P. L. 779. 5 April 1867 § 1. Provided, That it shall not be lawful for the judges of the said courts to appoint as controller any person related or connected with any one of said judges by the ties consanguinity or marriage. 8 June 1891 § 2. P. L. 223. Members of board of education for new wards. Term of office. of 504. Members of the board of public education for new wards in such cities shall be appointed by the judges of the courts of common pleas of the county. Their term of office shall be three years. 505. The said persons, so as aforesaid to be appointed, shall constitute the board 5 April 1867 § 2. of controllers of the first school district of Pennsylvania, and shall meet and organize the said board annually, on the first Monday of January. P. L. 779. Annual organiza tion. 13 May 1856 § 28. P. L. 573. Qualifications of controller. 2 Feb. 1854 § 22. P. L. 35. Oath of office. Ibid. Place of meeting. P. L. 80. 506. No person shall be eligible as a controller of the public schools, in the first school district of this commonwealth, unless he shall have the qualifications to serve as a member of the state senate. 507. The controllers shall each be sworn or affirmed that he will discharge the duties of the office of controller of the public schools with fidelity to the best of his ability. 508. The controllers shall meet in the room of the controllers of public schools in the city of Philadelphia. 509. Five members of the controllers of the public schools for the city and county 15 Feb. 1832 § 1. of Philadelphia shall constitute a quorum for the making of orders for the payment of money and the transaction of business generally, with this exception, that no order for the payment of money shall be made at any special meeting of the board unless a majority of the whole number be present. Quorum. 3 March 1818 § 5. School-houses. Books. (2.) Powers and duties of the board of education. 510. The said controllers of the public schools shall determine upon the number of school-houses which shall be erected or established in every section under the provisions of this act, and shall limit the expense of erecting and establishing every such school-house. They shall have the power to establish a model school, in order to qualify teachers for the sectional schools, or for schools in other parts of the state. They shall, also have power to provide such suitable books as they shall deem necessary for the use of the pupils belonging to the different schools superintendence. within the first district. They shall have the general superintendence over all the schools established under and by virtue of this act in the said district, and make such rules and regulations for their own government, and for the general regulations of the district, as may be deemed necessary for carrying this act into complete effect. They shall also have power to appoint a secretary. General Secretary. 11 April 1840 § 2. P. L. 296. Reports to superintendent of schools. 2 Feb. 1854 § 21. P. L. 34. School sections. 5 April 1867 § 3. P. L. 780. Powers continued. 18 Feb. 1871 § 1. P. L. 100. 511. The controllers of the public schools of the first school district of Pennsylvania shall, from time to time, when required by the superintendent of common schools, furnish such reports touching the condition and management of the schools under their charge, and of the methods of instruction practised therein, as he may deem useful for the advancement of the system of general education in the state. 512. For public school purposes each ward shall constitute a school section, and the board of controllers shall have full power to apportion school-houses and distribute the duties of the directors of the schools to and for all or any of the wards of the city in such manner as the board of controllers shall direct. 513. The said board of controllers shall have and possess all the powers, rights, and privileges which the present existing board of controllers of public schools of said district now lawfully has. 514. Whenever the board of public education of the city of Philadelphia has determined upon the erection of a new school-house, and the councils of the city Erection of school of Philadelphia have made an appropriation of money to build the same, all houses to be under matters in connection with the erection of said school-house shall be under the direction of board. direction of said board of public education,(x) who, immediately after the appropriation is made by councils, shall have a proper plan and specifications of said new school-house prepared; and they shall advertise in at least four of the daily papers of the city of Philadelphia, for not less than one week, for proposals for building said school-house, under the plan and specifications named; said advertisement shall state the time and place at which said proposals shall be opened, at which time and place the proposals made shall be publicly read, and the contract for the building shall be awarded to the lowest bidder within the amount appropriated, proper security being taken for the performance of the terms of contract so awarded. To advertise for proposals. Contract to lowest bidder. 25 April 1889. P. L. 50. Board authorized to enter and occupy ground for school purposes. 515. Whenever the board of public education in cities of the first class in this commonwealth shall be unable to procure such sites as they may deem desirable or expedient for the erection of school-houses, or for other school purposes, by agreement with the owner or owners of the land, it shall and may be lawful for the said board of public education, after the passage of an ordinance by the councils of such cities of the first class authorizing such entry and occupancy, to (x) After appropriations have been made neither of the councils nor its committees can control or direct the board in its contracts and improvements. Neither can they interfere with the course of studies or management of the schools. War. Op. 1884, 96. 25 April 1889. P. L. 50. enter upon and occupy ground sufficient for the purpose, and to use and occupy the same for the purpose of erecting thereon a school-house with its necessary or convenient appurtenances, or for other school purposes, which ground they shall To designate and designate and mark off in such manner as to locate the same, and pending the locate the same. proceedings, hereinafter provided for, the bond of such cities of the first class shall Bond for security. be deemed and taken as security for all damage done and suffered, or which shall occur to the owner or owners of such land, by reason of the taking of the same for the purposes aforesaid. Ibid. 516. And it shall and may be lawful for the court of common pleas of the proper county, on application thereto by petition of such board of public educa- Jury of six citizens tion, or of the owner or owners of said land, or any of them in behalf of all, to to assess damages. appoint a jury for assessing damages, consisting of six citizens of said county, not members of said board of public education, or owners of said land, and Time and place appoint a time, not less than twenty nor more than thirty days thereafter, for for jurors to meet. said jurors to meet upon said land, of which time and place ten days' notice shall Notice. be given by the petitioner or petitioners to said jurors and the other party, and court. the said jurors, or a majority of them, having been first duly sworn or affirmed To be sworn. faithfully, justly and impartially to decide and a true report to make concerning To view, assess all matters and things to be submitted to them, and having viewed the premises, damages if any, they shall establish and determine the quantity and value of the land so taken and report to to be used for the purposes aforesaid, and after having made a fair and just computation of the advantages and disadvantages, they shall estimate and determine How damages to whether any, and if any, what amount of damage has been or may be sustained, be paid. and to whom payable, and make report thereof to said court; and if damages be awarded, and the report be confirmed by the said court, judgment shall be entered thereon, and the amount of said judgment shall be paid to the holder thereof out of any money appropriated by the councils of such cities for the purchase of lands and erection of school-houses. 517. Each juror shall be entitled to the same pay per day, for every day necessarily employed in the performance of the duties herein prescribed, as is paid to road jurors in said cities: Provided, Either party shall have the right appeal. of Ibid. Pay of jurors. Appeal. 3 March 1818 § 6. 7 Sm. 55. 518. It shall be the duty of the said controllers to examine all accounts of Disbursements in moneys disbursed in erecting, establishing and maintaining the several schools erecting and mainestablished as aforesaid within the district. 519. All sums of money due, payable to, or received by the board of controllers shall be paid into the city treasury, and all sums expended by or for the purposes of the board of controllers shall be paid by the city treasurer, upon orders drawn under appropriations regularly made by councils. (3.) Schools, &c. taining schoolhouses. P. L. 35. 2 Feb. 1854 § 28. Moneys to be paid to city treasurer, and paid out on orders. P. L. 533. 520. The controllers of the public schools for the city and county of Philadel- 18 June 1886 § 23. phia be and they are hereby authorized, whenever they shall think proper, to establish one central high school, for the full education of such pupils of the public High school. schools of the first school district as may possess the requisite qualifications; and the moneys expended in the establishment and support of the said high school shall be provided and paid in the same manner as is now or shall hereafter be directed by law with respect to the other public schools of the said district. P. L. 527. 521. The controllers of the public schools of the first school district of Pennsyl- 9 April 1849 § 17. vania shall have and possess power to confer academical degrees in the arts, upon graduates of the central high school, in the city of Philadelphia, and the same and Academic degrees. like power to confer degrees, honorary and otherwise, which is now possessed by the University of Pennsylvania. 522. The said controllers are hereby authorized, whenever they shall think 14 April 1828 § 2. proper, to establish schools for the instruction of children under five years of P. L. 459. age, and the moneys expended in the establishment and support of these schools Kindergartens. shall be provided for and paid in the same manner as is now, or shall hereafter be directed by law, with respect to the other public schools in said district. P. L. 66. 523. The controllers of public schools of the first school district are hereby 12 March 1842 § 5. authorized and directed to cause such of the public schools in the said district, as they may deem necessary, to be opened at night, during the months of January, Night schools. February, March, October, November and December, of each and every year, for the instruction of male adults. P. L. 533. Lancasterian sys 524. So much of the tenth section of the act of March the third, Anno Domini 18 June 1836 § 5. one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, as renders the exclusive use of the Lancasterian system in the first school district obligatory upon the controllers and directors, and all such provisions (if any) in the said act, and the several supple- tem. ments thereto, as limit the benefits of the said public schools to the children of indigent parents, and so much of any act as is hereby altered or supplied, be, and the same are hereby repealed. 525. It shall be unlawful for any school director, superintendent or teacher to make any distinction whatever, on account of, or by reason of the race or color of 8 June 1881 § 1. P. L. 76. Race or color. P. L. 76. 8 June 1881 § 1. any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking admission to, any public or common school, maintained wholly or in part under the school laws of this commonwealth. 26 May 1871 § 1. P. L. 280. 526. The board of directors of any district, the controllers in cities and boroughs, or any school superintendent, shall not order or direct or make any change Changes in school- in the school-books or series of text-books used in any school under his or their superintendence, direction or control, more than once in every period of three books. Ibid. § 2. Violation. ent. 7 May 1885. P. L. 15. years. 527. Any school director, controller or superintendent, who shall violate the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced by the court to pay a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, and that he be deprived of his office. 528. The school directors of any city, borough or township in this commonwealth having a population of over five thousand inhabitants, may, on the first City superintend- Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, and every third year thereafter, elect viva voce by a majority of the whole number of directors present, one person of literary and scientific acquirements and skill and experience in the art of teaching, as city, borough and township superintendent, for the three succeeding school years. 8 June 1891 § 1. P. L. 223. Number of directors. Organization. (4.) School directors. 529. Hereafter there shall be twelve school directors in each ward in cities of the first class. They shall meet and organize by the election of a president and secretary, on the first Monday of April after their election. Those now in office shall serve out their terms which shall be extended to the first of April, in the year in which they would otherwise expire; and hereafter commencing at the election to be held in February, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and in each year thereafter, four directors shall be elected in each ward for three years from Terms of service. the first Monday of April following; and at such elections each elector may vote for three candidates, and the four candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. When new wards are created the whole board then in office shall, at the next regular meeting which shall happen not less than ten days after the division is decreed, fill up vacancies so as to make a full board of twelve directors for each ward. And at the following, and every municipal election thereafter, four directors shall be elected for three years in the manner before prescribed. The new boards shall meet and organize at a time and place to be fixed by the board of education or the president thereof, not less than ten days after the new boards shall be appointed. Until such boards meet and organize, the whole of the old board shall direct and supervise the schools of both wards. Creation of new wards. Organization of new boards. Ibid. § 3. Repealing clause. 5 April 1867 § 4. P. L. 780. Controller to be member of board. 20 May 1857 § 1. P. L. 617. Removal to cause a vacancy. 16 Feb. 1865 § 2. P. L. 151. declared vacant. 530. All laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.(y) 531. The controller, so as aforesaid, appointed from each ward, shall, during his term of office, by virtue of said appointment, be a member of the board of school directors from the ward from which he is controller, and be entitled to all the privileges of membership. 532. School directors in the first school district of Pennsylvania, elected in the wards in said district, shall reside in the wards(z) for which they are elected; and a removal from the ward shall cause a vacancy in said board, which shall be filled by the board in which such vacancy occurs. 533. If any person, duly elected a school director, shall refuse to attend a regular meeting of the board, after having personally received written notice from the When seat may be secretary to appear and enter upon the duties of his office; or if any person having taken upon him the duties of his office, as director, shall neglect to attend any three regular meetings (a) of the board in succession, unless detained by sickness, or prevented by absence from the district, or shall refuse to act in his official capacity, when in attendance, for three regular meetings, the directors present shall have power to declare his seat in the board vacant, and appoint another in his stead to serve until the next municipal election. 5 May 1887 § 1. Filling of vacancies. 534. Vacancies in any board of school directors in cities of the first class shall be filled by the remaining members of such board, who shall choose a duly qualified person to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term of the person whose death, resignation, removal or neglect of duty under existing laws caused such vacancy.(b) (y) See the act 12 February 1889, P. L. 3. (2) If a ward be divided, the offices of the directors who reside in the new ward are vacated. Election of School Directors, 11 Phila. 300. (a) The office of school director cannot be declared vacant for non-attendance at a special meeting of the board; the act only extends to regular stated" meetings. Zulich v. Bowman, 42 P. S. 83. Felton v. Commonwealth, 8 W. & S. 267. A school director can waive his rights by refusing to act, and a vacancy 535. It shall be lawful for the city councils, by ordinance, to provide for the pay- 16 April 1857 § 1. ment of the secretaries of the several sections of the said first school district: Pro- P. L. 210. vided, That no more than [one hundred] (c) dollars per annum shall be appropriated Payment of secreor paid to each of said officers, and warrants therefor shall be drawn in such manner tary. as by said ordinance may be directed. 7 Sm. 55. 536. The said directors, for every section respectively, shall have power to erect 8 March 1818 § 9. and establish(d) so many schools in their respective sections as may be determined upon by the said controllers, as provided in the fifth section of this act, and shall Powers and duties appoint teachers, and provide all things necessary for maintaining and conducting of directors. the schools in their respective sections, and shall superintend and direct the said schools respectively. And the directors of every section respectively shall meet at least monthly, and shall keep regular minutes of their proceedings, and the said directors of every section respectively shall divide themselves into as many committees as there may be schools established as aforesaid in the particular section, so that every committee may have the management of one school only; and the said committees shall also keep regular minutes of their proceedings, and shall report or exhibit their minutes to the directors of the section whenever required by the said directors so to do. And the directors of every section shall report the state of all the schools within the section every six months to the controllers aforesaid. And all the directors of the public schools within the said district shall perform their duties without any pecuniary compensation, and during their term of service shall be exempted from serving as jurors, arbitrators, overseers of the poor, or managers of the almshouse, and, except in time of war, from militia duty. 537. As soon as the school or schools within any section of the said district shall be established and ready for the reception of scholars, the directors of such section shall give public notice thereof. Ibid. § 13. Public notice that school is ready. P. L. 34. 538. The directors of each section shall meet and organize on the first Monday 2 Feb. 1854 § 21. of January next succeeding their election, (e) and upon such organization shall have and possess all the powers, rights, privileges and immunities that shall then Organization of be by law or otherwise vested in the school directors of the several sections of the board. school district; and from and after such organization all rights, privileges and immunities of the school directors last named shall cease and terminate, and all Powers. laws of this commonwealth, regulating and governing the school directors last named, shall cease to operate with regard to them, but shall continue in full force and operation for regulating and governing the school directors elected and organized in accordance with the provisions of this act. P. L. 151. 539. The board of directors of each school section, in the city of Philadelphia, 16 Feb. 1865 § 1. shall hereafter meet and organize their respective boards by the election of a president and secretary, on the first Monday of January next succeeding the annual When to organize. election for directors. 510. The directors of the several school sections of the city and county of Philadelphia shall not be required (ee) to admit children into the public schools who are under the age of six years; and so much of any law or laws as is inconsistent with the foregoing, be and the same is hereby repealed. 541. The said directors as aforesaid may at their discretion admit into the said public schools pupils between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years. 11 April 1848 § 1. P. L. 526. Children under six years. Ibid. § 2. Pupils between fourteen and six teen. Ibid. § 3. Visitors of nightschools. 542. The boards of directors of the public schools of the several sections of the first school district of Pennsylvania shall have authority to appoint, under such regulations as the board of controllers may direct, such number of visitors of the night-schools, not exceeding the number of school directors in each section, as the said boards respectively may deem expedient. The board of controllers shall prescribe the duties of said visitors of night-schools, shall have power to establish night-schools for females, to fix the time for reopening and closing of all nightschools, and determine the age at which pupils may be admitted therein. 543. The school directors elected for the township of Roxborough, in the county 17 April 1846 § 3. of Philadelphia, are hereby authorized and empowered to perform all the duties heretofore performed by the trustees of the Roxborough school-house, situated on Directors in RoxRidge turnpike, between the six and seven mile-stones, in the said township, in the borough. county of Philadelphia. P. L. 365. 544. The school directors elected for the borough of Manayunk, in the county 30 April 1850 § 17. of Philadelphia, are hereby authorized and empowered to perform all the duties P. L. 647. heretofore performed by the trustees of the said Robeson school, in the said bor- Directors in ough of Manayunk, under and subject, nevertheless, to the provisions of the act Manayunk. of assembly passed the thirteenth day of June, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, entitled “An act to consolidate and amend the acts relative to a general system of education by common schools," and the supplements thereto. (c) By act 4 May 1861, P. L. 806. (d) A sectional board has no right to rent a building for a new school. That is a matter within the discretion of the board of education. West's Op. 1884, 63. See act 18 February 1871, § 1, P. L. 100. (e) Where by mistake a school board has been organized with too many members, it does not render the whole board illegal. Gilroy's Appeal, 100 P. S. 7. Maliciously disturbing a meeting of school directors is indictable at common law. Campbell v. Commonwealth, 59 P. S. 266. (ee) See the act 14 April 1828, supra, pl. 522. 17 Feb. 1865, § 1. P. L. 176. Examination of teachers. Ibid. § 2. of qualification. (5.) Teachers. 545. The controllers of the public schools of the first school district of Pennsylvania shall establish a system for the examination of the qualifications of all persons who may desire to become teachers in the public schools of said district, the said examinations to be held at such times and places, and under such system, rules and regulations, as the said controllers shall, from time to time, adopt. 546. No person shall, from and after the passage of this act, be elected to the To have certificate position of teacher, in any of the public schools of said district, by any of the sectional boards of school directors within the same, unless such person shall have been found duly qualified (g) for the position to which he or she shall have been elected, nor unless he or she shall have received a certificate of qualification, duly issued by the authority of said controllers, after his or her examination, provided Exclusive right to for in the first section of this act: Provided, The exclusive right of the several sectional boards of school directors, within said district, to elect the teachers of their respective sections, shall be and remain unimpaired, except in so far as the same is qualified by this act.(h) elect teachers. 25 May 1887. Directors to certify ers. 25 May 1871 § 1. P. L. 1157. Teachers to be elected by direc tors. 21 March 1866 § 5. P. L. 249. 547. It shall be the duty of the directors of the public schools of the several sections in like manner, from time to time, to certify to the board of public education of the said district, the names of all persons qualified as aforesaid, who shall hereafter be elected to the position of principal or assistant teachers in said district, which name or names shall also be certified by said board to the city (county) controller.(i) 548. The sectional boards of school directors in the first school district are hereby authorized and empowered to elect the principal or principals of the grammar school or schools in their respective school sections, and the said person or persons so selected shall be entitled to act without further confirmation. 549. Should a vacancy occur in the schools of the twenty-third section, (k) and there be no person in said section holding the requisite certificate of qualification Temporary teacher to fill said vacancy, it shall be lawful for the directors of said school to fill said vacancy temporarily with a teacher, until there shall be a teacher, properly qualified for said position; and the said temporary teacher shall be paid in like manner as a qualified teacher would have been paid in like position. in 23d district. 1 June 1885, art. 10. P. L, 48. President and four directors. XXI. Department of charities and corrections. (1) (1.) Organization. 550. The department of charities and correction shall be under the charge of a president who shall be the head thereof, and four directors, to which department shall be confided the care, management, administration and supervision of the charities, almshouses, hospitals, houses of correction, and all other similar institutions, the control or government of which is entrusted to the city: Provided, That no part of this section shall interfere with the municipal hospital or lazaretto as now under the control of the board of health, or with the functions of any board of directors of city trusts now existing, created by any acts of assembly of this Record of proceed- commonwealth. ings. Ibid. Appointment of officers and servants. Ibid. Powers of councils. 551. The board shall keep a complete record of all its proceedings, which shall always be open to the inspection and examination of the mayor and of any committee appointed by councils, or either branch thereof, and shall appoint all officers and servants required for the several institutions under its management.(m) 552. Councils shall have power to provide by general ordinances for all things Paupers, vagrants, needful for the proper and efficient management of the said institutions and the said department, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and all ablebodied paupers, vagrants, and other persons admitted or committed to any of the said institutions may be required to work upon the public streets, or roads or elsewhere. &c., may be compelled to work. Ibid. Inspectors of county prison to Ibid. art. 15. Managers of house 553. The board of inspectors of the county prison shall continue as now constituted by law. 554. The board of managers of the house of correction, and the board of guardians of the poor are abolished from and after the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. (9) In Philadelphia, a female is eligible to the position of principal teacher of a boys' grammar school. McManus v. School Controllers, 7 Phila. 23. A teacher who has been employed and discharged cannot be reappointed without an examination, in pursuance of this act. Commonwealth v. City Controller, Ibid. 29. See 1st section of this act, supra, pl. 545. (h) See act 3 March, 1818, § 9, supra, pl. 536. (i) This is an amendment of the act of 17 February 1865, § 4, P. L. 176, which was an amendment of the act incorporating the city of Philadelphia. (k) Extended to twenty-second section by act 12 March 1869, P. L. 321. "Immi (7) See tit. "House of Correction"; grants." (m) The subordinates are appointed by the board of directors as a body. War. Op. 10 May 1887. |