ART. 5. Penalty for neglect. $ 57. Every taxable inhabitant to whom a notice of a district meeting shall have been properly delivered for service, refusal or who shall refuse or neglect to serve the notice in the manner above in this article enjoined, shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of five dollars. inhabitants $58. Whenever any district meeting shall be called, in the Duty of manner prescribed in the preceding sections of this article, it to meet. shall be the duty of the inhabitants of the district, qualified to vote at district meetings, to assemble together at the time and place mentioned in the notice. entilled to at district $ 59. Every male person of full age, residing in any school Persona district, and entitled to hold lands in this state, who owns or vote at hires real property in such district subject to taxation for meetings. school purposes, and every resident of such district authorized to vote at town meetings of the town in which such district or part of district is situated, and who has paid any rate-bill for teachers' wages in such district, within one year preceding, or who owns any personal property liable to be taxed for school purposes in such district, exceeding fifty dollars in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no others, shall be entitled to vote at any school district meeting held in such district. 4 B., 504. in case of $ 60. If any person offering to vote at any school district Provision meeting, shall be challenged as unqualified by any legal voter persons being in such district, the chairman presiding at such meeting shall challenged. require the person so offering, to make the following declaration: "I do declare and affirm that I am an actual resident of this school district, and that I am qualified to vote at this meeting." And every person making such declaration shall be permitted to vote on all questions proposed at such meeting; but if any person shall refuse to make such declaration, his vote shall be rejected. making a ration, S 61. Every person who shall wilfully make a false declara- Penalty for tion of his right to vote at a district meeting, upon being false declachallenged as herein before provided, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding one year, nor less than six months, at the discretion of the court; and any person voting at any school district meeting without being qualified, shall, on conviction, be subject to a fine of ten dollars, to be sued for and recovered by the trustees of the district for its use, and with costs of suit, before any justice of the peace. district $62. The inhabitants so entitled to vote, when so assem- Power of bled in such district meeting, or when lawfully assembled at meeting. any other district meeting, shall have power, by a majority of the votes of those present: 1. To appoint a chairman for the time being: To appoint a chairman and To choose adjourn. officers. TITLE 2. Site. To lay a tax. To alter proceedings. Book of minutes. To designate sites for school lector, and a librarian at their first meeting, and as often as such offices or either of them become vacated: 4. To designate a site for a district school house: 5. To lay such tax on the taxable inhabitants of the district, as the meeting shall deem sufficient to purchase or lease a suitable site for a school house, and to build, hire or purchase such school house, and to keep in repair and furnish the same with the necessary fuel and appendages: 6. To alter, repeal and modify their proceedings from time to time as occasion may require: 7. To vote a tax for the purchase of a book for the purpose of recording the proceedings in their respective districts: 8. With the consent of the town superintendent of the town, to designate sites for two or more school houses, for such dishouses, &c. trict, and lay a tax on the taxable property in such district, to purchase or lease such sites, and to hire, build or purchase such school houses, and to keep in repair, and furnish the same with necessary fuel and appendages, and may also in their discretion lay a tax, not exceeding twenty dollars in any one year, to purchase maps, globes, black-boards, and other school apparatus. Trustees to be divided into three classes. Notice of meeting. Annual meeting. Provision in case of neglect to meeting. 24 W., 266; 7 W., 341; 3 D., 114; 4 H., 111; 4 B., 25; 18 J. R., 351; 5 H., 46; 16 J. R., 135; 1 D., 214. S 63. The trustees chosen at the first legal meeting of any school district, shall be divided by lot into three classes, to be numbered, one, two and three; the term of office of the first class shall be one year, of the second, two, of the third, three; and one trustee only shall thereafter annually be elected, who shall hold his office for three years, and until a successor shall be duly elected or appointed. In case of a vacancy in the office of either of the trustees, during the period for which he or they shall have been respectively elected, the person or persons chosen or appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold the office only for the unexpired term. $64. Every notice of a district meeting called in pursuance of this act shall state the purpose for which such meeting is called. 3 D., 114, $65. In each school district an annual meeting shall be held at the time and place previously appointed; and at the first district meeting, and at each annual meeting, the time and place of holding the next annual meeting shall be fixed. $66. Whenever the time for holding annual meetings in a district for the election of district officers shall pass without hold annual such election being held, a special meeting shall be notified by the clerk of such district to choose such officers; and if no such notice be given by him or the trustees last elected or appointed, within twenty days after such time shall have passed, the town superintendent or town clerk may order any inhabitant of such district qualified to vote at district meet ings, to notify such meeting in the manner provided by law in case of the formation of a new district; and the officers chosen at any such special meeting, shall hold their office until the time for holding the next annual meeting. ART. 5. vacancy in $67. When the clerk and all the trustees of a school dis- In case of trict shall have removed or otherwise vacated their office, and office of district where the records of a district shall have been destroyed or clerk. lost, or where trustees neglect or refuse to call meetings to choose trustees, the superintendent shall have authority to order such meetings, and the same shall be notified in the manner provided by law in the case of the formation of new districts. loss of the S 68. When in consequence of the loss of the records of a In case of school district, or the omission to designate the day for its records. annual meeting, there shall be none fixed, or it cannot be ascertained, the trustees of such district may appoint a day for holding the annual meeting of such district. meetings. $ 69. A special meeting shall be held in each district when- Special ever called by the trustees; and the proceedings of no district meeting, annual, or special, shall be held illegal for want of a due notice to all the persons qualified to vote thereat, unless it shall appear that the omission to give such notice was wilful and fraudulent. 6 H., 647; 3 D., 114; 1 D., 214. be voted for hiring house. $70. No tax to be voted by a district meeting for building, Amount to hiring or purchasing a school house, shall exceed the sum of building or four hundred dollars, unless the town superintendent of the school town in which the school house is to be situated, shall certify in writing his opinion that a larger sum ought to be raised, and shall specify the sum; in which case, a sum not exceeding the sum so specified, shall be raised; and in districts composed of parts of several towns, the certificate of a major part of the superintendents of said towns shall be necessary for such purpose. 2 D., 232. $71. Whenever a majority of all the taxable inhabitants of any school district, to be ascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes of such inhabitants attending at any annual, special or adjourned school district meeting legally called or held, shall determine that the sum proposed and provided for in the next preceding section, shall be raised by instalments; it shall be the duty of the trustees of such district, and they are hereby authorized to cause the same to be levied, raised and collected, in equal annual instalments, in the same manner, and with the like authority that other school district taxes are raised, levied and collected, and to make out their tax list and warrant, for the collection of such instalments as they become payable according to the vote of the said inhabitants; but the payment or collection of the last instalment shall not be extended beyond five years from TITLE 2 Provision in case a the time such vote was taken; and no vote to levy any such tax shall be reconsidered except at an adjourned general or special meeting to be held within thirty days thereafter, and the same majority shall be required for reconsideration as is required to levy such tax. $ 72. In every case where a district embraces a part of more than one town, the town superintendents of the towns so in part embraced, upon application of the trustees of such than part of districts or of those persons liable to pay taxes upon real district is composed of more one town. Site of school unless by consent. property therein, shall proceed to enquire and determine whether the valuation of real property upon the several assessment rolls of said towns are substantially just as compared with each other, so far as such district is concerned, and if determined not to be so, they shall determine the relative proportion of taxes that ought to be assessed upon the real property of the parts of such districts so lying in different towns, and the trustees of such district shall thereupon assess the proportion of any tax thereafter to be raised according to the determination of said superintendents until the same shall be altered by said superintendents upon like application, using the assessment rolls of the several towns to distribute the said proportion among the persons liable to be assessed for the same. In cases where two superintendents shall be unable to agree, they shall summon a superintendent from some adjoining town, who shall unite in such inquiry and determination. 9 W., 36; 11 W., 90; 1 D., 214; 10 B., 290; 21 B., 207. $73. Whenever a school house shall have been built or house not to purchased for a district, the site of such school house shall not be changed be changed, nor the building thereon be removed, as long as the district shall remain unaltered, unless by the consent, in writing, of the town superintendents of common schools, of the town or towns within which such district shall be situated, stating that in their opinion such removal is necessary; nor then, unless a majority of all the taxable inhabitants of said district to be ascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes, at a special meeting called for that purpose, shall be in favor of such new site. When changed former site or lot may be sold. 18 J. R., 351; 9 W., 36; 17 W., 437. S74. Whenever the site of a school house shall have been changed as herein provided, the inhabitants of the district entitled to vote, lawfully assembled at any district meeting, shall have power by a majority of the votes of those present, to direct the sale of the former site or lot, and the buildings thereon, and appurtenances, or any part thereof, at such price, and upon such terms as they shall deem most advantageous to the district; and any deed duly executed by the trustees of such district, or a majority of them, in pursuance of such direction, shall be valid and effectual to pass all the estate or interest of such school district in the premises intended to be conveyed thereby, to the grantee named in such deed; and when a credit shall be directed to be given upon such sale, for the consideration money, or any part thereof, the trustees are hereby authorized to take in their corporate name, such security by bond and mortgage, or otherwise, for the payment thereof, as they shall deem best, and shall hold the same as a corporation, and account therefor to their successor in office. and to the district, in the manner they are now required by law to account for moneys received by them; and the trustees of any such district for the time being, may in their name of office, sue for and recover the moneys due and unpaid upon any security so taken by them, or their predecessors in office, with interest and cost. ART. 5. to be $75. All moneys arising from any sale made in pursuance Avails how of the last preceding section, shall be appropriated to the applied. payment of the expenses incurred in procuring a new site, and in removing or erecting a school house, or either of them, so far as such application thereof shall be deemed necessary. $76. The clerk, trustees, collector and librarian of each Tenure of school district, shall hold their respective offices until the annual meeting of such district next following the time of their appointment. Laws of 1849, ch. 382. office. office how $77. In case the office of trustee shall be vacated by the Vacancy in death, refusal to serve, removal out of the district, or incapa- supplied. city of any such officer, and the vacancy shall not be supplied by a district meeting within one month thereafter, the town superintendent of the town may appoint any person residing in such district to supply such vacancy. of district librarian. $78. In case of a vacancy in the office of school district In the office clerk, collector or librarian, for any of the causes mentioned clerk or in the next preceding section, such vacancy may be supplied by appointment under the hands of the trustees of the district or a majority of them, and the persons so appointed shall hold their respective offices until the next annual meeting of the district, and until others are elected in their places. $79. Every person duly chosen or appointed to any such Penalty for office, who, without sufficient cause, shall refuse to serve serve. therein, shall forfeit the sum of five dollars; and every person so chosen or appointed, and not having refused to accept, who shall neglect to perform the duties of his office, shall forfeit the sum of ten dollars. 6 Cow., 478; 14 How. P. R., 302. refusing to $80. Any person chosen or appointed to any such office, officers may resign the same by presenting his resignation to the town may resign. superintendent of the town where such officer shall reside, who is authorised for sufficient cause shown to him, to accept the same, and the acceptance of such resignation shall be a bar to the recovery of either of the penalties mentioned in the preceding section. The town superintendent accepting |