CHAPTER VIII.

TEACHERS.

By § 11, of the act of 1841, (No. 122,) 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 has been inspected by the deputy superintendent and the town inspectors. 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 the department of common schools 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:

mmm

mm

mm

A list of the scholars who attended the district school of distric No. in the town of

mencing the day of respectively attended the same.

during the quarter or term com184, and the number of days they

At the time any pupil enters the school, 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, should 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 day's 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 Thomson,⚫ 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 the quarter commencing the 184, and the number of days they respectively attended.

day of

during

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

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 the County Superintendent, and by William Jones, and Amos Johnson, two of the town inspectors.

December 1, 1841. The school was inspected by the County Superintendent alone.

This entry need not be verified, as heretofore required. Any inhabitant of a district may pay his proportion of the teacher's wages to such teacher, at any time before the rate-bill and warrant are actually made out and delivered to the collector; and whenever any such payment is made, the teacher should give notice of the fact of such payment and its amount, to the trustees, to enable the latter to credit the person so paying on the rate-bill.

Trustees cannot transfer to a teacher the power of enforcing the collection of his wages.

Teachers cannot demand payment of their wages until the collector has had thirty days to collect them.-Com. School Dec. 101.

A teacher may employ necessary means of correction to maintain order; but he should not dismiss a scholar from school without consultation with the trustees.—Id. 145.

If a teacher's certificate is annulled, the trustees are at liberty to dismiss him and to rescind their contract with him. But if they continue him in school, after notice that his certificate has been annulled, it will be regarded as such a continuance of the contract, that they will not be allowed at a subsequent period to dispute it.—Id. 212. Contracts by trustees for teachers' wages are binding upon their successors in office.-Id. 191, 282.

Teachers, though not, strictly speaking, inhabitants of the district where they are located, should be allowed to participate in all the privileges and benefits of the district libraries.-Per SPENCER, Sup't, 1841.

The convenience and accommodation of many, if not of most of the inhabitants of the several districts, would be essentially promoted by placing the charge of the library, temporarily with the teacher, during the term of his or her employment, and depositing it in some convenient and safe place in the school-house. This arrangement can only be carried into effect by the concurrence of the trustees and librarian, and under their supervision. Generally, the teacher, not being an inhabitant of the district, cannot be chosen librarian. But where the trustees and librarian have sufficient confidence in the teacher and in the safety of the books, when left at the school-house, they will find this arrangement in many respects conducive to the convenience of the district.

The authority of the teacher to punish his scholars, extends to acts done in the school-room, or play-ground, only; and he has no legal right to punish for improper or disorderly conduct elsewhere.-Per SPENCER, Sup't. Teachers may open and close their schools with prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures, accompanied with suitable remarks; taking care to avoid all discussion of controverted points, or sectarian dogmas.