books, apparatus, and methods of education, with a view to enabling him to furnish all information desired for the report of the board; and send the blank forms of inquiry, the school registers, the annual report of the board, and his own annual report, to the clerks of the several cities and towns as soon as may be after they are ready for distribution.

His salary shall be $3,000 per annum, with an allowance of $400 for traveling expenses, to be paid out of the school fund; the incidental and other necessary expenses shall be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth.

Agents of board of education.—The board may appoint one or more suitable agents to visit cities and towns to inquire into the condition of the schools, to confer with teachers and committees, to lecture upon subjects connected with education, and in general to give and receive information upon such subjects in the same manner as the secretary might do if he were present.

Commissioners of the fund.-See Finances, permanent or special funds. Superintendent of public schools.-A city by ordinance, and a town by vote, may require the school committee annually to appoint a superintendent, who, under the direction and control of said committee, shall have the care and supervision of the public schools; or the school committee of any city without such ordinance may appoint a superintendent by a majority vote of the whole board; the compensation of the superintendent shall not be less than $1.50 for each day of actual service, and shall be determined by the school committee, and, in cities without such ordinance, by a majority vote of the whole board; in every city in which such ordinance is in force or in which a superintendent is appointed, and in every town in which a superintendent is appointed, and which does not provide otherwise by vote, the school committee shall receive no compensation.

Two or more towns may, by a vote of each, form a district for the purpose of employing a superintendent of public schools therein, who shall perform in each town the duties prescribed by law. Such superintendent shall be annually appointed by a joint committee composed of the chairman and secretary of the school committee of each of the towns in said district, who shall determine the relative amount of service to be performed by him in each town, and shall fix his salary and apportion the amount thereof to be paid by the several towns, and certify such amount to the treasurer of each town. Said joint committee shall, for said purposes, be held to be the agents of each town composing such district.

Or any two or more towns the valuation of each of which does not exceed $2,500,000, and the aggregate number of schools in all of which is not more than 50 nor less than 25, may, by vote of the several towns, unite for the purpose of the employment of a superintendent of schools under the provisions of this act.

When such a union has been effected, the school committees of the towns comprising the union shall form a joint committee, and for the purposes of this act said joint committee shall be held to be the agents of each town comprising the union. Said committee shall meet annually in joint convention in the month of April at a day and place agreed upon by the chairman of the committees of the several towns comprising the union, and shall organize by the choice of a chairman and secretary. They shall choose by ballot a superintendent of schools; determine the relative amount of service to be performed by him in each town; fix his salary, and apportion the amount thereof to be paid by the several towns, and certify such amount to the treasurer of each town. When such a union has been effected, it shall not be dissolved because any one of the towns shall have increased its valuation so that it exceeds $2,500,000, nor because the number of schools shall have increased beyond the number of 50 or decreased below the number of 25, nor for any reason for the period of three years from the date of the formation of such union, except by vote of a majority of the towns constituting the union.

Whenever the chairman and secretary of such joint committee shall certify to the State auditor, under oath, that a union has been effected as herein provided, that the towns, in addition to an amount equal to the average of the total sum paid or to the sum paid per child by the several towns for schools during the three years next preceding, unitedly have raised by taxation and appropriated a sum not less than $750 for the support of a superintendent of schools, and that under the provisions of this act a superintendent of schools has been employed for one year, a warrant shall be drawn upon the treasurer of the Commonwealth for the payment of $1,250, $750 of which amount shall be paid for the salary of such superintendent, and the remaining $500 shall be apportioned and distributed on the basis of the amount appropriated and expended for a superintendent in the towns forming such district for the year next preceding, which amount shall be paid for the salaries of teachers employed in the public schools within such district.

Town school committee.-Every town shall, at its annual meeting, or at a meeting appointed and notified by the selectmen for the purpose and held in the

same month in which the annual meeting occurs, choose by written ballots a school committee, which shall have the general charge and superintendence of all the public schools in the town, and where there is no superintendent shall visit each school during the first week of its opening and once during the last two weeks of its session, and also, without notice to the teacher, once during each month. Said committee shall consist of any number of persons divisible by three which said town has decided to elect, one-third thereof to be elected annually, and to continue in office three years. No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to serve upon a school committee by reason of sex. Vacancies are filled by the committee and the selectmen of the town, or, in case of all the committeemen refusing to serve, by the selectmen alone. If a town fails or neglects to choose such committee, an election at a subsequent meeting shall be valid.

[By this section the school committee have general charge and superintendence of the schools, as the chief justice of the Commonwealth remarked from the bench upon a question regarding a sufficient number of schools: "There being no specific direction how schools shall be organized, how many schools kept, what shall be the qualifications for admission to the schools, the age at which children may enter, the age to which they may continue-these must all be regulated by the committee, under their power of general superintendence."]

Each member of the school committee in cities shall be paid $1 a day and in towns $2.50 a day for the time actually employed in discharging the duties of the office, together with such additional compensation as the city or town may allow, except that, unless otherwise provided, in cities and towns employing a superintendent, the school committee shall receive no compensation. Towns uniting in employing a superintendent under the act allowing two or more towns having each property valued at not more than $2,500,000, and having not more than 50 or fewer than 30 schools, to unite, are exempted from the provision regarding the pay of school committeemen.

Truant officers.-The school committee of each town shall appoint and fix the compensation of two or more suitable persons to be designated "truant officers," who shall, under the direction of the committee, inquire into all cases arising under the by-laws regarding truancy, and shall alone be authorized in case of violation thereof to make complaint and carry into execution the judgment thereon, and who may serve all legal processes issued by the courts in pursuance of such bylaws, but shall not be entitled to fees for serving such processes. They may apprehend and take to school without warrant all truants found wandering about in the streets or public places.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.—Preliminary training.—Meetings. Appointment, qualifications, and duties.—The school 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 teachers who may be employed, and shall ascertain by personal examination their qualifications for teaching and their capacity to govern schools. The diplomas granted by the State normal schools may be accepted by the school committees in lieu of the examination.

The State board of education shall cause to be held, at such convenient times and places as it may from time to time designate, public examinations of candidates for the position of teacher in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Such examinations shall test the professional as well as the scholastic abilities of candidates, and shall be conducted by such persons and in such manner as the board may from time to time designate. Due notice of the time, place, and other conditions of the examinations shall be given in such public manner as the board may determine. A certificate of qualification shall be given to all candidates who pass satisfactory examinations in such branches as are required by law to be taught and who in other respects fulfill the requirements of the board, such certificate to be either probationary or permanent and to indicate the grade of school for which the person named in the certificate is qualified to teach. A list of approved candidates shall be kept in the office of the secretary of the board, and copies of the same, with such information as may be desired, shall be sent to school committees upon their request. The certificates issued under the provisions of this act may be accepted by school committees in lieu of the personal examination required by the public statutes. A sum not exceeding $500 may be annually expended for the necessary and contingent expenses of carrying out the provisions of this act.

Every teacher of a school shall, before he opens such school, obtain from the scho committee a certificate in duplicate of his qualifications, one of which he

shall deposit with the selectmen before he receives any portion of his pay. He shall faithfully keep the registers furnished and make due return thereof to the school committee, or to one designated by them, under penalty of having a portion of his pay withheld. [His authority over his pupils while upon the premises is the same as that of the parent; but while the pupil is coming to school or departing thence homeward the teacher may or may not assume authority.]

Preliminary training.—[The board of education by vote May 6, 1880, stated the design of the normal schools to be as follows: The design of the normal schools is strictly professional; that is, to prepare in the best possible manner the pupils for the work of organizing, governing, and teaching the public schools of the Commonwealth. To this end there must be the most thorough knowledge of the branches of learning required to be taught in the schools, of the best methods of teaching those branches, of right mental training. The time of one course extends through a period of two years, of the other through a period of four years, and is divided into terms of twenty weeks each, with daily sessions of not less than five days each week.]

Institutes and meetings.—When the board of education is satisfied that 50 teachers of public schools desire to unite in forming a teachers' institute, it shall, by a committee or by its secretary, or, in case of his inability, by such person as it may delegate, apppoint and give notice of a time and place for such meeting and make suitable arrangements therefor. To defray the necessary expenses and charges and to procure teachers and lecturers for such institutes, a sum not exceeding $3,000 may annually be paid out of that half of the income of the school fund not apportioned for distribution to cities and towns. The board may determine the length of time during which a teachers' institute shall remain in session and what portion, not exceeding $350, of the sum provided for in the preceding section shall be appropriated to meet the expenses of such institute.

When a county association of teachers and others holds an annual meeting of not less than one day for the express purpose of promoting the interests of public schools, it shall receive $25 from the Commonwealth upon filing with the governor a certificate, under oath, from its president and secretary that a meeting has been so held.

Subject to the approval of the board of education, there shall annually be allowed and paid, out of that half of the income of the school fund not apportioned for distribution to cities and towns, to the president or treasurer of the Massachusetts Teachers' Association $300, to be applied to the purposes of said association.

3. SCHOOLS.

Attendance.-Character of instruction.-Text-books.-Buildings.

Attendance.-For transportation of pupils see Finances, Taxation.

Every person having under his control a child between the ages of 8 and 14 years, and in every city and town where opportunity is furnished, in connection with the regular work of the public schools, for gratuitous instruction in the use of tools or in manual training, or for industrial education in any form, a child between the ages of 8 and 15 years, shall annually cause such child to attend some public day school in the city or town in which he resides, and such attendance shall continue for at least thirty weeks of the school year, if the schools are kept open for that length of time, with an allowance of two weeks' time for absences not excused by the superintendent of schools or the school committee. Such period of attendance shall begin within the first month of the fall term of school, and for each five days' absence of any such child thereafter, in excess of the above allowance, before the completion of the required annual attendance of thirty weeks, the person having such child under his control shall, upon the complaint of the school committee or any truant officer, forfeit to the use of the public schools of such city or town a sum not exceeding $20, but if such child has attended for a like period of time a private day school approved by the school committee of such city or town, or if such child has been otherwise instructed for a like period of time in the branches of learning required by law to be taught in the public schools, or has already acquired the branches of learning required by law to be taught in the public schools, or if his physical or mental condition is such as to render such attendance inexpedient or impracticable, such penalties shall not be incurred.

For the purposes of the preceding section school committees shall approve a private school only when the teaching in all the studies required by law is in the English language, and when they are satisfied that such teaching equals in thoroughness and efficiency the teaching in the public schools in the same locality, and that

equal progress is made by the pupils therein, in the studies required by law, with that made during the same time in the public schools; but they shall not refuse to approve a private schoo. on account of the religious teaching therein.

All children within the Commonwealth may attend the public schools in the place in which they have their legal residence, subject to the regulations prescribed by law. The school committee shall determine the number and qualifications of the scholars to be admitted to the high school. Children living remote from any public school in the town in which they reside may be allowed to attend the public schools in any adjoining town under such regulations and on such terms as the school committee of the said towns agree upon and prescribe; and the school committee of the town in which such children reside shall pay the sum agreed upon out of the appropriations of money raised in said towns for the support of schools.

Any minor under guardianship, whose father has died, may attend the public schools of the city or town of which his guardian is an inhabitant.

Children may, the consent of the school committee being first obtained, attend schools in cities and towns other than those in which their parents or guardians reside; but when a child resides in a city or town different from that of the residence of the parent or guardian, for the sole purpose of attending school there, the parent or guardian of such child shall be liable to pay such city or town for tuition a sum equal to the average expense per scholar for the period during which the child so attends.

The school committee shall not allow a child who has not been duly vaccinated, unless an unfit subject for inoculation, to be admitted to or connected with the public schools.

The school committees shall not allow any pupil to attend the public schools while any member of the household to which such pupil belongs is sick of smallpox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, or during a period of two weeks after the death, recovery, or removal of such sick person; and any pupil coming from such household shall be required to present, to the teacher of the school the pupil desires to attend, a certificate, from the attending physician or board of health, of the facts necessary to entitle him to admission in accordance with the above regulation. No person shall be excluded from a public school on account of the race, color, or religious opinion of the applicant or scholar.

Every member of the school committee under whose direction a child is excluded from the public school, and every teacher of such school from which a child is excluded, shall, on application by the parent or guardian of such child, state in writing the grounds and reason of the exclusion.

A child unlawfully excluded from a public school may recover damages therefor in an action of tort, to be brought in the name of such child by his guardian or next friend, against the city or town by which such school is supported.

The plaintiff in such action may, by filing interrogatories for discovery, examine any member of the school committee, or any other officer of the defendant city or town, as if he were a party to the suit.

Whenever a truant school has been established for any county it shall be the place of confinement, discipline, and instruction for all truants within the cities or towns of said county, unless said cities or towns have made other provision therefor; and police, district, or municipal courts, trial justices, and probate courts shall have jurisdiction within their respective counties of the offenses described in this act; and may commit truants to such truant school or union truant school as may be established for their respective counties under the provisions of this

act.

If three or more towns in any county so require, the county commissioners shall establish at the expense of the county, at a convenient place therein other than the jail or house of correction, a truant school for the confinement, discipline, and instruction of minor children convicted under the provisions of sections 19 and 21 of this act and all acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto; and shall make suitable provisions for the government and control, and for the appointment of proper teachers and officers thereof. But the county commissioners of two, three, or four contiguous counties may, and if three or more cities or towns in each of such counties require, shall, at the expense of said counties, establish for said counties at a convenient place therein a union truant school, to be organized and controlled by the chairman of the county commissioners of said counties, in the manner provided for the government and control of county truant schools by county commissioners; and any county so uniting with another county or counties in the support of a union truant school shall not be required to support a truant school of its own.

A town may assign any such truant school, or, with the assent of the State

board of lunacy and charity, the State primary school, as the place of confinement, discipline, and instruction of children so convicted; and shall pay for their support such sum, not exceeding $2 a week for each child, as the county commissioners or the trustees of the State primary and reform schools respectively shall determine. Children so committed may, upon satisfactory proof of amendment or other sufficient cause, be discharged from the State primary school by said State board, and from other places of confinement by the judge or justice who committed them.

Each town shall make all needful provisions and arrangements concerning habitual truants, and children between 7 and 15 years of age who may be found wandering about in the streets or public places therein, having no lawful occupation or business, not attending school and growing up in ignorance, and such children as persistently violate the reasonable rules and regulations of the public schools; and shall make such by-laws as shall be most conducive to the welfare of such children and to the good order of such town; and shall provide suitable places for the confinement, discipline, and instruction of such children.

Any minor convicted, under a by-law made under a provision of this act, of being an habitual truant, or of wandering about in the streets or public places of a city or town, having no lawful employment or business, not attending school and growing up in ignorance, or of persistently violating the rules and regulations of the public schools, shall be committed to any institution of instruction or suitable situation provided for the purpose, under the authority of said section or by-law, for a term not exceeding two years.

Whoever, after notice from a truant officer to refrain from so doing, offers a reward for services to any child, in consequence of which reward such child is induced unlawfully to absent himself from school, or whoever, after notice as aforesaid, in any manner entices or induces any child to truancy, or whoever knowingly employs or harbors any truant or unlawful absentee from school, shall forfeit not less than $20 nor more than $50 to the use of the public schools of the city or town in which said offense occurs, to be recovered by complaint.

The school committee of any city or town in any county or counties where a union or county truant school has been or shall hereafter be established may, with the approval of the court making the original commitment and with the consent of the county commissioners of the county in which such truant school is established, cause all persons confined in the truant or farm school in such city or town, when such farm school is a truant school, to be removed to such union or county truant school to complete the term for which they were originally committed, subject, however, to the provisions of law as to release before the expiration of such term.

The school committees of the several towns shall annually report to the secretary of the board of education whether their respective towns have made the provisions required by law relating to truants and absentees from school.

Each town may, and every town containing 5,000 or more inhabitants shall, make all needful provisions and arrangements concerning children under 16 years of age who by reason of orphanage or of neglect, crime, drunkenness, or other vice of parents are suffered to grow up without salutary parental control and education, or in circumstances exposing them to lead idle and dissolute lives; and may also make all such by-laws respecting such children as shall be deemed most conducive to their welfare and to the good order of the town.

The selectmen of towns containing 5,000 or more inhabitants, and of other towns accepting the provisions of sections 25 to 28, inclusive, of this act, shall appoint suitable persons to make complaints of violations of by-laws adopted under the preceding section; and the person so appointed and the officers and duly appointed agents of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children shall alone be authorized to make such complaints and to carry into execution the judgments thereon; and the persons so appointed shall alone be authorized to make complaints under the following section.

A judge of the superior court, or of a police, district, or municipal court, or a trial justice, upon proof that any child under 16 years of age, by reason of orphanage, or of the neglect, crime, drunkenness, or other vice of parents, is growing up without salutary parental control and education, or in circumstances exposing such child to lead an idle and dissolute life, may order such child to such institution of instruction or other place assigned for the purpose as may be provided under this act by the town in which such child resides, to be there kept, educated, and cared for for a term not extending beyond the age of 21 years for boys or 18 years for girls.

When the parents of a child committed under the preceding section have reformed and are leading orderly and industrious lives, and are in a condition to