioned to the

school district, to report the cost of the schools to the town meeting, and to pass upon expense of districts in excess of amount appropriated by the town; to give certificates to the selectmen as to whether the district schools have been kept according to law; to regulate, in connection. with district committees, the admission of nonresident pupils; to pass upon the union of small schools; to investigate the sanitary condition of schoolhouses. The board of school visitors must make returns annually to the State comptroller of the number of persons 4 to 16 years of age in the town, and the president and secretary must draw on the comptroller for the amount of State school money due the town.

At the close of each term the school visitors must certify to the town selectmen whether each school has been kept according to law.

The board annually assign the duty of visiting the schools of the town to one of their number, who is called superintendent of public schools. He must visit the schools, examine the schoolhouses and outbuildings, school register, and library, and investigate the studies, discipline, mode of teaching, and general condition of the schools. He must submit annually to the board a written report of the several schools, with plans and suggestions for their improvement. The compensation of the superintendent is fixed by the town.

The board of school visitors have authority to appoint a person not of their own number to be superintendent of schools, his salary to be fixed by the town; but up to this time the superintendent has been a member of the board of visitors.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

Each school district is a body corporate and has the power to sue and be sued, to purchase, hold, and convey real and personal property for school purposes; to build, hire, and repair schoolhouses, and supply them with fuel, furniture, etc.; to establish schools; to purchase apparatus; to maintain a school library; to employ teachers, except when the town may direct the school visitors to employ the teachers, and must pay the wages of teachers employed by the district committee; to lay taxes and borrow money for all the foregoing purposes; to make regulations for establishing and conducting schools not inconsistent with the regulations of the town.

Each school district must hold an annual meeting each June for the choice of officers and for the transaction of any other business relating to schools. Special meetings may be held whenever duly called.

District meetings must be held in the district, preferably in the district schoolhouse, and due notice must be given of each meeting. Every meeting may choose its own moderator.

In districts in which there are four hundred or more children enumerated, when one-third of the voters present at any district meeting so request, any question pending before the meeting must be submitted. to a ballot of the voters of the district. In such case due notice must

be given, and the balloting must occur within one week, the ballot boxes being open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. The result must be ascertained and declared by the chairman of the meeting. Upon the request of 20 voters all elections for district officers must be by ballot, as described. If a district fail to elect any of its officers at its annual meeting, or if a vacancy occur, the school visitors of the town fill the vacancy till the next district meeting.

In case of the refusal or neglect of a district to employ a teacher or keep open a school, the school visitors of the town may open a school in that district at the expense of the town.

DISTRICT COMMITTEES.

Each school district must choose, by ballot, at the annnal meeting a committee of three persons, a clerk, a treasurer, and a collector. Districts having not less than 200 enumerated children may elect the members of their committees for three years, choosing one each year. In such case, vacancies in the district committee are filled by the remaining members till the next annual district meeting.

The committee of every district must give due notice of all meetings of the district. They may call a special meeting at any time, and must call one at the request of ten voters of the district. It is their duty to appoint teachers unless the town otherwise directs; to provide suitable schoolrooms and furnish fuel; to visit the schools; furnish books for pupils unable to buy them; to suspend or expel pupils guilty of incorrigibly bad conduct; to give such information and assistance to the school visitors as they may require; to report annually to the school visitors; to cause an enumeration to be made annually of all the children in the district between 4 and 16 years of age.

THE CITY OF SAVANNAH AND THE COUNTY OF CHATHAM, Ga.1

The board of education is a self-perpetuating close corporation. In the acts establishing the public school system, nine persons were designated by name who, with the "commissioners of the Massie school" appointed under the ordinances of the city, constituted the board of public education of the city of Savannah and the county of Chatham, and under that name they were created a body politic and corporate with perpetual succession of members. They received full power to establish and modify from time to time a plan and system of education for all children in the city and county between the ages of 6 and 18 years, and to superintend the same; to appoint, suspend, and remove teachers, and provide schoolhouses; to make by-laws, rules, and regulations for their own government and for the government of the teachers and schools; to designate and elect officers of the board, and to fill vacancies (except among the commissioners of the Massie school) in any

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1 Compiled from acts of 1866 and of 1878 and city ordinances of 1866 and 1895, in school reports of 1866 and 1895.

manner whatever caused, either among officers or members of the board; to acquire, hold, or sell real or personal property, and to have the usual powers and privileges of corporations necessary for carrying out the purposes of their creation. They receive all money allotted to the county of Chatham from the State school fund, all the county educational funds, and such sums as may be appropriated by the city council of Savannah for schools, and expend the same at their discretion; but the money appropriated by the city council may not be used for the county schools.

The Massie school referred to in the acts mentioned was established in 1855, as the result of a legacy of $5,000 to the city council in trust for the maintenance of common schools of the city.

The city ordinances provide that there shall be three commissioners of the Massie school, to be appointed annually by the mayor, subject to the confirmation of the council. The mayor himself must be one of the three unless he is already a member of the board of education. The other two may be selected either from the board of aldermen or from the citizens at large, or from both. They unite with and form a part of the board of education, and are subject to its by-laws, rules, and regulations.

ED 96-3*

Summary of laws relating to the school boards of certain cities.-Part I.

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