:iiiK!i!i'?iiiiiSiiiiiP^^^^^ LB 2529 .N75P7 .0 -^ ^. A V JH\ K^ /M. ^ V^ ^9^ ^^^^ ^^'%. - <9 ^,1. *'»vi- '' -.^'-^^ ^ « ♦ *' g.^^ .'/J^^ * * 1^ » d o %t.^-*. <■ . .v ."'^ .:-, --^^ « f « »• ' « «1* O O . »^cs:5^^^*^^ O «; "t^o^ o • 1 ^ * • » o V •. u.,^:^ ." Passed March 10, 1884; three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York^ represented in Senate and Asse^nbly, do enact as follows : Section 1. Provision shall be made by the proper local school authorities for iustructiug all pupils in all schools sup- ported by public money, or under State control, in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of alco- holic drinks, stimulants and narcotics upon the human system. § 2. No certificate shall be granted to any person to teach in the public schools of the State of New York after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, who has not passed a satis- factory examination in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics upon the humau system. To take effect March 30, 1884. I DtPAPTTKiNT, OF THE SCHOOI. LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YOKK. CONTAINING ALL THE ESSENTIAL POINTS PEE- TAINING TO CITIZENS, TEACHERS, AND SCHOOL OFFICERS, TO JAN. 1884. BY C. T, POOLER, CONDUCTOR OF TEACHERS' INSTITUTES; AUTHOR OF " CHART OF CIVIL goverment;" "test speller;" and "hints ON TEACHING ORTHCEPT," rj?f/ r NEW YOEK: ^^^t"^'^' E. L. KELLOGG & 00. 1884. 0^ Copyright by C. T. Pooler, 1884. PEEFACE. To know the law is the first safeguard against its violation. It is safe to say that a large majority of all school district difficulties, culminating too often in petty law- suits, and of tener still in social quarrels that seldom die, grow out of an ignorance of a few points in the school law. The object of this little classification of one hundred and fifty points in our school law governing citizens, teachers, and school officers, is to place the same in a cheap form within the reach of all. C. T. POOLER. Deansville, N. Y. January, 1884. INDEX. The figures in the index refer to the sections. School year and annual meeting, sections 1 to 4 Voters at school meetings (( 5 Census of children of school age t( 6 School district meetings a 7 to 18 Trustees, — powers and duties i{ 19 to 55 Teachers, — powers and restrictions (( 56 to 87 District Clerk, duties u 88 to 91 District Collector, duties (I 92 to 100 Librarian i 101 Town Clerk, duties a 102 to 107 Supervisor a 108 to 119 School Commissioner it 120 to 133 Superintendent of Public Instruction li 134 to 141 Appendix : Page 34 The Teacher's Eights, 85 Children's Eights, 38 Parents' Eights, 39 EXPLANATION, The figures at the end of statements denote the page in in the Code of Public Instruction of 1868, on which vjill he found the law embraced in the statement. Laws and decisions made since 1868 are indicated by the date affixed to the same. THE SCHOOL YEAR AND THE AN- NUAL SCHOOL MEETINa, Section!. "An annual school meeting of each school district shall be held the last Tuesday of August in each year, and unless the hour and the place thereof shall have been fixed by a vote of a previous district meeting, the same shall be held in the school-house at seven o'clock in the evening." Laws of 1883. "This act shall take effect on the first day of January, 1884." §2. An act in relation to the election of officers in certain school districts, (those containing 300 or more children of school age), is amended and is as follows : " Such election shall be held on the Wednesday next following the last Tuesday in August in each year, between the hours of twelve o'clock, mid-day and four o'clock in the afternoon." Laws oi 1883. 5 6 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS, §3. The school year expires on the twentieth day of August in each year. "The trustees of each school district shall, be- tween the last Tuesday of August and the first Tuesday of September in each year, make and di- rect to the School Commissioner, a report in writ- ing, dated on the twentieth day of August of the year in which it is made, and shall sign and certi- fy it, and deliver it to the clerk of the town in which the school district is situated." Laws of 1883. §4. *'The annual meeting of the Board of Educa- tion of every union free school district, shall be held on the first Tuesday of Septembei' in each year." Laws of 1883. V0TEB8 AT SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETINGS. §5. By the laws of 1881, there are three classes of persons who may vote, as follows : I. "Every person (male or female), who is a resident of the district, of the age of twenty-one years, entitled to hold lands in this state, who either owns or hires real estate in the district liable to taxation for school purposes." VOTERS AT SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETINGS. 7 II. "Every citizen of the United States (male or female), above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district, and who owns any per- sonal property assessed on the last preceding as- sessment roU of the town, exceeding fifty dollars in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from ex- ecution." III. "Every citizen of the United States, (male or female,) who is above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district, and who has permanently residing with him, or her, a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the school of the district for a period of at least eight weeks within the year preceding the time at which the vote is offered." In relation to this, Class III., Attorney General RusseU, at the solicitation of Supt. W. B. Ruggles, for his opinion says, under date of May 28, 1883 : "It will be observed that the statute uses the term "him, or her," evidently for the purpose of giving the particular party with whom the child resides, the right to vote, and was not intended to confer such right of voting upon both the husband and the wife the legal residence of the child would be with the husband, and he alone 8 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. wouid by reason of such residence be entitled to vote at the school meeting held in the district in which he resides." CENSUS OF CHILDBEN OF SCHOOL AGE. §6. The enumeration of children of school age, over five and under twenty-one years of age resid- ing in the district, shall be taken on the thirtieth day of June in each year. Laws of 1883. SCHOOL MEETINGS. §7. A special district meeting shall be held when- ever called by the trustees. The notice thereof shall state the purpose for which it is called. No- tice of at least five days shall be given, and must be served on each inhabitant of the district. But an annual meeting may adopt a resolution prescribing some other mode of giving notice, which shall con- tinue in force till rescinded. 96. §8. A district clerk cannot authorize any other person to call a school meeting. 329. §9. A district meeting is not bound by strict parliamentary rules ; it makes its own. 338. SCHOOL MEETINGS. 9 §10. A chairman of a school district meeting is entitled to a vote on all qr.estions involving the levying of a tax. 435. §11. When a new district is to be formed the School Commissioner shall prepare the notice; and six days' notice shall be given. 92. §12. A tax for the purchase of a site for a school house, cannot be voted to be raised by installments 114, 378. §13. A tax for building, hiring, or repairing a school-house may be voted to be raised by equal installments. The vote must be taken by record- ing the ayes and noes. 121, 378, 436. §14. A moderator (chairman) of a district meet- ing has the same right to vote as though he did not preside. 439. §15. Trustees of a union free school must be elect- ed by ballot. 427. §16. A school district has no power to vote a tax for building a school-house and public hall com- bined. Supt, Gilmour, 1874. §17. An election will not be set aside because of illegal votes when they do not affect the result 433. §18. ''No school-house shall be built in any 10 NEW YOBK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. school district in this State, until the plan of such school-house, so far as ventilation, heat and light- ing is concerned, shall be approved in writing by the School Commissioner," in whose district such school-house is to be built. Laws of 1883. TEUSTEES. §19. A school trustee holds his office one year, and till his successor is elected ; where there are three trustees, the office is held three years. 126. §20. If a district changes from three trustees to one, it can have but one trustee thereafter, (126) ; until by a two-thirds vote at an annual meeting, it shall resolve to have three trustees instead of one. Laws of 1878. §21. Neither the town supervisor nor a school commissioner can be trustee ; and no trustee can hold the office of district clerk, collector or Hbra- rian. 125. ^22. A trustee may resign in writing to the su- pervisor of his town. 1 28. §23, If a vacancy in the office of trustee is not ffiled within thirty days after its occurrence by the district, the supervisor of the town may fill the same by appointment. 127. TRUSTEES. 11 §24. A trustee may be removed from oflice for willful neglect of duties, by the Supt. of Public In- struction. 420, 422. §25. A trustee cannot be teacher in his own dis- trict, 416. Also decision of Supt, A. B. Weaver, 1871. %2%. A trustee may appoint a district clerk, col- lector, or librarian, to fill a vacancy in the office. 127. §27. The trustee has the sole custody of the school-house and appurtenances, (136, 358), and of the district library. 202. §28. The trustee is the only person empowered to exercise authority as to what text-books shall be used in the common school. 27, 28. §29, The trustee alone has authority to expel a pupil from school for habitual misconduct, or when afflicted with a contagious disease. 131, 132. §30. A trustee may permit the school-house, when unoccupied, to be used for educational pur- poses, or for religious meetings ; but if one of three trustees objects to such use it cannot be permitted. 148, 348, 358. §31. A trustee may expend twenty dollars in re- pairing a school-house; fifty dollars for building 13 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. out-houses, when there is none on the school prem- ises ; furnish broom, pail, cup, and other necessary- implements to keep the school-house clean, and make it comfortable for use, also provide fuel ; he may provide for building fires, and cleaning the school-house, and levy tax for the same without a vote of the district. 146. §32. Trustees may purchase globes, maps, and other apparatus, such as in their judgment the in- terest and welfare of the^cliool requires, but the cost thereof, estiniatin^ and' including the value of the apl^aratus' now owned by any school district, shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars, and levy a tax for the same without a vote of the district. Laws of 1871. §33. When directed by the school commissioner the trustees may abate any nuisance not 1 o exceed in cost twenty -five dollars, and expend two hun- dred dollars in repairing a school-house, and levy a tax for the same. 22, 146. They may at any time levy a tax for the balance if teacher's wages, after the public money has been expended. 137, 145. §34. The trustee is the only person authorized to make a legal contract for the district, or to accept TRUSTEES. 13 work done, he therefore must be associated with all committees appointed by the district for build- ing, or repairing a school-house, etc. 418, 419, 414, 139, He must accept a new building erected for the district before it can become the legal property of the district. (359.) Trustees have no right to sell an old school-house, when a new one has been built, unless instructed to do so by a vote of the district. 359. §35. Trustees have sole power to hire teachers and determine the wages to be paid, (136, 141) and they are not bound by a vote of the district in re- gard to the same. 395, 397. §36. A trustee cannot legally employ a teacher who has, not an unexpired license to teach, (140); and if he does so, the teaching by such a person is a private, not a public school, which cannot be paid for by tax or public money. 133, 362. §37. Trustees cannot legally employ a teacher who is related to either of them within two de- grees, without the approval of a two-thirds vote of those present and voting at a district meeting duly called. 136. 14 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. The disability of relationship does not apply to union free school. 401. A sole trustee cannot hire a teacher for a longer time than the close of the term commencing next preceding the time of the expiration of his office, without first having the approval of a majority vote at a district meeting. Three trustees and boards of education may hire a teacher for one year, but not for a longer time. Laws of 1879. §38. Trustees may dismiss a teacher for a viola- tion of contract, (406) and for gross immorality in conduct or language in the school-room. 403, 402. §89. The trustee has sole authority to allow non- resident pupils, or adult persons residing in his district, to attend the school, and to fix the terms of tuition; the consent should be in writing. 131, 352, 354. §40. Any trustee who applies, directs, or con- tents to the application of public money, or money raised by tax, to the payment of an unqualified teacher, thereby commits a misdemeanor. 133. §41. Trustees may, in certain cases, make an original assessment of land, by giving twenty days notice to the party concerned. 180, 373, 372, 381. §42. The town assessment roll, as reviewed and NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. 15 adopted by the assessors, is complete as the last assessment roll of the town for all school purposes 374, 384. §43. Trustees may modify or correct a tax-list any time before delivery to the collector. 167, 385. §44. A school district cannot take a perpetual lease for the site of a school-house. 367. §45. A warrant for the collection of a tax voted by the district shall not be delivered to the collec- tor tiU the thirty-first day after the tax is voted; but a warrant for the collection of a tax not voted may be delivered to the collector at any time 167, 193. §46. Any person who shall willfully disturb, in- terrupt or disquiet any district school, or school- meeting in session, or any persons assembled with the permission of the trustees of the district, in any district school-house, for the purpose of giving or receiving instruction, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars. 234, 235. §47. Trustees have no power to levy a tax to re- pair a condemned school-house. Supt. A. B. Weav- er, 1871. §48. A school-house site cannot be changed by a vote at an annual school meeting. It can be done 16 TRUSTEES. only at a special school-meeting called for that purpose. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1869. §49. Trustees cannot make an original assess- ment of railroad property. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1873. §50. A trustee cannot legally give his consent for the alteration of his school district, when such al- alteration would set himself or his property into another district. 313. §51. Parcels of land bought of one or more parties, but all connected with the original farm upon which the owner resides, are taxable as one farm in the district of his residence. 380. §52. Trustees have power to levy a tax for build- ing a school-house in place of one condenmed, without a vote of the district (mode of proceed- ure). 23. §53. Trustees have full discretionary power in the matter of prescribing a course of study in the school under their charge. Supt. A. B. Weaver 1870. §54. A trustee cannot be permitted to fix his own price for fuel furnished by himself for the district. 424. §55. The official act of two trustees, without no- NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS, 17 tifying or consulting the third, is iUegal and void 416. TEACHERS. §56. In law a qualified teacher is a person who holds an unexpired license to teach; without such hcense, he is unqualified. 132, 133. §57. A teacher cannot make a legal contract for a school unless he holds an unexpired license to teach. 133. §58. A teacher who commences a school without a hcense, is liable to be discharged at any moment- by so domg he annuls His contract, which is not renewed by his obtaining a license subsequently; he must make a new contract. 410, 411. §59. A teacher cannot be legally 'employed in a school if he is related within two degrees, by blood or marriage, to any trustee of the district. See §60. Uncles and cousins of any person are not re- lated to him within two degrees. 401. §61. A contract made by a teacher with trustees separately, is illegal and void; there must be a 18 TEACHERS. meeting of the Board of Trustees to make a legal contract. 396, 397, 398. §62. A teacher cannot make up lost time by- teaching on a holiday, without the consent of the trustees. 402. §63. The legal holidays are: New Year's Day, Washington's Birthday, Decoration Day, Fourth of July, General Election Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Also any other day that has been set apart by the State, or nation, as a day of fasting and prayer. Laws of 1875. §64. A teacher cannot legally close his school for a single day without the consent of the trustees ; if he does so, he abandons his contract. 406. (Note. — I am informed that the Department has held that if the school be closed temporarily, on account of the sudden illness of the teacher, such closing without the consent of the trustee does not forfeit the contract.) §65. A teacher may close his school to attend the Teachers' Institute in the county in which he is teaching, without violating his contract, and he is entitled to full wages for such attendance at the institute. 22Q. §66. A teacher has no authority to expel a pupil TRUSTEES. 19 from school; the trustee alone has such power. 131, 132. §67. In union free school districts a pupil may- be expelled by order of the Board of Education. 431. §68. A teacher may inflict corporal punishment upon a pupil for the purpose of correction. 408, 409. §69. The infliction of cruel punishment is good cause for annulling a teacher's certificate. 407. §70. The Department will annul a teacher's cer- tificate for cruel and unreasonable discipline in the government of a school. 407. §71. The teacher is legally responsible for the safe keeping of the school register. 411. §72. The refusal to grant a certificate because of the teacher's habits of profane swearing, is justi- fied. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1874. §73. The failure of a teacher to produce a certifi- cate of qualification, demanded by the trustee, jus- tifies the discharge of the teacher. Supt. N. Gil- mour, 1876. §74. The authority of trustees and of teachers over pupils ceases after the close of the school and 20 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. their departure from the school premises. Supt. N. Grilmour, 1875. §75. A teacher's license will be revoked for un- justifiable severity in corporal punishment. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1872. §76. Trustees may summarily dismiss a teacher for a violation of his contract, or for gross imraor- ality in the school. 402, 403. §77. A teacher's certificate may be annulled, if on a re-examination by the commissioner, he be found incompetent. 34. §78. On charges made affecting a teacher's moral character, after ten days' notice to the teacher, the commissioner must, if on an examination he find the charges sustained, annul the teacher's license by whomsoever granted ; and if it be a State cer- tificate, or a normal school diploma, he mast forth- with notify the State superintendent of all the facts in the case. 35. §79. Holders of State certificates are not exempt from examination by local authorities, if the trus- tees require it. 411. §80. Teachers have no authority to change the text-books in a school, or to introduce new ones. 27, 28. TRUSTEES. 21 §81. A contract, illegal in its inception, may be ratified by acquiescence of all the trustees and ful- fillment by the teacher. Supt. A. B. Weaver. §82. A teacher is not entitled to compensation for building fires if it is not mentioned in the con- tract. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1868. §83. The trustees are ordered and directed to pay the teacher for time spent, during the term, in at- tendance at a Teachers' Institute. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1869. §84. Trustees cannot offset a private claim against the wages of a teacher for services in teaching. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1873. §85. A commissioner has no right to withhold a certificate from a teacher found competent, because he intends to teach some particular school disap- proved by the commissioner. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1869. §86. The annulment of a teacher's license for want of ability to teach, without a re-examination, is illegal. Supt. A. B. Weaver, 1869. §87. In law a "month " means a calendar month of thirty days. If a teacher hires out to teach by the month, he must teach thirty days, less the Sundays, legal holidays and the Saturdays, to 32 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. which the teacher is entitled, occurring therein. 402. DISTRICT CLEBK, §88. The district clerk must make and preserve the records of the proceedings of all school meet- ings in the district in a book provided for that pur- pose. 129. He must post notices of all school meetings, (and if an adjourned special meeting is for a longer time than one month, must re-post notices for such meeting), at least five days before such meeting, (129) ; if it be for a special meeting, he must notify each inhabitant of the district by reading to him the notice, stating the objects of such meeting. 94, 96. §89. He must "notify all persons elected to district offices of their election, and report the names and post-office address of such persons to the town clerk of his town or forfeit five dollars. 129. §90. A district clerk cannot appoint a deputy to act for him. 329, 342. §91. He must deliver all district books and papers in his possession to his successor in office, under a penalty of fifty dollars. 129. DISTRICT COLLECTOR, 23 DISTRICT COLLECTOR, §92. The district collector must give a bond with sureties, accepted bj the trustees, before he can legally enter upon the duties of his office, (193) ; and by neglect to execute such bond he vacates his office. (127.) §93. If a collector, not having executed the re- quired bond, receives a warrant from the trustees for the collection of taxes, he cannot enforce the collection from those who refuse to pay, and the trustees become liable for all losses which the dis- trict may thereby sustain (303). Also letter from Supt. A. B. Weaver, case, dist. No. 11, Paris, Oneida Co. §94. The collector is the treasurer of the district, and has no right to pay out moneys except on the written order of the trustees, (302, 303) ; and he should not pay over moneys to the trustees. 303. §95. The collector must give two weeks' notice, posted in three places in the district, one of which must be on the school-house door, before he can collect taxes ; but during said two weeks he may receive taxes, taking one per cent, fees thereon. In 24 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. case he levies on and sells property, lie has ten cents per mile travehng fees. Laws of 1871. §96. Any goods and chattels lawfully in the pos- session of a delinquent tax-payer, may be seized and sold by the collector, though such delinquent be not the lawful owner thereof (191) ; and no claim of property made thereto by any other person shall be available to prevent such sale. 192. §97. If a trustee assess the property of a person not taxable, the collector is Uable as a trespasser if he collect a tax thereon. 444. §98. A collector is responsible for all losses to the district occasioned by his neglect of duty. 302. §99. A collector's warrant may be renewed once by the trustees; but any subsequent renewal re- quires the written consent of the supervisor. 196. §100. A collector is not, under any circumstances authorized to sell real estate. 303. LIBBABIAN. §101. The librarian has the supervision of the^ school library (130), and cannot be trustee (125.) For full particulars as to district libraries read from page 196 to 211 in the Code of 1868. TOWN CLERK'S DUTY. 35 TOWN CLEEK'S DUTIES UNDER THE SCHOOL LAW. §102. It is the duty of the town clerk to preserve all books, records, and papers of his office touch- ing common schools. To receive from the super- visor and record the certificates of apportionment of school moneys to the town ; to forthwith notify the trustees of the several school districts of the fact. 72. §103. To see that all trustees deposit with him at the proper time, their annual reports, and to de- liver the same to the school commissioner ; to de- liver to the trustees all blanks, books, and papers, left with him for that purpose by school offi- cers. 72. §104. To receive and record the accounts of the supervisor of all school moneys presented to the town auditors and their action thereon ; to record in the same book the supervisor's final account of such moneys, and to deliver a copy of the same to such supervisor's successor; to receive from the outgoing supervisor and file and record in the same S6 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. book the county treasurer's certificate of the ap- proval of such successor's bond. 72. §105. To act when called upon in the alteration of school districts; to receive and preserve the books, papers, and records of any dissolved school districts. 73. §106. To perform any other duties imposed by the school law. 73. §107. His services and expenses for such duties are a town charge, to be audited as such and paid by the town, 73. DUTIES OF SUPERVISOR UNDER THE SO HO OL LA W. §108. The supervisor shall receive and copy the school commissioner's certificate of apportionment of school moneys for his town; file the original certificate with the town clerk ; execute a bond in double the amount of such moneys, accepted by the county treasurer, draw said moneys from him and pay the same to teachers on the order of trustees. 62. §109. He can use no discretion in the matter of paying over such money on a trustee's order. 412. DUTIES OF SUPERVISOR. 27 §110. He shall in like manner receive and dis- burse moneys from gospel and school lots. 64. §111. He shall on the first Tuesday in March re- port to the county treasurer all moneys in his hands not drawn out, and the districts for which it is held. 68. §112. He must sue for and receive all penalties which under the school law inure to the benefit of common schools in his town. 69. §113. He may accept the resignation of a trustee (128) ; and after a vacancy of thirty days in the office of trustee in his town may appoint a trustee to fill the same. 127. §114. In concurrence with the school commis- sioner he may condemn a school-house as unfit for use. 22. §115. He shall when legally called on, act with the school commissioner and the town clerk in the matter of the alteration of a school district. 69. 116. His written consent is necessary for chang- ing the site of a school-house, stating that in his opinion such change is necessary, before the change can be made. 122. §117. His written consent is necessary for the 28 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS, renewal of a collector's warrant after the same has been previously renewed. 197. §118. He must sell the property of a dissolved school district. 89. §119. In certain contingencies he has power to call a district meeting. 97. SCHOOL COMMISSIONER. 120. The school commissioner is elected at the annual election in November; enters upon the duties of his office the first day of January next following, and holds his office three years and un- til his successor qualffies. 19. §121. He may vacate his office by filing his resig- nation with the county clerk, or by removing from, the county, or by accepting the office of supervi- sor, town clerk, or trustee of a school district. 20, A vacancy in the office may be filled by appoint- ment by the county judge ; if there be no county judge, the State Superintendent shall make the ap- pointment. 20. §122. For certain specified causes a school com- missioner may be removed from office, or may have his salary withheld by the State Superinten- dent. 16, 21. SCHOOL COMMISSIONER. 39 §123. He cannot act as an agent for any author, publisher, or bookseller, nor receive any gift for his influence in recommending or procuring the use of any book, or school apparatus, or furniture of any kind whatever ; any violation of this act is a misdemeanor, and will subject the commissioner to removal from office. 21. §124. It is the school commissioner's duty to ex- amine and license persons to teach. (23.) To visit all schools in his district as often in each year as shall be practicable. (22.) To annually hold a teacher's institute in his county. (225.) To dis- tribute all school blanks, papers and registers among his several school districts. To collect the trustees' annual reports and report abstracts there- from to the State superintendent at the times pre- scribed. (40.) To apportion the school moneys among his districts, according to instructions, on the third Tuesday in March in each year. (54.) To amend if necessary the records of school district boundaries. 22, 319. 125. He may re-examine a teacher, and if he find him deficient in learning or ability, annul his certificate. 23, 34. §126. It is his duty to examine any charges af- 30 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS, fecting a teacher's moral character, (23), giving the teacher at least ten days' notice prior to a hearing, (36), and if the charges are sustained, to annul such teacher's certificate and to declare him unfit to teach. 24, 35. §127. Every school commissioner has power to take affidavits and administer oaths in all matters pertaining to common schools, but without charge or fee. 38. §128. School commissioners alone have authority to form or alter school districts, (319) ; and the or- der for such alteration must recite the consent, or refusal of the trustees of the affected districts. 310, 318. §129. The annulment of a school district rests with the commissioner (320) ; and a district is not annulled until all of its parts are annexed to ad- joining districts. 318. §130. The commissioner must call the first meet- ing for the erection of a new school district. 92. §131. He may direct trustees to abate any nui- sance upon school premises, at a cost not to exceed twenty five dollars; and may direct the trustees to repair a school-house, at a cost not to exceed, two hundred dollars. 22. SUPERINTENDENT. 31 §132. He may in concurrence with the supervisor of the town condemn a school as unfit for use for school purposes. 22. §33. The commissioner has no authority to di- vide a union free school district, 323. SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC IN STBUCTION §134. The superintendent of .public instruction is elected by a joint ballot of the Senate and As- sembly on the second Wednesday in March, and enters upon the duties of his office on the seventh day of April next following; he holds his office three years. He shall appoint a deputy superin- tendent. In case of a vacancy in the office, the deputy superintendent shall act as superintendent, and in case of a vacancy in both offices at the same time, the governor shall appoint a superintendent. 2. Laws of 1883. §135. He is, ex-officio, a trustee of Cornell Uni- versity and of the New York Asylum for Idiots, a Eegent of the University, and Chairman of the Ex- ecutive Committee of the State Normal School at Albany. He has the supervision of aU the other 33 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. Normal Schools and of the common schools in the State, and provides for the education of Indian children of the State. 4. §136. He must submit to the Legislature an an- nual report, stating the condition of the common schools and of all other schools and institutions under his supervision and visitation, the estimates and accounts of expenditures of school moneys, and his apportionment of school moneys. 15. §137, He may for certain causes remove a school commissioner from office, (16, 21) or withold his order for the commissioner's salary, which being withholden, shall be forfeited. 21. §138. He may for certain causes remove a trus- tee from office. 420, 422. §139. He may grant or revoke certificates of qualification to teach. 15. §140. "All questions relating to the holding of school district meetings, and any and all official acts of school officers, trustees, commissioners, supervisors, or others relating to the conduct of common schools, or concerning any matter, act, or duty, required or performed, under the law pro- viding for the organization and maintenance of common schools, or any law relating or pertaining SUPERINTENDENT. 33 thereto, may be presented on appeal to the super- intendent of public instruction." 229 and 452. §141. The decision of such superintendent shall be final and conclusive, and not subject to question or review in any place or court whatever. 229, 452. APPENDIX. SCHOOL-EOOM RIGHTS AND DUTIES. It will be seen by the foregoing provisions of law per- taining to teachers, that the State, in the wisdom of experience, has hedged the common-school about with many careful restrictions, in order that the children may not suffer from improper persons as teachers, or from improper influences in their education and forma- tion of character. And yet, by the law of usage, called the common law, the teacher has more authority and greater discre- tionary power in the school-room over the conduct and destiny of others, than is exercised elsewhere by any other person in any other position in the State. The position of the teacher is nearly allied to that of a limit- ed monarch. He is the law-making power, the judi- ciary and the executive. Hence the greater need of self-control, of impartial judgment, of kindness of heart, and of large discretion. 34 APPENDIX. 35 THE TEACHEE'S EIGHTS. 1. The teacher has sole authority in the school-room and upon the school premises during school hours, as agamst aU other persons or disturbing causes what- soever. This is guaranteed by statute. Neither the parent nor the trustee can violate this sacred right with im- punity. The penalty is fixed, certain, and severe. This right carries with it the responsibhlity of a pro- tecting care of all school property from injury or deface- ment. Hence the duty to see that every injury is prompt- ly repaired, and by tunely suggestions to inculcate in the mmds of the pupils the principles of good taste as to their surroundings, correct principles, and their own moral obhgations as to the property of others. 2. It is the teacher's right to control the seating of the pupils, and to change the same whenever the inter- ests of the school demand it. To organize the school according to his own judgment; to arrange classes, times and plans of recitation, and to change the same. The duty under this right is to give to each pupilan equal proportionate share of the time and attention of the teacher. Its abuse is to rob the little ones of such time, and to bestow it where it is less needed, upon the more advanced classes, which is a great wrong. To see that each pupil has ample time allotted for study between recitations. 3. It is the teacher's right ajid duty to use the best 36 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS. improved methods in teaching with which he is familiar, whether it be an innovation or not. (This may require careful discretion and tact in some localities.) Hence the teacher's duty to read, study, take the papers, and keep well up with the improvements of the age in which he "lives, moves," and teaches. 4. Morally.— The teacher has a right to a suitable, com- fortable school-room, properly seated and lighted, and means for perfect ventilation for himself and pupils ; also, all the necessary appliances and implements with which to teach, illustrate and explain to younger minds. This includes blackboards, globes, charts, maps, diction- ary, etc.* This right cannot be enforced. Its fulfillment may be aided or attained, perhaps, by judicious persua- sion. 5. The teacher has a right to the respect, kind regard, and confidence of his pupils. This may be secured by a corresponding regard of the teacher, manifested towards his pupils at all times. 6. The teacher has a right to the respect and hearty co-operation of the patrons of the school, to sustain and encourage him in all his labors for the welfare of their children. 7. By legal decisions based upon common law, the teacher stands in loco parentis, that is, in the place of the parent. The largest parental rights, privileges and authority are hereby transferred to the teacher in the * iBjr thf la-VTO of 187i th^M^stee has a rf^bt4ie^-*lHaifi"t^»'0f jl^e^ thitigs without a vdie oMlie district. APPENDIX. 37 school-rooni, carrying with them corresponding respon- sibilities. The teacher should remember, however, that he is not possessed of the natm:al feelings of affection and sympathy of a parent towards a pupil, to modify or restrain him in his actions in any given emer- gency. The teacher has a right to adopt any and all necessary means and wholesome regulations for the conduct and management of the school, as a whole ; for the classes, recitations, study, and recreations, including all proper correctives for delinquencies in study or de- portment. Among these means the legal decisions recog- nize the teacher's right to inflict corporal punishment, except in those cities where boards of education have prohibited it. This infliction should be the very last re- sort after all other means have failed. And, if done at all, it should be done with the greatest care and dis- cretion on the part of the teacher. 8. By general custom the teacher has a right to sus- pend a pupil for continuous misconduct or open insubor- dination, from the privileges of the school for a single day, or long enough to consult the trustee in the mat- ter. The writer is not aware that this right to suspend a pupil has ever been established by a decision of the Department of Pubhc Instruction. It has, however, received the verbal sanction, vtdth advice to the teach- ers, by a Supt. of Public Instruction. 9. There is another custom of long standing, yet of doubtful utility, and perhaps of questionable right ; it is the practice of detaining a pupil after the school has 88 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL LAWS, closed, as a penalty for a delinquency in conduct, or to learn a neglected lesson. If detained at all, it should be only for a few moments. There is a point of time beyond which the detention of a pupil may merge into a trespass. The teacher should be careful in this mat- ter. CHILDEEN'S RIGHTS. It must not be forgotten that while the community has recognized rights in relation to the common school, while the school as a whole has rights, and while the the teacher has rights— so, too, each individual pupil, high or low, belonging to this family or to that, has the same inahenable rights, common to all, that cannot be restricted or abused without the perpetration of a great wrong. 1. Children have a right to plenty of fresh air to breathe. However imperfect the means of ventilation may be, there are always doors and windows in the school-house, and the teacher is in part responsible for any abridgement of this right. 2. Children have a right to perfect physical comfort at all times. This is the first condition of study. This is secured by proper seats proper position of the body, freedom to change position, whenever dictated by in- convenience or discomfort, proper temperature of the body dependent upon the temperature of the room, or the particular locality of the pupil. A frequent or con- tinuous trespass upon this right may result in disease or APPENDIX. 39 other physical injury, for which the teacher is responsi- ble. 3. A right to be cheerful and happy. This is the nor- mal condition of childhood, and is oneof the conditions of all profitable study. Hence children are entitled to clean, neat, and pleasant surroundings in the school- room ; to kind, respectful treatment by the teacher at all times ; advice, encouragement and assistance when needed ; and freedom from personal abuse — such as words of ridicule, humiliation, or contempt. Those teachers who excel in their profession, whose favorable reputation makes them known beyond the district of their labors and whose services are always in demand, are those who have always been most careful of the rights of children under their care, and who, therefore, have merited what they have secured, a lasting place in the confidence and affections of their pupils. PAEENTS' EIGHTS. It is the parent's right to have his children returned to him at the close of the term, with minds better edu- cated and developed, with improved manners and mor- als, and with bodies uninjured in any respect by the re- strictions to which they have been subjected in the school-room. The parties responsible for these results are the dis- trict itself, whose representative is the trustee, the teacher, and the children themselves. 'ALL WORK AND NO PLAT, MARES J ACE A DULL BOY.' Reception Day, ■9 4< A COLLECTION OF FRESH AND ORIGINAL DIA- LOGUES, RECITATIONS, DECLAMATIONS, AND SHORT PIECES FOR PRACTICAL nSEIN public anb private Schools. PRICE 30 CENTS EACH. PUBLISHED BY E. L. KELLOGG & CO., Edacationa] Publishers. 21 Park Place, N. V C O )P Y HI O HT, HISTORY OF THE 1 1 State Teachers' JIssociatioe By HYLAND C. KIRK. 192 pages Octavo. Cloth, $1.00. Illuminated Paper Cover, 50 Cents. This volume gives a history of the rise and progress of the pioneer State Teachers' Association of the U. S. It shows its action at each meeting, and the connection between it and important legislature is traced. The teachers will be proud of the volume, for it shows that the Association has had a notable history. There are excellent sketches of a large number of prominent educators, and the book is handsomely illus- trated with the portraits of 30 of the best known. Only a limited edition of this book was printed, and every teacher should procure a copy before the supply is exhausted. " A book which should interest those engaged in education." — Christian Union. " It promises great value to every one interested in the cause of educa- cation." — Troy Times. " It is a retrospect of what has been done in the matter of advancing educational interests." — Syracuse Herald. " It promises a wide interest and value." — Ont. Co. Times., N. Y, E. L. KELLOGG & CO., Educational Publishers, 21 Park Place, New York. Books for Teachers. Notes of Talks on Teaching. ' Given by Col. Francis W. Parker, (formerly Superintendent of Schools of Quincy, Mass.,) before the Martha's Vineyard Institute, Summer of 1882. Reported by Lelia E. Palridge. Square i6mo., 5x6^ inches, 192 pages, printed on /«/^ paper, and tastefully bound in English cloth. Price $1.00, postpaid. The Quincy Methods. (In Preparation.) Cloth, i6mo. About 400 pages. Price, Si. 50. To be ready in the Spring of 1884. This will be the companion volume to ' lalks on Teaching," and will illustrate the principles and theories advanced in it as practically applied in the Quincy system. Lectures on the Science and Art of Education. By Joseph Payne. Cloth, i6mo. 264 pages. Price $1.00; paper cover 50 cents. ^ ^ ,^ , r- 7 7 ^7 ■ From Col. F. W. Parker, Prin. Cook Co. Normal School, Llu- cago, III.—'"! advise every teacher to buy and stud^ Payne s Lectures ; no teacher can afford to be without the book. ' School Management. A Practical guide for the Teacher in the School Room. By Amos . M. Kellogg, Editor of the School Journal. Teachers' In- stitute, etc. Fourth Edition., revised and_ enlarged. English cloth with gold stamp. Price 75 cents, postpaid. History of the N. Y. State Teachers' Association. By Hyland C. Kirk, 192 pages with 30 portraits. Paper 50 cents. Cloth $1.00. Reception Day. Nos. I, 2, and 3 now ready. 160 pages of the best dialogues and recitations, etc., especially arranged for use in schools. Second edition, illuminated cover. 30 cents a number. S3. 00 a dozen, postpaid. How to Paint in Water Colors. With 12 original designs for coloring. By Lavinia S. Kellogg. Paper cover 40 cents. Song Treasures. Nos. I and 2 ready. A collection of songs for schools, teachers, in- stitutes, etc. With handsome cover. 10 cents each. S6.ooperioo. Copies of any of the above books sent on receipt of price. Corre- spondence solicited. Address, E. L. KELLOGG & CO., Educational Pulblisliers, 91 Fark Place, New YorJc. If s