The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 16 Appendix: Education Charters and Agreements

Chapter 003: Barton Academy and Graded School District

• § 3-1. Incorporation of district

  Such portions of the Town of Barton as lie within the present limits of School District Number One and the inhabitants thereof are hereby incorporated and constituted a school district of the Town of Barton, by the name of the Barton Academy and Graded School District; and the schoolhouse and all other property of School District Number One, of whatever character, shall become the general property of the Barton Academy and Graded School District; and all debts and liabilities of the District shall be assumed and paid by the Barton Academy and Graded School District, and the Barton Academy and Graded School District shall have all the powers and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties and liabilities that are incident to school districts established under the Revised Laws of Vermont and the laws in addition thereto, or in amendment thereof.

• § 3-2. Districts may merge

  If any other school district or districts in the Town of Barton shall at any time, by their vote at a meeting duly warned for that purpose, signify their desire to become united with the Barton Academy and Graded School District, and if the Barton Academy and Graded School District, at a meeting duly warned for that purpose, shall vote to agree to such union, then the additional district, or districts, shall become and form a part of the Barton Academy and Graded School District; and such union of the districts may be made upon such terms in regard to the school property of each as may be mutually agreed upon by the districts. And by vote of the Town of Barton and consent by vote of the Academy and Graded School District, at any annual or special meeting of the Town and the district duly warned for that purpose, territory from adjoining districts may be added to the Graded School District by vote of the Town as aforesaid, and by the consent of two-thirds of the voters in the Graded School District present at any meeting legally warned for that purpose.

• § 3-3. Transfer of property; assumption of debts; rent payments

  All property of whatever character, belonging to the Barton Academy, an institution incorporated by the Legislature by act approved November 14, 1854, shall become the property of the Barton Academy and Graded School District whenever the Barton Academy shall vote, at a meeting legally called for that purpose, to accept the provisions of this act and all debts and liabilities of the Barton Academy shall be assumed and paid by the corporation hereby created. The Selectboard of the Town of Barton shall annually pay over the rents and profits arising from the grammar school lands in the town to the Trustees of the Barton Academy and Graded School District together with all sums arising from that source now in their hands and unappropriated.

• § 3-4. Officers and trustees

  Instead of the prudential committee required by law to be elected, the Academy and Graded School District, at its first annual meeting, shall elect three Trustees as follows: one for the term of one year, one for the term of two years, and one for the term of three years; and at all subsequent annual meetings, vacancies caused by the expiration of the term of office of Trustees shall be filled by the election of Trustees for the term of three years each; provided, however, that when the voters thereof so vote at any annual meeting, wherein the warning contains an appropriate article relating thereto, two additional Trustees may be elected thereat for a term of one year each. Such vote so taken shall remain in effect until such time as the voters of the Barton Academy and Graded School District rescind the same by a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting at an annual or special meeting duly warned and including such purpose. All vacancies caused by death, resignation, removal from the District, or other cause shall be filled at an annual or special meeting, warned for the purpose, for the unexpired term of such Trustees only; provided, however, that the Trustees may fill one vacancy occurring on the Board of Trustees or in any other office, during the year, until an election is had at the next annual meeting, or a special meeting called for that purpose. The Trustees shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of a prudential committee and board of school directors, or either, and shall choose one of their members to be President, and may appoint a Secretary of the Board; each of whom shall hold office for the term of one year and until their successors are chosen and appointed. The other officers of the Barton Academy and Graded School District shall be the same as now or may hereafter be provided for all school districts in the State; shall be elected in the same manner and be subject to the same duties and liabilities as now or hereafter prescribed by law.

• § 3-5. Annual meeting

  The time of holding the annual meeting in the Graded School District shall be the same as now is or hereafter shall be fixed by law for all school districts in the State; and in accordance therewith the first meeting for the election of Trustees as hereinbefore provided shall be held on the last Tuesday of March, A. D. 1887.

• § 3-6. Adoption of bylaws and rules

  The Barton Academy and Graded School District may make such bylaws, rules, and regulations as it may deem expedient, not inconsistent with the laws of this State, and may provide for the establishment and maintenance of such number of schools, of such length, and of such grade or grades, and for teaching such branches therein as it may deem expedient; and may in its option give instruction in the studies usually taught in higher academic schools and which are requisite to prepare scholars for entering college. The Academy and Graded School shall not be required to teach gratuitously drawing, music, or the languages, other than English, but may at its option. All residents of the District between the ages of five and 20 years may attend the academy and graded school free of tuition for all branches except those mentioned herein, tuition to be charged upon the branches excepted at the option of the District.

• § 3-7. Courses of study; acceptance of scholars

  The Trustees may make such bylaws, rules, and regulations, for the gradation, instruction, and management of the Academy and Graded School, and for the care of the property of the District, as they may deem expedient not inconsistent with the laws of the State; they shall establish a course or courses of study in each of the schools and shall, in conjunction with the teachers of the schools, arrange and hold a public examination of all the schools at the close of each term thereof if thought best, and assign each scholar to the particular grade or department which each shall be found qualified to enter; shall assign each student to the proper grade upon admission to the school, and may change students from one grade to another during term time, whenever the interest of the students or the good of the school may seem to require it. The Trustees shall, unless otherwise directed by a vote of the District at any annual meeting thereof, allow scholars from other districts in the Town of Barton or from other towns to attend the Academy and Graded School with equal advantages of resident scholars, at rates of tuition corresponding as nearly as may be to the usual rates for the same instruction in schools of like character in the State. (Amended 2013, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 302, eff. Feb. 14, 2014.)

• § 3-8. Acceptance of endowments and legacies

  The Academy and Graded School district is hereby empowered to receive any endowment fund or legacy in fee or in trust, that may be donated as an endowment toward the support or for the use of the Academy and Graded School, on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the donor or legator, not inconsistent with the laws of this State; and the Trustees of such Academy and Graded School shall be the custodians of such fund and of the income of the same, subject to instructions of the District in regard to the use of the fund or income, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the endowment, donation, or legacy.

• § 3-9. Distribution of public moneys

  In the distribution of the public moneys, that portion which may be divided among the several school districts, irrespective of the number of scholars or the attendance at school, shall be so divided as to give the Barton Academy and Graded School District the share of the original district of which it is composed, and the Barton Academy and Graded School District shall have all the rights, privileges, and benefits now enjoyed by Barton Academy by School District Number One in Barton.