DUTIES. of truancy or non-attendance at school, and to render all services within his power to compel children to attend school; and, when informed of continued non-attendance by any teacher or resident of the school district, he shall immediately notify the persons having control of such children that, on the following Monday, such children must present themselves with the necessary text-books for instruction in the proper school of the district. The notice also informs said parent or guardian that attendance at school must be consecutive at least eight half days of each week until the end of that term, except in cities having a duly constituted police force, where attendance in school shall be continuous. Penalty on Parents. In case any parent, guardian, or other person having charge of children fails to comply with the provisions of this law, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment in the county or city jail for not less than two nor more than ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. Ungraded Schools. In all city school districts having a school census of five hundred or more pupils, the school board or officers having in charge the schools of such districts may establish one or more ungraded schools for the instruction of juvenile disorderly persons. They may, through their truant officer and superintendent of schools, require such children to attend said ungraded schools or any department of their graded schools, as said board of education may direct. Juvenile Disorderly Persons. The following classes of persons between the ages of eight and fourteen years, and in cities between the ages of seven and sixteen years, are deemed juvenile disorderly persons, and shall, in the judgment of the proper school authorities, be assigned to the ungraded school or schools: 1. Habitual truants from any school in which they are enrolled as pupils. 2. Children who, while attending any school, are incorrigibly turbulent, disobedient, or insubordinate, or are vicious or immoral in conduct. 3. Children who are not attending any school and who habitually frequent streets and other public places, having no lawful business, employment, or occupation. LAW. It is the duty of the truant officer, in case of a violation of this law, within one week after having given VIOLATION OF the notice to the parent or guardian as specified above, to make a complaint for such refusal or neglect, against said parent, guardian, or other person having the legal charge and control of such child, before a justice of the peace in the city, village, or township where the party resides, except in cities having recorder's or police court. And said justice of the peace, police judge, or recorder's court, shall issue a warrant upon said complaint and shall proceed to hear and determine the same; and, upon conviction thereof, said parent, guardian, or other person, as the case may be, shall be punished by the fine and imprisonment above mentioned. It is the duty of all school officers, superintendents, or teachers, to render such assistance and furnish such information as they have at their command, to aid said truant officer in the fulfillment of his official duties. COMMITMENT TO REFORMATORY. When, in the judgment of school boards of primary and township school districts, or the superintendent of city schools and the truant officer, it becomes certain that all legal means have been exhausted COMPLAINT. in their attempts to compel the attendance at school of a juvenile disorderly person, the truant officer shall, in case the person in parental relation to the child neglects or refuses to do so, make a complaint against such juvenile disorderly person before a court of competent jurisdiction, that said child is a juvenile disorderly person. SENTENCE. The justice of the peace or court shall issue a warrant and proceed to hear such complaint; and, if said justice of the peace or court shall determine that said child is a juvenile disorderly person, then said justice of the peace or court shall thereupon and after consultation with the county agent of corrections and charities, sentence such child, if a boy, to the Industrial School for Boys at Lansing, for a term not extending beyond the time when said child shall arrive at the age of seventeen years, unless sooner discharged by the board of control of said institution; or, if a girl, to the Industrial Home for Girls at Adrian, for a term not extending beyond the time when said child shall arrive at the age of seventeen years, unless sooner discharged by the board of control of said institution: Provided, That the sentence may be suspended, in case of the first offence. CHAPTER VIII. TEXT-BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.* The district board is authorized to specify the studies to be pursued in the schools of the district, and each school board making a selection of text-books for use in the district is directed to keep a record of the same. HOW OFTEN Adoption of Text-Books. Text-books once adopted can not legally be changed within five years, unless a majority of the voters of the district shall consent at a regularly called disADOPTED. trict meeting (4680). If, after five years the school board does not make another adoption, the books formerly adopted continue to be the legally adopted books of the district. After a school board has adopted a certain text-book and several copies of it have been received and sold to the patrons, the board has no right to reconsider the resolution adopting such book (88 CANNOT Mich. 371). BOOKS FOR POOR CHILDREN. The district board may purchase, at the expense of the district, such text-books as may be necessary for the use of children, when parents are not able to furnish the same; and they shall include the amount of such purchase in the report to the township clerk or clerks, to be levied in like manner as other district taxes (4681). *NOTE.-Michigan has no law for uniform text-books. The law of 1897 was repealed by the Legislature of 1899. Free Text-Books.* SECTION 1. From and after June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, each school board of the State PURCHASED BY shall purchase, when authorized, as hereinafter THE BOARD. provided, the text-books used by the pupils of the schools in its district in each of the following subjects: Orthography, spelling, writing, reading, geography, arithmetic, grammar (including language lessons), National and State history, civil government, and physiology and hygiene; but text-books once adopted under the provisions of this act shall not be changed within five years: Provided, That the text-book on the subject of physiology and hygiene must be approved by the state board of education, and shall in every way comply with section fifteen of act number one hundred and sixty-five, of the public acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, approved June ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and that all text-books used in any district shall be uniform in any one subject. HOW SEC. 2. The district board of each school district shall select the kind of text books on subjects enumerated in section one, to be taught in schools of their respective districts: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall require any change in textbooks now in use in such district. The board shall cause to be posted in a conspicuous place, NOTICE at least ten days prior to the first annual school meeting from and after the passage of this act, a *NOTE. We print in full Act No. 147. Public Acts of 1889, which is the free text-book law of the State. Michigan has nearly 700,000 children of school age, about 500,000 of whom are attending school. There are about 7,200 districts in the State; and, up to September, 1891, only about 400 had availed themselves of the benefits of this law. Let the student estimate the cost each year to each pupil, and multiply the amount by 500,000 to get the estimated yearly cost of textbooks to the pupils of the State. Now, supposing text-books can be bought 10 per cent cheaper, and, being actually worn out in the service of the pupils, last 15 per cent longer, what would be the saving in each year, if all districts furnished free text-books? |