4. LAW REGULATING ATTENDANCE AND CLOSING OF SCHOOLS. TITLE X OF CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL ACT. Section 1. It shall be the duty of the superintendent of public instruction to appoint a teachers' institute once in each year in each school commissioner district of the state, for the benefit and instruction of the teachers in the public schools, and of such as intend to become teachers, with special reference to the presentation of subjects relating to the principles of education and methods of instruction in the various branches of study pursued in the schools. After consultation with the school commissioners, the said superintendent shall have power to determine the duration of each institute and to designate the time and place of holding the same. He shall also have power to employ suitable persons, at a reasonable compensation, to supervise and conduct the institutes, and, in his discretion, to provide for such additional instruction as he may deem advisable and for the best interests of the schools. He may also, in his discretion, appoint an institute for two or more commissioner districts. He shall establish such regulations for the government of institutes as he may deem best; and he may establish regulations in regard to certificates of qualification or recommendation which may be issued by school commissioners as will, in his judgment, furnish incentives and encouragement to teachers to attend the institutes. So far as consistent with other duties imposed upon him, the superintendent shall visit the institutes, or cause them to be visited by representatives of the department of public instruction, for the purpose of examining into the course and character of instruction given, and of rendering such assistance as he may find expedient. § 2. It shall be the duty of every school commissioner, subject always to the advice and direction of the superintendent of public instruction, and in such form and manner as may be deemed most effectual, to notify all teachers, trustees, boards of education and others known to him, who may desire to become teachers under his jurisdiction, of the time when and the place where the institute will be held. The school commissioner shall make all necessary arrangements for holding the institute when appointed; see that a suitable room is provided; attend to all necessary details connected therewith; assist the conductor in organization; keep a record of all teachers in attendance; and notify the trustees of the number of days attended by the teachers of the various districts, which shall be the basis of pay to such teacher for attendance as hereafter provided. He shall also transmit to the superintendent of public instruction at the close of each institute, in such form, and within such time as the superintendent shall prescribe, a full report of the institute, including a list of all teachers in attendance, the number of days attended by each teacher, with such other statistical information as may be required. He shall present a full statement of all expenses incurred by him in carrying on the institute, with vouchers for all expenditures made, accompanying the same by an affidavit of the correctness of statements made and of accounts presented. § 3. The school commissioner shall have the right to hold an institute when appointed in any school building in any district under such commissioner's jurisdiction which receives public money from the state, without expense therefor to the state beyond a reasonable allowance to said district for lighting, heating and janitor service, provided always that due and proper care shall be maintained, and the school building left in the like condition as found as regards cleanliness and neatness. § 4. All schools in school districts and parts of school districts within any school commissioner district wherein an institute is held, not included within the boundaries of an incorporated city, or certain union free school districts hereinafter mentioned, shall be closed during the time such institute shall be in session. The closing of a school within the school commissioner district wherein an institute shall be held, at which a teacher has attended, shall not work a forfeiture of the contract under which such teacher was employed. In union free school districts having a population of more than five thousand, and employing a superintendent whose time is exclusively devoted to the supervision of the schools therein, the schools may be closed or not, at the option of the boards of education in such districts. The trustees of every school district are hereby directed to give the teacher or teachers employed by them, the whole of the time spent by them in attending at an institute or institutes held as hereinbefore stated, without deducting anything from the wages of such teacher or teachers for the time so spent. All teachers under a contract to teach in any school commissioner district shall attend such institute so held for that district, and shall receive wages for such attendance. § 5. In the apportionment of public school money, the schools thus closing in any school time shall be allowed the same average pupil attendance during such time, as was the average weekly aggregate during the week previous to such institute, and any school continuing its sessions, in violation of the above provision shall not be allowed any public money based upon the aggregate attendance for the period during which the institute was held. Trustees and boards. o education in such school districts and parts of school districts shall report, in their annual reports to the school commissioners, the number of days and the dates thereof on which a teachers' institute was held in their districts during the school year, and whether schools under their charge were or were not closed during such days; and whenever the trustees' report shows a district school has been supported for the full time required by law, including the time spent by the teacher or teachers in their employ in attendance upon such institute, and that the trustees have given the teacher or teachers the time of such absence, and have not deducted anything from his or their wages on account thereof, the superintendent of public instruction may include the district in his apportionment of the state school moneys, and direct that it be included by the school commissioner or commissioners in their apportionment of school moneys; provided, always, that such school district be in all other respects entitled to be included in such apportionment. § 6. Willful failure on the part of a teacher to attend a teachers' institute as required, shall be considered sufficient cause for the revocation of such teacher's license, and a willful failure on the part of trustees to close their schools during the holding of an institute as required, shall be considered sufficient cause for withholding the public moneys to which such districts would otherwise be entitled. Any person under contract to teach, for the term in which an institute is held, in a school in any commissioner district is required to attend an institute, if held for that district, even though at the time the school is not in session, and shall be entitled to receive wages for such attendance. § 7. The treasurer shall pay, on the warrant of the comptroller, to the order of any one or more of the school commissioners, such sum or sums of money as the superintendent of public instruction shall certify to be due to them for expenses in holding a teachers' institute; and, upon the like warrant and certificate, to pay to the order of any persons employed by the superintendent as additional instructors to conduct, instruct, teach or supervise any such teachers' institute. § 8. There shall be annually appropriated out of the free school fund the sum of thirty thousand dollars for the maintenance of teachers' institutes. 5. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES-INSTRUCTIONS TO COMMISSIONERS. STATE OF NEW YORK: To School Commissioners: DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION,) } commis Teachers' institutes will be held at such times of the year as sioners may desire, so far as practicable, but not in the period between the 15th of June and the 10th of September, nor usually during the weeks in which the Regents' examinations or legal holidays occur. It is always advisable to hold institutes during the early part of the school year if they can be arranged. Commissioners should decide upon the week which they prefer and advise us at an early day, even though they desire a time late in the year. This will enable us to lay out the work more thoroughly and acceptably, and employ the conductors more advantageously than can be done when commissioners delay arrangements until the near approach of the time when they desire the institutes to be held. As a rule an institute will be held for each commissioner district. It will continue for one week and be held once in each school year. Union institutes will be arranged whenever desirable. But one conductor will ordinarily be assigned to an institute. Help will be extended from the normal schools, and commissioners will invite prominent local teachers to supply occasional exercises. The Department will see to it that no institute shall fail for want of help, but commissioners are cautioned against letting their own anxiety for successful institutes lead them to ask for more outside help than necessary. The institute conductors now available for the work are: Henry R. Sanford, A. M., Ph. D., Penn Yan; Isaac H. Stout, A. M., Geneva; Augustus S. Downing, A. M., Palmyra; Welland Hendrick, A. M., Cortland; A. C. McLachlan, A. M., Seneca Falls. Special instructors : Drawing, Miss Gratia L. Rice, director, 13 Wadsworth street, Buffalo; primary work, Mrs. B. Ellen Burke, Malone. In districts having large villages with union schools it is advisable that the commissioner should confer with the school authorities of such villages as to the time of holding the institute, and that whenever possible it should be held at a time which will be most pleasing to such places. It will ordinarily be found that this will prevent friction and secure that cordiality of co-operation which is highly essential to the institute. In giving notices of institutes, commissioners will be particular to call the attention of all trustees to the provisions of section 5, title 10 of the Consolidated School Law, requiring the closing of the schools and the attendance of the teachers. The statute is mandatory. It allows no alternative but to close the schools. A teacher can not be paid from public moneys for teaching during institute week, although he must be paid for attendance upon the institute. Trustees violating this statute either directly or by subterfuge will render themselves liable to the penalties provided by law for such violation. Willful failure on the part of a teacher to attend a teachers' institute will be considered sufficient cause for the revocation of such teacher's license. Any person under contract to teach in a school in any commissioner district is required to attend an institute held for that district even though at the time the school is not in session, and shall be entitled to receive wages for such attendance. At the close of the institute, commissioners will certify to trustees the time of the attendance of the teachers in their employ, and they will also report to this Department any failure on the part of trustees or teachers to comply with the law. In arranging for and carrying on institutes, you will be guided by the following regulations: 1. The Department of Public Instruction will be represented in every institute by the principal conductor who will have full control of the proceedings of the institute. 2. On receiving official notice from this Department of the appointment of an institute for your district, you will send notices of the same, printed on postal cards, to all your teachers, and to all the newspapers printed in the district, as items of news. But you must not incur any liability on the part of the Department for newspaper advertisements. Correspond immediately with the principal conductor, and with him arrange the program of exercises for the week. 3. Invite some of your most advanced and experienced teachers to present exercises. On application to this Department assistance may usually be obtained for a day or two from one of the normal schools. The Superintendent will not, under any circumstances, be bound by contracts made by commissioners with other instructors or lecturers. 4. Secure ample accommodations for the sessions of the institute, using a schoolhouse in preference to any other building, when a suitable one can be obtained. Pay particular attention to good light, ventilation, heating, pleasant surroundings and janitor service. It is believed that the use of a schoolhouse, courthouse or other public |