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CONSTITUTION

OF THE

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

PREAMBLE.

To elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States, we, whose names are subjoined, agree to adopt the following

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.--NAME.

This Association shall be styled the National Educational Association.

ARTICLE II. DEPARTMENTS.

SECTION 1. It shall consist of nine departments: The first, of School Superintendence; the second, of Normal Schools; the third, of Elementary Schools; the fourth, of Higher Instruction; the fifth, of Industrial Education; the sixth, of Art Education; the seventh, of Kindergarten Instruction; the eighth, of Music Education: the ninth, of Secondary Education; and a National Council of Education. SEC. 2. Other departments may be organized in the manner prescribed in this Constitution.

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP.

SECTION 1. Any person in any way connected with the work of education, or any educational association, shall be eligible to membership. Such person or association may become a member of this Association by paying two dollars and signing this Constitution, and may continue a member by the payment of an annual fee of two dollars. On neglect to pay such fee, the membership will cease.

SEC. 2. Each department may prescribe its own conditions of membership, provided that no person be admitted to such membership who is not a member of the general Association.

SEC. 3. Any person eligible to membership may become a life-member by paying at once twenty dollars.

ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS.

SECTION 1. The officers of this Association shall be a President, twelve Vice-Pres idents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, one Director for each State, District or Territory represented in the Association, and the presiding officers of the several departments

and a Board of Trustees to be constituted as hereinafter provided. Any friend of education may become a life-director by the donation of one hundred dollars to the Association at one time, either by himself or on his behalf; and any educational association may secure a perpetual directorship by a like donation of one hundred dollars, the director to be appointed annually or for life. Whenever a life-member desires to become a life-director, he shall be credited with the amount he has paid for his life-membership.

SEC. 2. The President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Directors, LifeDirectors, President of the Council, and presiding officers of their respective departments shall constitute the Board of Directors, and, as such, shall have power to appoint such committees from their own number as they shall deem expedient.

SEC. 3. The elective officers of the Association shall be chosen by ballot, unless otherwise ordered, on the second day of each annual session, a majority of the votes cast being necessary for a choice. They shall continue in office until the close of the annual session subsequent to their election, and until their successors are chosen, except as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 4. Each department shall be administered by a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and such other officers as it shall deem necessary to conduct its affairs; but no person shall be elected to any office of any department, or of the Association, who is not, at the time of the election, a member of the Association.

SEC. 5. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association and of the Board of Directors, and shall perform the duties usually devolving upon a presiding officer. In his absence, the first Vice-President in order who is present shall preside; and in the absence of all Vice-Presidents, a pro tempore chairman shall be appointed on nomination, the Secretary putting the question.

SEC. 6. The Secretary shall keep a full and accurate report of the proceedings of the general meetings of the Association and all meetings of the Board of Directors, and shall conduct such correspondence as the Directors may assign, and shall have his records present at all meetings of the Association and of the Board of Directors. The Secretary of each department shall, in addition to performing the duties usually pertaining to his office, keep a list of the members of his department.

SEC. 7. The Treasurer shall receive and under the direction of the Board of Trustees hold in safe keeping all moneys paid to the Association; shall expend the same only upon the order of said Board; shall keep an exact account of his receipts and expenditures, with vouchers for the latter, which accounts, ending the first day of July each year, he shall render to the Board of Trustees, and, when approved by said Board, he shall report the same to the Board of Directors. The Treasurer shall give such bond for the faithful discharge of his duties as may be required by the Board of Trustees; and he shall continue in office until the first meeting of the Board of Directors held prior to the annual meeting of the Association next succeeding that for which he is elected.

SEC. 8. The Board of Directors shall have power to fill all vacancies in their own body; shall have in charge the general interests of the Association, excepting those herein intrusted to the Board of Trustees; shall make all necessary arrangements for its meetings, and shall do all in its power to make it a useful and honorable institution. Upon the written application of twenty members of the Association for permission to establish a new department, they may grant such permission. Such new department shall in all respects be entitled to the same rights and privileges as the others. The formation of such department shall in effect be a sufficient amendment to this Constitution for the insertion of its name in Article II, and the Secretary shall make the necessary alterations.

SEC. 9. The Board of Trustees shall consist of four members, elected by the

Board of Directors for a term of four years, and the President of the Association, who shall be a member er officio during his term of office. At the election of the Trustees in 1886, one Trustee shall be elected for one year, one for two years, one for three years, and one for four years, and annually thereafter, at the first meeting of the Board of Directors held prior to the annual meeting of the Association, one Trustee shall be elected for the term of four years. All vacancies occurring in said Board of Trustees, whether by resignation or otherwise, shall be filled by the Board of Directors for the unexpired term; and the absence of a Trustee from two consecutive annual meetings of the Board shall forfeit his membership therein. The Board of Trustees thus elected and constituted shall be the executive financial officers of this Association, as a body corporate, as conferred by the certificate of incorporation under the provisions of the Act of General Incorporation, Class Third, of the Revised Statutes of the District of Columbia, dated the twenty-fourth day of February, 1886, at Washington, D. C., and recorded in Liber No. 4, "Acts of Incorporation for the District of Columbia."

SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to provide for safe keeping and investment of all funds which the Association may receive from life-directorships, or from donations; and the income of such invested funds shall be used exclusively in paying the cost of publishing the annual volume of Proceedings of the Association, excepting when donors shall specify otherwise. It shall also be the duty of the Board to issue orders on the Treasurer for the payment of all bills approved by the Board of Directors, or by the President and Secretary of the Association acting under the authority of the Board of Directors; and, when practicable, the Trustees shall invest all surplus funds exceeding one hundred dollars, that may remain in the hands of the Treasurer after paying the expenses of the Association for the previous year.

ARTICLE V. MEETINGS.

SECTION 1. The Annual Meeting of the Association shall be held at such time and place as shall be determined by the Board of Directors.

SEC. 2. Special meetings may be called by the President at the request of five Directors.

SEC. 3. Any department of the Association may hold a special meeting at such time and place as by its own regulations it shall appoint.

SEC. 4. The Board of Directors shall hold their regular meetings at the place, and not less than two hours before the assembling of the Association.

SEC. 5. Special meetings may be held at such other times and places as the Board or the President shall determine.

SEC. 6. Each new Board shall organize at the session of its election. At its first meeting a Committee on Publication shall be appointed, which shall consist of the President and the Secretary of the Association for the previous year, and one member from each department.

ARTICLE VI.-BY-LAWS.

By-laws, not inconsistent with this Constitution, may be adopted by a two-thirds vote of the Association.

ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENTS.

This Constitution may be altered or amended at a regular meeting by the unanimous vote of the members present, or by a two-thirds vote of the members present, provided that the alteration or amendment has been substantially proposed in writing at a previous meeting.

BY-LAWS.

1. At each regular meeting of the Association there shall be appointed a Committee on Nominations, one on Honorary Members, and one on Resolutions.

2. The President and Secretary shall certify to the Board of Trustees all bills approved by the Board of Directors.

3. Each paying member of the Association shall be entitled to a copy of its Proceedings.

4. No paper, lecture, or address shall be read before the Association or any of its departments in the absence of its author, nor shall any such paper, lecture or address, be published in the volume of Proceedings without the consent of the Association, upon approval of the Executive Committee.

5. It shall be the duty of the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the Association, to appoint annually some competent person to examine the securities of the permanent fund held by the Board of Trustees, and his certificate showing the condition of the said fund shall be attached to the report of the Board of Trustees.

ACT OF INCORPORATION.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association, held at Saratoga Springs, New York, July 14, 1885, the following resolution was passed:

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to secure articles of incorporation for the National Educational Association, under United States or State laws, as speedily as may be.

N. A. Calkins, of New York, Thomas W. Bicknell, of Massachusetts, and Eli T. Tappan, of Ohio, were appointed such committee.

Under the authority of the resolution quoted above, and with the approval of the committee, and by competent legal advice, the chairman obtained a

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION.

We, the undersigned, Norman A. Calkins, John Eaton, and Zalmon Richards, citizens of the United States, and two of them citizens of the District of Columbia, do hereby associate ourselves together, pursuant to the provisions of the Act of General Incorporation, Class Third, of the Revised Statutes of the District of Columbia, under the name of the National Educational Association, for the full period of twenty years, the purpose and objects of which are to elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching, and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States. . . . . To secure the full benefit of said act, we do here execute this our Certificate of Incorporation as said act provides.

In witness whereof, we severally set our hands and seals, this 24th day of February, 1886, at Washington, D. C. NORMAN A. CALKINS. [L. S.] JOHN EATON. ZALMON RICHARDS.

[L. S.] [L. S.]

Duly acknowledged before Michael P. Callan, notary public in and for the District of Columbia, and recorded in Liber No. 4, Acts of Incorporation for the District of Columbia.

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