INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS.

By § 104, (No. 129) the trustees of each district are to provide a book, in which the teachers are to enter the names of the scholars attending school, and the number of days they shall have respectively attended, and also the number of times the school shall have been inspected by the town superintendent. This list is to be verified by the oath of the teacher.

The strict and faithful performance of this duty is highly important, not only to the district but to the teacher. It is the basis upon which the rate bills are to be made out, and by which the sums to be paid by parents are to be ascertained. Error in these lists will therefore produce injustice. It has been held by this department, that the teacher is not entitled to call on the trustees for his wages, unless he furnishes them an accurate list of scholars, on which they can prepare the rate bills, and issue their warrant. Hence the teacher has a direct personal interest in the preservation of an accurate list, which he can verify by his oath.

For the purpose of executing this provision, the teacher will write the following heading or caption, in his book, at the commencement of each quarter:

A list of the scholars who attended the district school of district No. in the town of during the quarter or term 184 and the number of

commencing the

day of

days they respectively attended the same.

Time of entrance. Name of scholar. No. of days' attendance.

At the time any pupil enters the schools, the teacher should immediately insert the date and the name of the scholar. At the close of the quarter the whole number of days that each pupil attended, is to be ascertained from the check roll, and entered in the third column, in words at length, and also in figures, as in the above form.

Each teacher at the commencement of every quarter must provide a day or check roll, in which the name of every scholar is to be entered. It should be ruled so as to give six columns, corresponding to the number of days in the week. The number attending should be ascertained each half day, and pencil marks made in the column for the day opposite to the name of each one present. At the end of the week, the number of days each pupil has attended during the week, should be summed up and entered on the weekly roll. Each half days' attendance should be noted, and two half days should be reckoned as one day. The pencil marks on the day roll may be obliterated, so that the same roll may be used during the quarter. The weekly roll should be formed in the same manner, so as to contain the names of the pupils, and thirteen columns ruled, corresponding to the number of weeks in the quarter. In each of these columns is to

be entered the result of the daily check roll for each week in the following form:

Weekly Roll.

Attendance of pupils in district school of district No.

Names of pupils. 1st week 2d week. 3d week. 4th week. 5th week. John Thompson, 6 days. 4 days. 5 days. 6 days. 5 days.

At the end of the quarter, the teacher will sum up the attendances of each pupil from this weekly roll, and enter the result in the book provided by the trustees as before mentioned, showing the whole number of days each scholar has attended during the quarter.

At the end of the list the following oath or affirmation is to be written.

A. B. being duly sworn, (or affirmed) deposes that the foregoing is a true and accurate list of the names of the scholars who attended the district school of district No. in the town of during the quarter commencing the day of 184 and the number of days they respectively attended.

This oath or affirmation is to be signed by the teacher, and certified by a justice of the peace, commissioner of deeds, judge of any court of record, or county clerk, to have been taken before him.

The teachers are also required to make an abstract of the lists for the use of the trustees, at the end of each quarter; showing the results exhibited under the following heads, and in the following form:

Abstract of the attendances of scholars at the district school of district No. in the town of during the quarter commencing the

day of

184 .

Of scholars who attended less than two months, there were Of scholars who attended two months and less than four,

This abstract is to be signed by the teacher and delivered to the

trustees.

In another part of the book provided by the trustees, and towards the end of it, the teacher will enter the days on which the school has been inspected, in the form of a memorandum, as follows:

Account of Inspections of the School in District No.

November 1, 1841. The school was inspected by William Jones town superintendent.

December 1, 1841. The school was inspected.

To this also, an oath or affirmation of the correctness must be added in the following form:

in the town of

A. B. being duly sworn (or affirmed,) deposes that the foregoing is a true account of the days on which the school in District No. was visited and inspected by the town superintendents respectively, during the quarter commencing on the

day of

184

Teacher.

DISTRICT CLERK.

The general duties of this officer are particularly specified in § 81, (No. 106.) He is to keep in a book, to be provided by the district, a record of the proceedings of each annual and special meeting held in his district; to give notice of the time, place and object of such meetings in the manner prescribed by law; and to preserve all records, books and papers relating to the district, and deliver the same, on the expiration of his official term, to his

successor.

By § 66, (No. 91) he is to notify a special meeting for the elec tion of officers, whenever the time for holding the annual meeting has passed, without such election being held; and generally it is his duty to give the necessary legal notices of a district meeting, whenever required to do so by a majority of the trustees. The purpose and object of such meetings should in all cases be set forth in general terms; and this is specially required by law when a meeting is called for the purpose of changing the site and removing the school house in an unaltered district. [See Nos. 89, 98.] And also when a tax is to be levied for the purchase of books for a district library. [See No. 158.]

By § 69, (No. 94) it is declared that "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." But this provision will not exonerate a clerk from liability for gross neglect; nor will it sanction an intentional omission to give notice.

Notices of annual and special meetings must be given at least five days before the day on which such meetings are directed to be held; that is, the notices for the meeting to be held on Saturday for instance, must be given on or before the preceding Monday.

In the case of annual meetings, or special meetings, which have been adjourned for a longer time than one month, a notice in writing, affixed in at least four different places in the district, is sufficient; but notices of special meetings must be personally served on each inhabitant of the district liable to pay taxes, (which includes, of course, every legal voter in the district) "by reading the notice

in the hearing of such inhabitant, or in case of his absence from home, by leaving a copy thereof, or of so much thereof as relates to the time and place of such meeting, at the place of his abode.” § 55, (No. 80.)

Form of notice for Annual Meeting.

Notice is hereby given, that the annual meeting for the election of officers in district No. in the town of and for the transaction of such other business as the meeting may deem necessary, will be held at the school house in said district on Monday, the at 6 o'clock, P. M.

day of Dated this

day of

A. B. District Clerk.

Form of Notice for an adjourned District Meeting, to be posted up in four public places in the District.

SCHOOL DISTRICT NOTICE.

author

Notice is hereby given, that a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of school district, No. in the town of ized by law to vote therein, will be held at

of

the

on the day next, (or instant, as the case may be,) at o'clock in noon, pursuant to adjournment.

Dated this

day of

A. D. 18

A. B. District Clerk.

Form of Notice for a Special District Meeting.

To the Clerk of district number

The Trustees of district number

the day of

at a meeting held for the pur

pose, have resolved that a special meeting be called at the school house, on 18 at o'clock in the noon of that day, for the purpose of [choosing a collector in the place of A. B. removed or whatever the object of the meeting may be,] and for the transaction of such other business as the meeting may deem necessary.

You will therefore notify each inhabitant of the district entitled to vote therein, by reading this notice in his hearing, or if he is absent from home, by leaving a copy of it, or so much as relates to the time and place of meeting, at the place of his abode, at least five days before such meeting. this day of

Dated at

18

A. B.

C. D. Trustees. &c.