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tricts are subdivided into road precincts and election precincts.

(1) Road Precincts: Surveyor of Roads.-The county court of each county may divide the several districts into road precincts, which are designated by numbers. Boundary lines are established, which are entered of record in the order book of the court. No road precinct includes any part of an incorporated town or city, which, by the provisions of its charter, maintains its own roads, streets, and alleys. A surveyor of roads is appointed by the county court for the term of two years. He must be a resident of the precinct for which he is appointed. Any person so appointed is required to serve, or forfeit twenty dollars; but the court may remit the forfeiture. The surveyor, under the direction of the county court, superintends the maintenance, construction and repair of all county roads and bridges. He receives a compensation not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents for each day necessarily employed in performing his official duties.

(2) Election Precincts.-For the the purposes of elections magisterial districts are divided into election precincts, each one designated by a number, and having established boundaries. Each precinct must have one voting place only, and as nearly as practicable 200 voters; but no precinct shall contain more than 250 voters. A magisterial district must contain at least one voting precinct. The county court, whenever the public convenience may require it, may change the boundaries of any precinct, divide any precinct into two or move precincts, consolidate two or more precincts into one, or change any place of voting. But these extensive powers must be exercised in accordance with many regulations prescribed by law. The county court is required to keep an "Election Precinct Record," lodged in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, in which is entered every order relating to any precinct or place of voting in the county. It may be seen and examined by any citizen of the county.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

1. The School District: its Purposes. -No system of selfgovernment can long continue without intelligence on the part of the people who exercise it. Schools increase intelligence; intelligence makes good citizens; and good citizens make good government. West Virginia therefore put into the structure of her state government the corner stone of a system of primary free schools and general education. The township, as we have seen, was at first made the basis of educational work. The present district, so far as education is concerned, remains with practically the same functions as the township. The school districts in every county are identical in territorial extent with the magisterial districts, except where, in some instances, the Legislature, by special law, has carved out of some district, or has pieced together out of portions of two or more districts, independent districts.

2. The Boards of Education.-It would be a useless task to attempt to trace the various changes in the law with respect to education. Suffice it to say that the board of education of each district consists now of a president, elected for the term of four years, and two commissioners, elected for the same term, one of whom only is elected every two years. Vacancies in the board are filled by the county superintendent. The board of education of each district is a corporation by the name of "The Board of Education of the District of

It is required to meet on the first Monday in July of each year, and at this meeting to appoint a secretary; to determine the number of teachers to be employed in the several subdis.

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tricts; to fix the salaries that shall be paid to teachers; to appoint one trustee for each subdistrict; to fill vacancies in the office of trustee; and to levy a tax for the support of the primary free schools of its district, not exceeding fifty cents on every one hundred dollars of the taxable valuation of property. If the levy should not be laid at this meeting, it must be laid as soon thereafter as practicable. Other meetings may be called at the discretion of the board.

3. Powers and Duties of the Board. The powers and duties of the boards of education are numerous and can be studied in detail only from the laws and from the decisions interpreting the laws. In general, it may be said, the boards determine the number and location of schools; establish and alter subdistricts; and control and supervise the schools and school business of their districts.

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4. The Secretary of the Board. The secretary is not a member of the board: he is merely the recording officer, the keeper of accounts, and the custodian of all records, papers, and documents belonging to it. He performs such clerical duties as are prescribed by law or required by the board, and receives a small compensation fixed by the board.

5. Subdistricts.-Each subdistrict into which the districts are divided by the boards, is designed to contain as near as practicable not less than forty youths between the ages of six and twenty-one years. But every village containing fifty or more inhabitants is entitled to be included in one subdistrict. It should be laid off with reference to the convenience of the inhabitants. Any person feeling aggrieved by any decision of the board of education of his district upon any question affecting the number of subdistricts or the boundaries thereof, may appeal to the county superintendent by presenting a petition, signed by himself and five other residents of his subdistrict, stating the action of the board and the grounds of his complaint. Upon the hearing the decision of the superintendent is final.

6. Trustees of Subdistricts. The law requires the board of education to appoint annually for the term of three years one intelligent and discreet person as a trustee in each subdistrict, so that there shall always be three trustees in office. They act in all things subject to the revision and correction of the board. Their acts may be revised upon motion of any member of the board, or upon complaint in writing of any three taxpayers of their subdistrict. The trustees are merely the agents of the board; they are not a corporation.

7. Powers and Duties of the Trustees.-Among other powers and duties the trustees have charge of the school in their subdistrict, and meet at the schoolhouse therein on the third Monday in July of every year for the purpose of appointing a qu' teacher or teachers. They are required to visit the school; to see that the houses, grounds, furniture, apparatus, and library are kept in good order; to do whatever may be necessary and proper for the preservation of the property and the promotion of the progress, health, and morals of the pupils; to do many other acts prescribed by law; and to make reports annually to the board of education of their district, containing an inventory of all public property under their control.

8. Teacher and Pupil.-The teacher must be a person of good moral character, of temperate habits, and sixteen years of age and upwards. He must be in possession of a certificate authorizing him to teach, issued upon an actual examination before the board of examiners upon the branches required by law to be taught in the primary free schools of the State, that is to say, orthography, reading, penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, physiology, general, United States, and state history, general and state geography, single entry bookkeeping, civil government, and the theory and art of teaching.* If the application to teach be for a high

There is evi

*It is difficult to reconcile sections 11, 28, and 29 of the school law. dently some error in the revision of these sections in the Acts of 1893. It is hardly possible that it was the intention to require the Theory and Art of Teaching to be taught in the primary schools.

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school, the examination shall include the additional branches required to be taught in the school. Three grades of certificate are issued, graded according to the proficiency of the applicant. State certificates are also issued. The teacher has reposed in him a great trust. For the time being he stands in the place of the parent, with the same rights to govern the school that the parent has to govern the family. He should govern kindly but firmly. Every pupil owes to the teacher the most cheerful obedience. It is by first learning to obey that one acquires the ability to rule wisely. Respect for

the authority of the teacher is respect for the authority of the law.

9. The School Term.-The length of the school term fixed by law is five months in every year; but any district may, by a majority vote adopt a longer term. In many counties of the State some of the districts have increased the term to five

and six months in country communities, while in the densely populated places eight and nine months is the usual term.

10. The Compulsory School Law. In 1897 a compulsory school law was enacted, which requires every person, having under his control any child between the ages of eight and fourteen years, to cause such child to attend some school. This requirement is enforced under the penalty of misdemeanor punishable by small fines. The result of this law has been good. A marked increase in the attendance upon the public schools is noticeable in the State at large.

II. The Schools for Colored Children.—It is the fundamental law of West Virginia that white and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school. The education of colored children is provided for in separate schools upon an equal footing with the white children. The trustees of

every subdistrict are required to establish a primary school for colored children, whenever the enumeration therein for school purposes amounts to fifteen. Subdistricts may be combined in order to make up a school for colored children. And

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