The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 16 Appendix: Education Charters and Agreements

Chapter 007: Bradford Academy and Graded School District

• § 7-1. Incorporation of district

  Such portions of the Town of Bradford as lie within the present limits of School District Number 2 and within the present limits of School District Number 12, and the inhabitants thereof, are hereby incorporated and constituted a school district of the Town of Bradford, by the name of the Bradford Academy and Graded School District; all the property owned by the Districts Numbers 2 and 12 shall be the property of the Bradford Academy and Graded School District; and all debts and liabilities of the District Numbers 2 and 12 shall be assumed and paid by the Bradford Academy and Graded School District; and the Bradford 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 graded school districts under the general laws of this State.

• § 7-2. District boundaries

  If any other school district or districts in the Town of Bradford shall at any time, by their vote at a meeting duly warned for that purpose, signify their desire to become united with the Bradford Academy and Graded School District, and if the Bradford 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 Bradford Academy and Graded School District; and such union of 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 Bradford, and by consent of the Bradford 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 Bradford Academy and Graded School District; or territory may be taken from the Bradford Academy and Graded School District by vote of the town as aforesaid, and by the consent of two-thirds of the voters in the Bradford Academy and Graded School District present at any meeting legally warned for that purpose.

• § 7-3. Officers and trustees

  Instead of a prudential committee now required by law to be elected, the Bradford 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; and all vacancies caused by resignation, death, removal from the District, or other cause, shall be filled at an annual or special meeting duly warned for that purpose, for the unexpired term of such Trustees only. Such Trustees shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of a prudential committee, and shall choose one of their number to be President, and shall appoint a Secretary of the Board of Trustees, who shall hold office for the term of one year and until their successors are chosen and appointed. All other officers of the District shall be elected in the manner prescribed by law.

• § 7-4. Annual meeting

  The time for holding the annual meetings and elections shall be the same as now is or hereafter shall be fixed by law for all school districts in the State; and the first annual meeting under this charter shall be holden on the last Tuesday of March A.D. 1893.

• § 7-5. Transfer of property

  The Trustees of the Bradford Academy, an institution located at Bradford, in the county of Orange, established by an act of the Legislature of November 2, 1820, are hereby authorized to transfer by deed the Academy building and all the property appertaining thereto, and to deliver any and all funds in their hands belonging to the institution, to the Bradford Academy and Graded School District, which deed shall become operative and binding whenever the District shall vote to accept the same.

• § 7-6. Library and Library Committee

  Within ten days after the first annual meeting of the Bradford Academy and Graded School District the Trustees shall appoint a Library Committee of three persons, one for the term of one year, one for the term of two years, and one for the term of three years, to hold their offices until their successors are appointed. And within ten days after each annual meeting after the first, the Trustees shall appoint one committee to fill the place of the committee whose term has expired, and such committee shall hold his or her place for the term of three years. And the Trustees may fill all vacancies occasioned by death, removal, or resignation. The Committee shall take charge of the Merrill Library and apparatus and such other books and apparatus as shall come into the possession of the District, and shall select and purchase books and apparatus for the library, and shall make such rules and regulations for the care and use of the same as may seem to them best. And it is hereby made the duty of the Trustees to pay for such books and apparatus so selected by the Library Committee to an amount not exceeding the annual income of the Merrill Library fund of $2,500.00. They shall also provide a room or rooms for the library and apparatus whenever the District shall build a new schoolhouse.

• § 7-7. Transfer deed

  The deed referred to in section 5 of this charter may, on the part and in behalf of the Trustees of the Bradford Academy, be executed by one of their number who may be authorized so to do by a vote of a majority or the Board of Trustees.

• § 7-8. Receipt of county and State funds; maintenance of school and curriculum

  Upon the transfer and acceptance of the Academy buildings and property, the powers and duties of the Trustees of the Bradford Academy shall cease and the Bradford Academy and Graded School District shall be entitled to such equal share of the income of the grammar school lands of Orange County, as the aforesaid Bradford Academy was entitled to receive before the passage of this chapter, and also those funds granted in common with other academies and grammar schools in this State, so long as the School District shall maintain, in connection with their schools, a good English high school, not less than 30 weeks each year, and shall in addition thereto, teach therein ancient and modern languages and higher mathematics and sciences to the extent necessary to prepare students entering at the beginning of the regular course in common American colleges, and shall employ as the principal thereof a teacher who is a graduate of some college of good reputation.

• § 7-9. Adoption of rules and bylaws; acceptance of scholars

  The Trustees of the Bradford Academy and Graded School District may make such bylaws, rules, and regulations for the graduation, 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 this 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 during each school year thereof 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 student or the good of the school seems to require it. The Trustees shall, unless otherwise directed by vote of the District at an annual meeting thereof, allow scholars from outside the District to attend the Academy and Graded School with equal advantages of resident scholars, at rates for the same instruction in schools of like character in the State. (Amended 2013, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 302, eff. Feb. 14, 2014.)

• § 7-10. Acceptance of endowments or legacies

  The Bradford Academy and Graded School District is hereby empowered to receive any endowment, fund, or legacy in fee or in trust that may be devoted 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 the Academy and Graded School shall be the custodians of such fund and of the income of the same, subject to the 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.

• § 7-11. Public acts; first meeting

  This chapter shall be under the control of future legislatures to alter or amend as the public good may require, and shall take effect on March 1 next. The first annual meeting of the Bradford Academy and Graded School District shall be held at the Bradford Academy and shall be warned by the Clerk of the School District Number 12 by posting a notice in due form of law on the outside door of the Academy at least seven days before the time for holding the meeting.