ARTICLE 28 Fire Drills Section 730 Duty to maintain drills 731 Penalty for neglect 732 Duty to instruct teachers 733 Not applicable to colleges or universities § 730 Duty to maintain drills. It shall be the duty of the principal or other person in charge of every public or private school or educational institution within the State, having more than one hundred pupils, or maintained in a building two or more stories high to instruct and train the pupils by means of drills, so that they may in a sudden emergency be able to leave the school building in the shortest possible time and without confusion or panic. Such drills or rapid dismissals shall be held at least once in each month. § 731 Penalty for neglect. Neglect by any principal or other person in charge of any public or private school or educational institution to comply with the provisions of this article shall be a misdemeanor punishable at the discretion of the court by fine not exceeding fifty dollars; such fine to be paid to the pension fund of the local fire department where there is such a fund. § 732 Duty to instruct teachers. It shall be the duty of the board of education or school board or other body having control of the schools in any district or city to cause a copy of this article to be printed in the manual or handbook prepared for the guidance of teachers, where such manual or handbook is in use or may hereafter come into use. § 733 Not applicable to colleges or universities. The provisions of this article shall not apply to colleges or universities. Section 750 Arbor Day ARTICLE 29 751 Manner of observance 752 Prescribed course of exercises § 750 Arbor Day. The Commissioner of Education shall designate by proclamation, annually, the day to be observed as Arbor Day. [Amended by L. 1916, ch. 220.] 8 751 Manner of observance. It shall be the duty of the authorities of every public school in this State to assemble the pupils in their charge on that day in the school building, or elsewhere, as they may deem proper, and to provide for and conduct, under the general supervision of the city superintendent or the school commissioner, or other chief officers having the general oversight of the public schools in each city or district, such exer cises as shall tend to encourage the planting, protection and preservation of trees and shrubs, and an acquaintance with the best methods to be adopted to accomplish such results. § 752 Prescribed course of exercises. The Commissioner of Education may prescribe from time to time a course of exercises and instruction in the subjects hereinbefore mentioned, which shall be adopted and observed by the public school authorities on Arbor Day. Upon receipt of copies of such course sufficient in number to supply all the schools under their supervision, the school commissioner or city superintendent aforesaid shall promptly provide each of the schools under his charge with a copy, and cause it to be observed. ARTICLE 30 Teachers Institute Section 770 Duties of Commissioner of Education regarding teachers institutes 771 Duties of school commissioners 772 Schools must be closed 773 Penalty for failure to attend or to close schools 774 Teachers must attend; entitled to salaries 775 Payment of expenses 776 Compensation and expenses of teachers attending institute or conference § 770 Duties of Commissioner of Education regarding teachers institutes. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Education: 1 To appoint a teachers institute once in each year in each school commissioner district of the State, for the benefit and instruction of the teachers in the public schools, and of such as intend to become teachers, with special reference to the presentation of subjects relating to the principles of education and methods of instruction in the various branches of study pursued in the schools. After consultation with the school commissioners, the said Commissioner of Education shall have power to determine the duration of each institute and to designate the time and place of holding the same. 2 To employ suitable persons, at a reasonable compensation, to supervise and conduct the institutes, and, in his discretion, to provide for such additional instruction as he may deem advisable and for the best interests of the schools. 3 To appoint in his discretion an institute for two or more school commissioner districts. 4 To establish such regulations for the government of institutes as he may deem best; and he may establish such regulations in regard to certificates of qualification or recommendation which may be issued by school commissioners as will, in his judgment, furnish incentives and encouragement to teachers to attend the institutes. 5 To visit the institutes, or cause them to be visited by representatives of the Education Department, for the purpose of examining into the course and character of instruction given, and of rendering such assistance as he may find expedient. § 771 Duties of school commissioners. It shall be the duty of every school commissioner, subject always to the advice and direction of the Commissioner of Education: 1 To notify all teachers, trustees, boards of education and others known to him who may desire to become teachers under his jurisdiction, of the time when and the place where the institute will be held. 2 To make all necessary arrangements for holding the institute when appointed; see that a suitable room is provided; attend to all necessary details connected therewith; assist the conductor in organization; keep a record of all teachers in attendance and notify the trustees of the number of days attended by the teachers of the various districts, which shall be the basis of pay to such teacher for attendance as hereafter provided. 3 To transmit to the Commissioner of Education at the close of each institute, in such form, and within such time, as such commissioner shall prescribe, a full report of the institute, including a list of all teachers in attendance, the number of days attended by each teacher, with such other information as may be required. 4 To present a full statement of all expenses incurred by him in carrying on the institute, with vouchers for all expenditures made, accompanying the same by an affidavit of the correctness of statements made and of accounts presented. § 772 Schools must be closed. 1 All schools in school districts and parts of school districts within any school commissioner districts wherein an institute is held, not included within the boundaries of an incorporated city, except as herein provided, shall be closed during the time such institute shall be in session. 2 The closing of a school within the school commissioner district wherein an institute shall be held, at which a teacher has attended, shall not work a forfeiture of the contract under which such teacher was employed. 3 In all districts having a population of more than five thousand, and employing a superintendent whose time is exclusively devoted to the supervision of the schools therein, the schools may be closed or not at the option of the boards of education in such districts. § 773 Penalty for failure to attend or to close schools. Wilful failure on the part of a teacher to attend a teachers institute as required, shall be sufficient cause for the revocation of such teacher's license, and a wilful failure on the part of trustees to close their schools during the holding of an institute as required, shall be sufficient cause for withholding the public moneys to which such districts would otherwise be entitled. § 774 Teachers must attend; entitled to salaries. 1 Any person under contract to teach in a school in any commissioner district, is required to attend an institute if one is held for that district, even though at the time of such institute the school is not in session, and shall be entitled to receive full salary for the actual time in attendance at such institute. 2 The trustees of every school district are hereby directed to give the teachers employed in their district the whole of the time, while an institute for the school commissioner district in which their school is located is in session, for attendance thereat and shall make no deduction whatever from the salaries of such teachers for the time so spent. § 775 Payment of expenses. The treasurer shall pay, on the warrant of the Comptroller, to the order of any one or more of the school commissioners, such sum of money as the Commissioner of Education shall certify to be due to them for expenses in holding a teachers institute; and upon the like warrant and certificate shall pay to the order of any persons employed by the Commissioner of Education as additional instructors to conduct, instruct, teach or supervise any such teachers institute. § 776 Compensation and expenses of teachers attending institute or conference. A public school teacher under contract to teach in a public school who is required pursuant to law or a regulation of the State Department of Education to attend an institute or conference held at a place other than that in which the school is located, in addition to his or her regular salary, shall be paid the sum of one dollar for each day or part of a day actually spent in attendance at such institute or conference, and ten cents a mile for each mile necessarily traveled in going to and returning therefrom. The teacher shall be paid the foregoing sums by the district in which he or she is under contract to teach in the first order drawn after the institute or conference and in the annual report of the trustees of such district the amount or amounts so paid shall be included therein and the same shall be repaid to the district out of the moneys appropriated for the support of common schools and the amount so repaid shall be apportioned and paid to such district by the Commissioner of Education at the same time and in the same manner as other public school moneys are apportioned and paid to such district. [Added by L. 1919, ch. 109, in effect March 27, 1919.] ARTICLE 31 Training Classes Section 790 Designation of schools for classes 791 Regulations for classes 792 Instruction free 793 School commissioners shall supervise and examine classes; teach ers certificates 794 Teachers training schools or classes under superintendents of schools § 790 Designation of schools for classes. The Commissioner of Education shall designate the academies and union free schools in which training classes may be organized to give instruction in the scienee and practice of common school teaching. Such classes shall be distributed among the academies and high schools of the several school commissioner districts of the State and consideration shall be given to the number of school districts in each and the location and character of the institution designated. |