Arrangement of sections and classes for scholarships. 1853, 193, § 2. Candidates for filled. Additional scholars. Character of candidates. 1853, 193, § 4. Time and place of selection. 1853, 193, § 5. Place of education, how se lected. Scholar to re ceive $100 annu- Vacancies, how filled. 1853, 193, § 7. Scholar attending normal school, allowance to. 1853, 193, § 8. to teach, or refund. 1853. 193, § 9. SECT. 2. The sections and classes of sections, and the order in which they are entitled to scholarships as now arranged by the board of education, shall continue until the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, at which time, and at the expiration of every ten years thereafter, the board shall arrange the senatorial districts into four classes of ten sec tions each, and each of said classes shall, once in four years, in such alternate order as the board, at the time of the formation of the classes, by lot designates, be entitled to one scholarship for each of its sections. The secretary of the board shall through the mail notify the school committee of each town or city of the year its class is entitled to scholarships. SECT. 3. The school committees of the towns and cities in each class, may in the year in which their class is entitled to scholarships recommend as candidates therefor, young men, inhabitants of their town or city, who shall furnish the board of education with the certified opinion of said committee and of a competent teacher, that they will be fitted for college at the succeeding commencement; and said board, together with the senator if he resides within any section of such class, shall select from such candidates one scholar from each section, whom by personal examination they judge the most deserving and likely to become useful as a teacher. If any section presents no such suitable candidate, the place may be filled by the board from the candidates of the other sections of the same class, and if from a deficiency of proper candidates less than ten scholars are selected from a class, the board may, after a careful examination by themselves as to scholarship, complete the number from the state at large. SECT. 4. If, after the selection of ten scholars from any class of sections, other candidates from such class recommended as aforesaid are considered by the board as possessing the requisite qualifications, the board may select therefrom two additional scholars, and in default of such candidates may select such additional scholars from the state at large in the manner provided in the preceding section. All candidates shall be persons of irreproachable moral character, free from any considerable defect of sight or hearing, and of good health and constitution. SECT. 5. The selections for scholarships required to be made by the board and by the senators within the respective sections, shall be made at a meeting held annually at the office of the secretary of the board, at such time in the month of March as the board appoints, of which the secretary shall give notice. The selections to be made by the board alone may be made at the same or at any other time during the year. SECT. 6. Any scholar so selected may be educated at any college established by law in this commonwealth which he and his friends may select; and the board shall at the end of each collegiate year, not exceeding four, upon his producing a certificate from the president of his college that he has been faithful in his studies, exemplary in his deportment, and ranks in scholarship among the first half of his class, pay to him one hundred dollars. SECT. 7. Selections to fill vacancies occurring in such scholarships may be made by the board in like manner as original selections; and the board shall take all measures necessary for that purpose. SECT. 8. Any such scholar after leaving college may attend a state normal school, and for each term not exceeding two during which he attends such school, he shall, upon producing a certificate of such attendance and of the faithful and exemplary performance of his duties there from the principal master thereof, be paid by the board of education, from any unexpended balance of the funds provided by section ten of this chapter, the sum of twenty-five dollars. SECT. 9. Every person who has received aid in the manner provided by this chapter, shall teach in the public schools of the commonwealth the same term of time that he has received such aid; and if, being in competent health, he fails so to teach, unless he satisfies the board that such failure has arisen from inability to find employment, he shall pay to the treasurer at the rate of one hundred dollars a year for the time of such failure, with interest thereon from the time of graduation; and the treasurer may recover the amount in an action at law. tions. SECT. 10. Forty-eight hundred dollars annually from the income of Appropriathe school fund not appropriated to public schools, and all such sums as 1853, 193, § 10. the treasurer recovers under the preceding section, are appropriated to See § 8. accomplish the purposes of this chapter under the direction of the board of education. have school six Branches R. §. 23, § 1. SECTION 1. In every town there shall be kept, for at least six months Each town to in each year, at the expense of said town, by a teacher or teachers of months in a competent ability and good morals, a sufficient number of schools for year. the instruction of all the children who may legally attend public school taught. therein, in orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, 1839, 56, § 1. arithmetic, the history of the United States, and good behavior. Alge- 1858, 5, §§ 1, 2. bra, vocal music, drawing, physiology, and hygiene shall be taught by 1860, 263. lectures or otherwise, in all the public schools in which the school committee deem it expedient. towns of 500 SECT. 2. Every town may, and every town containing five hundred High schools in families or householders shall, besides the schools prescribed in the pre- families. ceding section, maintain a school to be kept by a master of competent taught. ability and good morals, who, in addition to the branches of learning Branches Duration of school. inhabitants. R. S. 23, § 5. before mentioned, shall give instruction in general history, bookkeeping, Towns of 4000 surveying, geometry, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, the civil polity of this commonwealth and of the United States, and the Latin language. Such last mentioned school shall be kept for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the town, ten months at least, exclusive of vacations, in each year, and at such convenient place, or alternately at such places, in the town, as the legal voters at their annual meeting determine. And in every town containing four thousand inhabitants, the teacher or teachers of the schools required by this section, shall, in addition to the branches of instruction before required, be competent to give instruction in the Greek and French languages, astronomy, geology, rhetoric, logic, intellectual and moral science, and political economy. High school districts in ad jacent towns, how establish ed. 1818, 279, § 1. Committee, how chosen. Powers. 1848, 279, § 2. to determine location of school-house. 1848, 279, § 3. Expenses apportioned. 1848, 279, § 4. Schools may be those over 15 years of age. 1857, 189, § 1. SECT. 3. Two adjacent towns, having each less than five hundred families or householders, may form one high school district, for establishing such a school as is contemplated in the preceding section, when a majority of the legal voters of each town, in meetings called for that purpose, so determine. SECT. 4. The school committees of the two towns so united shall elect one person from each of their respective boards, and the two so elected shall form the committee for the management and control of such school, with all the powers conferred upon school committees and prudential committees. SECT. 5. The committee thus formed shall determine the location of the school-house authorized to be built by the towns forming the district, or if the towns do not determine to erect a house, shall authorize the location of such school alternately in the two towns. SECT. 6. In the erection of a school-house for the permanent location of such school, in the support and maintenance of the school, and in all incidental expenses attending the same, the proportions to be paid by each town, unless otherwise agreed upon, shall be according to its proportion of the county tax. SECT. 7. Any town may establish and maintain, in addition to the maintained for schools required by law to be maintained therein, schools for the educa tion of persons over fifteen years of age; may determine the term or terms of time in each year, and the hours of the day or evening during which said school shall be kept; and appropriate such sums of money as may be necessary for the support thereof. under superintendence of committee. 1857, 189, § 2. Female assistants. 1839, 56, § 1. Duty of instruc &c. Constitution, R. S. 23, § 7. SECT. 8. When a school is so established, the school committee shall have the same superintendence over it as they have over other schools; and shall determine what branches of learning may be taught therein. SECT. 9. In every public school, having an average of fifty scholars, the school district or town to which such school belongs shall employ one or more female assistants, unless such district or town, at a meeting called for the purpose, votes to dispense with such assistant. SECT. 10. It shall be the duty of the president, professors and tutors tors in colleges, of the university at Cambridge and of the several colleges, of all preceptors and teachers of academies, and of all other instructors of youth, to exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction, the principles of piety and justice, and a sacred regard to truth; love of their country, humanity, and universal benevolence; sobriety, industry, and frugality; chastity, moderation, and temperance; and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded; and it shall be the duty of such instructors to endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the tendency of the above mentioned virtues, to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings of liberty, as well as to promote their future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite vices. 1 SECT. 11. It shall be the duty of the resident ministers of the gospel, Duty of ministhe selectmen, and the school committees, to exert their influence and ters and town use their best endeavors that the youth of their towns shall regularly R. S. 23, § 8. attend the schools established for their instruction. officers. SECT. 12. The several towns shall, at their annual meetings, or at a Towns to raise regular meeting called for the purpose, raise such sums of money for the money for support of schools as they judge necessary; which sums shall be assessed R. S. 23, § 9. and collected in like manner as other town taxes. 10 Met. 513. not affected, &c. SECT. 13. Nothing contained in this chapter shall affect the right of School funds of any corporation established in a town, to manage any estate or funds corporations given or obtained for the purpose of supporting schools therein, or in R. S. 23, § 59. any wise affect such estate or funds. Forfeiture for neglect to raise money, &c. R. S. 23, § 60. 1839, 135. SECT. 14. A town which refuses or neglects to raise money for the support of schools as required by this chapter, shall forfeit a sum equal to twice the highest sum ever before voted for the support of schools therein. A town which refuses or neglects to choose a school committee to superintend said schools, or to choose prudential committees in the several districts, when it is the duty of the town to choose such prudential committee, shall forfeit a sum not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, to be paid into the treasury of the county. SECT. 15. Three-fourths of any forfeiture paid into the treasury of three fourths the county under the preceding section, shall be paid by the treasurer to schools. of, appropriated to the school committee, if any, otherwise to the selectmen of the town R. S. 23, § 61. from which it is recovered, who shall apportion and appropriate the same to the support of the schools of such town, in the same manner as if it had been regularly raised by the town for that purpose. &c. 1859, 264. 23 Pick. 225. 5 Cush. 207. Vacancies, how filled. SECT. 16. Every town shall, at the annual meeting, choose, by writ- School committen ballots, a board of school committee, which shall have the general tee,how chosen, charge and superintendence of all the public schools in town. Said R. S. 23, § 10. board shall consist of any number of persons divisible by three, which 1857, 270, $$ 1, 2. said town has decided to elect, one-third thereof to be elected annually, and continue in office three years. If a town fails or neglects to choose such committee, an election at a subsequent meeting shall be valid. SECT. 17. If any person elected a member of the school committee, after being duly notified of his election in the manner in which town officers are required to be notified, refuses or neglects to accept said office, or if any member of the board declines further service, or, from change of residence or otherwise, becomes unable to attend to the duties of the board, the remaining members shall, in writing, give notice of the fact to the selectmen of the town, or to the mayor and aldermen of the city, and the two boards shall thereupon, after giving public notice of at least one week, proceed to fill such vacancy; and a majority of the ballots of persons entitled to vote shall be necessary to an election. 1857, 266, §§ 1, 2. cline, new com mittee how 1857, 266, § 2 elected. SECT. 18. If all the persons elected as members of the school com- When whole mittee, after such notice of their election, refuse or neglect to accept the committee deoffice, or having accepted, afterwards decline further service, or become unable to attend to the duties of the board, the selectmen or the mayor and aldermen shall, after giving like public notice, proceed by ballot to elect a new board, and the votes of a majority of the entire board of selectmen, or of the mayor and aldermen, shall be necessary to an election. SECT. 19. The term of service of every member elected in pursuance of the provisions of the two preceding sections, shall end with the municipal or official year in which he is chosen, and if the vacancy which he was elected to fill was for a longer period, it shall, at the first annual election after the occurrence of the vacancy, be filled in the manner prescribed for original elections of the school committee. SECT. 20. All the members of the school committee shall continue of Term of service person filling 1857, 266, § 3. 1859, 80. vacancy. 1857, 270, § 3. On election of tain duties of old to continue. 1846, 223, § 1. how increased records of; secretary. 1838, 105, § 3. to contract unless, &c. in office for the purpose of superintending the winter terms of the several schools, and of making and transmitting the certificate, returns, and report of the committee, notwithstanding the election of any successor at the annual meeting; but for all other duties, the term of office shall commence immediately after election. SECT. 21. Any town may, at the annual meeting, vote to increase or diminish the number of its school committee. Such increase shall be made by adding one or more to each class, to hold office according to the tenure of the class to which they are severally chosen. Such diminution shall be made by choosing, annually, such number as will in three years effect it, and a vote to diminish shall remain in force until the diminution under it is accomplished. SECT. 22. The school committee shall appoint a secretary and keep a permanent record book, in which all its votes, orders and proceedings shall by him be recorded. SECT. 23. The school committee, unless the town at its annual meetwith teachers, ing determines that the duty may be performed by the prudential committee, shall select and contract with the teachers of the public schools; shall require full and satisfactory evidence of the good moral character of all instructors who may be employed; and shall ascertain, by personal examination, their qualifications for teaching and capacity for the government of schools. gallew 94 12 Gay 3 Teachers to certificate. when and R. S. 23, § 14. SECT. 24. Every instructor of a town or district school shall, before receive and file he opens such school, obtain from the school committee a certificate in duplicate of his qualifications, one of which shall be deposited with the selectmen before any payment is made to such instructor on account of his services; and upon so filing such certificate, the teacher of any public school shall be entitled to receive, on demand, his wages due at the expiration of any quarter, or term longer or shorter than a quarter, or upon the close of any single term of service, subject to the condition specified in section thirteen of chapter forty. may be dis- 337 missed, 1814, 32. Examinations and visits by 16. SECT. 25. The school committee may dismiss from employment any teacher whenever they think proper, and such teacher shall receive no compensation for services rendered after such dismissal. SECT. 26. The school committee, or some one or more of them, for the purpose of making a careful examination of the schools, and of asR. S. 23, §§ 15, certaining that the scholars are properly supplied with books, shall visit all the public schools in the town on some day during the first or second week after the opening of such schools respectively, and also on some day during the two weeks preceding the closing of the same; and shall also for the same purposes visit, without giving previous notice thereof to the instructors, all the public schools in the town once a month, and they shall, at such examinations, inquire into the regulation and discipline of the schools, and the habits and proficiency of the scholars therein. Bible to be read excluded. SECT. 27. The school committee shall require the daily reading of Sectarian books some portion of the Bible in the common English version; but shall never direct any school books calculated to favor the tenets of any particular sect of christians to be purchased or used in any of the town schools. R. S. 23, § 23. School books. how made, &c. Ch. 155. 1867 SECT. 28. The school committee shall direct what books shall be used in the public schools, and no change shall be made in said books except by the unanimous consent of the whole board, unless the committee consists of more than nine, and questions relating to school books are intrusted to a sub-committee. In that case, the consent of two-thirds of the whole number of said sub-committee, with the concur rent vote of three-fourths of the whole board, shall be requisite for such change. If any change is made, each pupil then belonging to the public schools, and requiring the substituted book, shall be fur |