§ 17-1. Incorporation; boundaries
Such portions of the Town of Barton as were included within the limits of School District
Number Seven, prior to the enactment of an act, entitled “An act relating to public
instruction,” approved November 12, 1892, and bounded as the District was then bounded
and the inhabitants thereof are hereby incorporated and constituted a school district
of the Town of Barton by the name of the Orleans School District, and the school house
and all other property of whatever character in the District shall become the general
property of the Orleans School District; and the Graded School District shall have
all the powers and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties and liabilities
of such districts under the laws of this State, and the laws in addition thereto or
in amendment thereof.
§ 17-2. Officers; trustees
The 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 by the expiration
of the terms of office of Trustee shall be filled by the election of Trustees for
the term of three years each; and all vacancies caused by death, registration, 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. The Trustees
shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of a Prudential Committee of
a school district, and shall choose one of their number 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. There shall also be elected a
Collector, Treasurer, and three Auditors at each annual meeting of the District for
the term of one year each, and vacancies in either of the offices may be filled at
any special meeting called for that purpose, and they shall serve in their respective
offices until their successors are elected. The President of the Board of Trustees
shall serve as Moderator at all meetings of the District, and the Secretary of the
Board of Trustees who shall not be a member of the Board shall serve as Clerk of the
District and shall be invested with the same powers and subject to the same duties
and liabilities of clerks of school districts under the school district system.
§ 17-3. Annual meeting
All annual meetings of the School District shall be held on the second Tuesday of
March in each year, at such time of day and place as shall be designated by the Clerk
of the District and the notice thereof shall not be less than six nor more than ten
days from the date of such notice or warning, and special meetings may be called at
any time under the direction of the Trustees or on petition of any five or more legal
voters in the District, and the notice for such meetings shall be the same as that
herein provided for annual meetings and the notices for all annual and special meetings
shall be posted in three or more public places in the District.
§ 17-4. Powers of officers
All persons elected to the office of Collector, Treasurer, and Auditors shall be invested
with the same powers and privileges and subject to the same duties and liabilities
of such officers of school districts under the school district system under the laws
of this State prior to the adoption of the town system of schools.
§ 17-5. Bylaws, rules, and regulations; District
The Orleans 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 of study therein as it may deem
expedient; and may at its option afford and provide for the studies taught in higher
academic schools and which are requisite to prepare scholars for admission to colleges.
The graded school shall not be required to afford instruction gratuitously in drawing,
music, or the languages other than English or the higher mathematics, but may do so
at its option; all residents of the District between the ages of five and 20 years
may attend the graded school free of tuition for all branches of study, except those
above mentioned, tuition to be charged upon the branches excepted at the option of
the District.
§ 17-6. Bylaws, rules, and regulations; Trustees
The Trustees may make such bylaws, rules, and regulations for the graduation, instruction,
and management of the 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 or departments of the school,
and shall in conjunction with the teachers of the several schools or departments arrange
and hold a public examination of all the scholars 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 student or the welfare and 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 and make provision for the attendance
and instruction of students from other parts or portions of the Town of Barton or
from other towns in the graded school with equal advantages of resident students,
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.)
§ 17-7. Gifts, benefactions, legacies, and endowments
The School District is hereby empowered to receive any gift, benefaction, legacy,
or endowment fund in fee or in trust, that may be donated, devised, given, or bestowed,
for the support and use of the Graded School on such terms and conditions as may be
prescribed and limited by any donor or legator not inconsistent with the laws of this
State; and the Trustees of such Graded School shall be the custodians of such gifts,
benefactions, legacies, or endowment funds and of the income of the same, subject
to the order and direction of the District in relation to the same, unless otherwise
provided by the terms of such gift, benefaction, legacy, or endowment fund.
§ 17-8. Public money
In the distribution of the public moneys for the support of schools, the school district
shall be entitled to such a share thereof, as Graded School Districts shall receive
by virtue of the laws of this State.
§ 17-9. Public act; effective date
This act shall be under the control of future legislation to alter or amend as the
public good may require, and shall take effect whenever a majority of the legal voters
resident within the limits of that part of the Town of Barton, which prior to March 31 A.D. 1892 was known and designated as School District Number Seven in the Town, present at
a meeting of the voters legally notified and warned to be held at the school house
in the Village of Barton Landing on the third Tuesday of March, A.D. 1895, shall vote
to accept the provision of this act; the notice and warning for the meeting shall
be made by one of the Selectboard members of the Town of Barton, to be held as aforesaid,
giving at least ten days’ notice of the time and place of such meeting, and such notices
to be posted in three or more public places in the Village, who is hereby directed
to insert in the warning for the meeting an article requesting the legal voters aforesaid
to vote upon the acceptance of the provisions of this act, the Selectboard member
shall preside at the meeting, and if a majority present of the voters shall vote to
accept the provision of this act, the Selectboard member shall then direct the voters
to proceed to the election of the officers hereinbefore provided for, and such officers
shall hold their respective offices for the respective terms hereinbefore provided,
and the commencement and expiration of the same shall be taken to be the same as though
this meeting was held on the second Tuesday of March 1895. (Amended 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 72.)