appointment or Referendum on 80. The acceptance of the provisions of section fortytwo or forty-three shall be submitted to the qualified election of members of board of educa- voters of any city at a general or municipal election to tion under sec tions 42 and 43. be held therein; provided, that such submission shall be had and such vote shall be taken whenever the common council, board of aldermen or other legislative body of the city, or the board of education of any school district situate in such city shall have, by resolution, determined that such question shall be so submitted, or whenever at least five per centum of the legal voters of such city, as shown by the election returns at the last election in such city, shall, by their petition duly signed and delivered to the clerk of such city, have requested that such question shall be so submitted; provided further, that the question of accepting the provisions of either section forty-two or forty-three shall not be submitted to the Proviso. of this act, except as they are limited by or are inconsistent with the provisions of this article. legal voters of any city more often than once in five Management to years. In any city school district, until the organization pres ent boards until of a board of education in such school district as provided new boards organized. Powers of board. When old board abolished. in section forty-two or forty-three of this act, the administration and conduct of the public schools and the management and control of the public school property therein, shall remain in and shall be exercised by any board of education or other body theretofore having control of the public schools therein. Said board of education or other body shall be hereafter deemed to be incorporated under the provisions of section forty-eight of this act, and shall have all the powers and be charged with all the duties conferred or imposed upon a board of education as provided in this article, and the members cf any such board of education or other body shall be selected, elected or appointed at the same time, in the same manner, and shall serve for the same terms as members of such board of education or other body have been heretofore selected, elected or appointed. Upon the organization of a board of education in said district, as provided in section forty-two or forty-three, the board of education or other body theretofore having charge of the public schools in such school district or in such city, or having custody, charge or management of any fund or property used for or in the maintaining of public schools in such district or city, and having no other function, shall be ipso facto abolished. ARTICLE VII. BOARDS OF EDUCATION IN TOWNSHIP, INCORPORATED Boards of edu cation in town boroughs, how 81. In each township and incorporated town and in each borough which may be a separate school district, ships, towns or there shall be a board of education consisting of nine constituted. members, except as hereinafter provided; three members of such board shall be chosen at each annual school meeting and shall hold office for the term of three years. In case there shall be a vacancy in a board of education, such vacancy shall be filled at the next annual meeting after such vacancy occurs, and the person elected to fill such vacancy shall be elected for the unexpired term only; provided, that nothing in this section shall be Proviso. construed so as to require any such school district which now has a board of education consisting of less than nine members to increase the number of members to nine. members may 82. If the board of education in any school district Number of created under the provisions of this article shall deem be reduced. it for the best interests of the schools that the number of members constituting said board shall be reduced, the district clerk, when directed by said board, shall insert in the call for the next annual meeting a notice that it will be determined at said meeting whether the board of education shall consist of three or nine members. If it shall be determined at said meeting that the board of education shall consist of three members, then no election for members of said board shall be held until the expiration of the terms of office of all the members of said board then in office, and at the second annual school meeting held after the meeting at which it was determined to reduce the number of members of the board to three, there shall be elected three members of said board to serve for one, two and three years respectively, and thereafter one member of said board shall be chosen at each annual school meeting who shall hold office for the term of three years. 83. Whenever in any township, incorporated town or borough a new school district shall be created, there shall be held, at the ensuing annual school meeting, an election for members of the board of education. Before proceeding to ballot for such members of the board of education, the legal voters present shall determine whether the board of education shall consist of three or nine members. If it shall be determined that the board shall consist of three members, then said legal voters shall elect one member to serve for the term of one year, one for the term of two years and one for the term of three years. If it shall be determined that said board shall consist of nine members, said legal voters shall elect three members to serve for the term of one year, three for the term of two years and three for the term of three years, and annually thereafter there shall be elected three persons for the term of three years in the place of the members whose terms shall have expired. 84. An annual meeting for the election of members of the board of education shall be held in each township, incorporated town or borough school district on the third Tuesday in March at a school-house or such other convenient public place within the district as may be selected by the board of education. Not less than seven notices of such meeting, specifying the day, time, object and place thereof, shall be posted by the district clerk at least ten days before the date of such meeting; one of such notices shall be posted on each school-house within the district, and at such other public places therein as the board of education of said district shall direct. Any district clerk who shall fail to post notices calling said. annual meeting as required by this section shall pay a fine of twenty dollars, to be recovered in a court for the trial of small causes by any resident of said school district. A plurality of the votes cast shall be sufficient to elect a member of a board of education. 85. A member of a board of education created under the provisions of this article shall be at least twenty-five years of age, a citizen and resident of the school district, and shall have been such citizen and resident for at least three years immediately preceding his or her becoming a member of such board, and shall be able to read and write. He shall not be interested directly or indirectly in any contract with nor claim against said board. of voters at ings. 86. Every male citizen of the United States who Qualifications shall have the qualifications required for electors for the school meetGeneral Assembly of the State of New Jersey, shall have the right to vote at such meeting. Every female citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years and possessing the qualifications respecting residence required of male voters, shall have the right to vote at any annual or special school meeting of the legal voters of said school district for any purpose other than the election of members of the board of education. (a) 87. All elections for members of a board of education Elections to be by ballot. created under the provisions of this article shall be by ballot. The polls for such election shall remain open one hour and as much longer as may be necessary to enable the legal voters present to cast their ballots. Said ballots may be printed or written, or partly printed and partly written. In case a member of a board of education. is to be elected for a full term, and a member is to be elected to fill an unexpired term, the ballots shall designate which of the persons voted for is to be elected for the full term, and which for the unexpired term. The Method of conducting elecchairman of the meeting shall appoint two tellers who tions. shall receive and count the ballots in his presence and said chairman shall announce the result of such election. The secretary of the meeting shall keep a poll-list and record therein the name of each person voting at such election and shall also keep a tally-sheet of the votes (a) 1. Trustees of school districts are municipal officers, and being elected by the people, those who vote for them must have the qualifications required by Article II. of the Constitution of New Jersey. State v. Deshler, 1 Dutcher 177. 2. School trustees are officers within Article II., paragraph 1, of the Constitution, so that, if they are made elective by the people, only male citizens can vote for them. Kimball v. Hendee, 28 Vr. 307. 3. Women may vote at school meetings for all purposes except the -election of officers. Landis v. Ashworth, 28 Vr. 509; Chamberlain v. Cranbury, 28 Vr. 605. Two ballotboxes in certain cases. Corporate name of board of education. as counted by the tellers. The tally-sheet shall be signed by the chairman and tellers, and said tally-sheet, polllist and ballots shall be placed by the secretary in a sealed package indorsed with the name of the district, the name of the county in which said district shall be situate and the date on which said election shall have been held, and said package, together with a statement of the result of said election signed by the chairman and secretary, shall be, by said secretary, deposited with the district clerk, and a copy of said statement shall be forwarded by said secretary to the County Superintendent of Schools within five days after the date of such election and the same shall be preserved for oneyear. Organization of board of education. 88. At any annual meeting when the question of raising a tax, the issuing of bonds, or the establishing of a union graded school is to be voted on, two ballot-boxesshall be provided and two tellers shall be appointed for each box. One of said boxes shall be used to receive the ballots for members of the board of education and the other to receive the ballots for the other objects enumerated in this section. 89. Each board of education elected as provided in this article shall be a body corporate, and shall be known. as and called "the board of education of the township (town or borough, as the case may be) ofin " the county of 90. Each board of education created under the provisions of this article shall organize within ten days after the annual school meeting by the election of one of its members as president, and a district clerk, and may fix the compensation of said clerk. If said board shall fail to organize within ten days the County Superintendent of Schools shall appoint, from among said Vacancies, how members a president and a district clerk. In case the office of president or district clerk shall become vacant, the board of education shall, within thirty days thereafter, fill such vacancy for the unexpired term, and if it shall fail to fill said vacancy within the said thirty days the County Superintendent of Schools shall fill Oath of office. such vacancy for the unexpired term. A member of such board of education shall, before entering upon the filled. |