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to district No. for colored children so attendyear; and $ ing in said district; and that I have deducted the said several amounts from the sums by me apportioned to the said districts Nos.

; and

and respectively. And I further certify that during the year before mentioned, I have not collected any fines, penalties or forfeitures: [or, And I further certify that during the year before mentioned, I have collected a penalty of $25, imposed on A. B. a trus tee of district No. in said town, for signing a false report; and that my costs and charges in such collection amounted to $ that the balance of such penalty was by me added to the school money received by me and apportioned as above mentioned.] That the school books most in use in the common schools of said town are the following, viz: [here specify the principal books reported by the several trustees.] And I further certify the tables following, to be true abstracts from the reports of the trustees of the several districts and parts of districts as aforesaid:

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Whole length of
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Length of time Amount of money resuch school has ceived by districts. been kept by li

censed teachers. For teach- For libraers' wages. ries.

Months. Days. Months. Days. Dols. Cts. Dols. Cts.

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Dated at Trenton, this first day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand

eight

hundred and

A. B., Town Superintendent of Common Schools.

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CHAPTER III.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF INHABITANTS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

By 62 (No. 78) of the school act, it is provided that "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."

Annual meetings need not be precisely one year apart. The time may be a few days or weeks more or less than a year, if the inhabitants think it necessary. For instance, an annual meeting held on the first Tuesday of October may be adjourned to the second Tuesday of October of the next year. The propriety of the act in every case must depend upon the circumstances attending it. No general rule as to the extent of the variation from a year can be laid down as applicable to all cases.-Com. School Dec. 289.

It is proper, however, to observe, that as by the act of 1843 one trustee only is hereafter to be annually elected, who holds his office for three years, and as in case of a vacancy, such vacancy is to be supplied only for the unexpired term left vacant, the variations in the time of holding the annual meeting ought not to exceed three or four weeks. The time from one annual meeting to another must always be considered and treated as one year.

By 17 of the act of 1841, (No. 79,) "Whenever the time for holding annual meetings in a district, for the election of district officers shall pass without 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, any inhabitant of such district qualified to vote at district meetings, may 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."

By 4 of chap. 360, Laws of 1839, (No. 80,) "When the clerk, and all the trustees of a school district, shall have removed, or otherwise vacated their office, and where the records of a district shall have been destroyed or lost, or where trustees neglect or refuse to call meetings to choose trustees, the Superintendent of Common Schools shall have authority to order such meetings."

By 18 of the act of 1841, (No. 81) " When in consequence of the loss of the records of a school district, or the omission to designate the day for its annual meeting, there shall be none fixed, or it cannot be ascertained, the last trustee of such district may appoint a day for holding the annual meeting of such district."

If an annual meeting is held at the time and place appointed at or adjourned from the annual meeting of the preceding year, the proceedings will be deemed valid, notwithstanding the omission of the clerk to give the notices prescribed by law.

Where the place and time of day for holding the annual meeting are not designated by the inhabitants, the usual place and time of day for holding such meetings will be understood, and the notices of the clerk should correspond thereto. When assembled, the inhabitants may adjourn to any other convenient place: but the clerk cannot, in his notices for the annual meeting, designate any other than the usual place for holding such meeting, where the inhabitants at their last annual meeting omitted to specify any place.-Com. School Dec. 129, 141.

The law has not specified what number of inhabitants shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a district meeting, annual or special: and accordingly the proceedings, if otherwise regular, will not be disturbed by reason of the paucity of attendance on the part of the inhabitants, where the notice has been fair and public, and there is no room for the allegation of surprise. A reasonable time, should, however, be allowed for the inhabitants to assemble, after which those in attendance may legally proceed to the transaction of any district business.

By 63 (No. 82) it is provided that "a special meeting § shall be held in each district whenever 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."

This latter provision was intended for cases where through accident or mistake, the proper legal notice has not been given to all who are entitled to it: but it cannot be construed to extend to cases in which no attempt is, made to give the notice required by law to any of the inhabitants. Where the clerk of a district undertakes to give a notice in the manner provided by the statute, and has failed, unintentionally, to serve such notice on all the persons entitled to receive it, or where such notice is imperfectly served, the proceedings of the meeting will not be void on that account. They may, however, be set aside. on appeal, on showing sufficient cause.-Com. School Dec. 186, 223.

The law does not, in terms, prescribe that the object for which a special meeting is called shall be stated in the notice for such meeting. This duty is however enjoined by the Superintendent.-Com. School Dec. 354.

The opportunities afforded by the coming together of the inhabitants of each district, for deliberation and consultation in relation to their schools, and the various interests connected therewith, are calculated to exert a most beneficial influence in favor of education; to promote union, harmony and concert of action in the several districts; and to cement the ties of friendly social intercourse. between those having a common interest in the moral and intellectual culture of their children. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that they should not be neglected; that the inhabitants should be prompt and uniform in their attendance; and that the proceedings should be invariably characterized with that order, regularity, dignity and decorum which can alone command respect, and advance efficiently the objects to be accomplished. To secure as far as possible the attainment of these desirable ends, it is proposed in this place to examine the powers and duties of the inhabitants, when assembled in district meeting, the

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