Chap. 368.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 660 as heretofore amended,
664, 670, and 672 and 786 as heretofore amended, of the Code of Virginia, re-
lating to powers and duties of school boards in counties and cities, employment
of teachers, joint operation of schools by two or more school boards, and certain
other matters relating to public schools. [S B 138]

Approved April 1, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
sections six hundred and sixty as heretofore amended, six hundred
and sixty-four, six hundred and seventy, and six hundred and seventy-
two and seven hundred and eighty-six as heretofore amended, of the
Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 660. Duties of school board as to school laws and rules
and regulations; employment of teachers; restrictions; penalties.—It
shall be the duty of the school board to see that the school laws are
properly explained, enforced and observed; to make local regulations
for the conduct of the schools and for the proper discipline of the
students, which shall include their conduct going to and returning
from school, but such local rules and regulations shall be in harmony
with the general rules of the State Board of Education and the statutes
of this State. The school board on recommendation of the division
superintendent shall employ teachers and place them in appropriate
schools and shall dismiss teachers when delinquent, inefficient, or
otherwise unworthy. The division superintendent shall have au-
thority to assign to their respective positions all teachers and principals
employed by the board, and re-assign them, provided no change or
re-assignment shall affect the salary of such teachers; and provided,
further, that he shall make appropriate reports and explanations on
the request of the board. No teacher shall be employed or paid from
the public funds unless such teacher holds a certificate in full force
in accordance with the rules of certification laid down by the State
Board of Education, provided, that, where a teacher holding a certifi-
cate in force is not available, a former teacher holding an expired
certificate may be employed temporarily as a substitute teacher to
meet an emergency, and, provided, further, that it shall not be lawful
for the school board of any county, city or of any town constituting a
separate school district to employ or pay any teacher or other school
board employee from the public funds if said teacher or other employee
is the father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter, son-in-law
or daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law of the superin-
tendent, or of any member of the school board, provided, however,
that this provision shall not apply to any such relative employed by
any school board at any time prior to the effective date of this act,
and provided, further, that this provision shall not apply to any person
within such relationship or relationships who has been regularly em-
ployed by any school board prior to the taking of office of any member
of such board, or division superintendent of schools. If the school
board violates these provisions, the individual members thereof shall
be personally liable to refund to the local treasury any amounts paid
in violation of this law, and such funds shall be recovered from mem-
bers by action or suit in the name of the Commonwealth at the rela-
tion of the attorney for the Commonwealth; such funds, when re-
oe shall be paid into the local treasury for the use of the public
schools.

Section 664. Written contracts to be made with teachers; teachers
to keep daily register; suspension of pupils.—Written contracts shall
be made by the school board with all public school teachers, except
those temporarily employed as substitute teachers, before they enter
upon their duties, in a form to be prescribed by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction. Such contracts shall be signed in duplicate, each
party holding a copy thereof.

Every teacher in a public school shall keep a daily register of facts
pertaining to his school in such form as the Superintendent of Public
Instruction shall require, and shall be responsible for the safekeeping
and delivery of the same to the clerk of the board at the close of the
school term, or of the period of his service, whichever shall first
happen. The principal, or the teacher where there is no principal,
may, for sufficient cause, suspend pupils from attendance on the
school until the case is decided by the school board, which shall be
with as little delay as possible, provided that in such cases of suspen-
sion the principal or teacher shall report the facts in writing at once
to the division superintendent and the parent or guardian of the child
suspended.

Section 670. Establishment of joint schools for adjacent counties
or a county and adjacent city.—The school boards of two adjacent
counties or of a county and of an adjacent city, shall with the con-
sent of the State Board of Education, have the power to establish
joint schools for the use of both counties or of such county and city,
and shall have power to purchase, take, hold, lease and convey school
property, both real and personal, in either county or in either such
county or city, for such joint schools. The title to all such property
acquired for such purposes shall vest jointly in the school boards of
the counties or county and city, and such schools shall be managed
and controlled by the said boards jointly.

Section 672. High schools; establishment and maintenance;
standards; appropriations; tuition; teaching of high school subjects.—
(a) It shall be lawful for any county school board, or any school
boards of two or more adjoining counties or the school boards of a
county and of an adjacent city, to establish and maintain a public
high school at such place as may be both most convenient for the
pupils to attend, and most conducive for the purposes of such school,
provided the establishment of such high school or the teaching of
such high school branches shall not be allowed to interfere with the
regular and efficient instruction in the elementary branches.

(b) A high school may be conducted either in a separate building
or in the same building in which elementary grades are taught. The
State Board of Education shall prescribe rules and regulations gov-
erning the conduct of high schools, and shall also prescribe require-
ments for admission, and the conditions on which properly prepared
pupils may attend such schools.

(c) Any county not actually conducting a high school but paying
tuition for its high school pupils in high schools in other counties or
cities out of the public funds, shall be permitted to share in the State
high school fund. The State Board of Education shall provide for
the inspection of high schools by a competent person, or persons, and
shall see to it that the high schools conform to the standards prescribed
by such board. The State Board of Education, under proper regula-
tions, shall encourage the establishment and maintenance of high
schools in the counties and cities of the State by the use of such State
appropriations as may be made for high school purposes provided
the elementary grades of the county or city schools have been main-
tained for an average term of at least one hundred and eighty school
days or a term satisfactory to said board of education, based upon
good and sufficient reasons.

(d) No money shall be paid to any locality from State funds for
the maintenance of high schools, however, unless the county school
board or the city school board shall appropriate from local funds for
the maintenance of such high schools an amount equal at least to fifty
per centum of the amount allowed from the State appropriation.
No teacher shall be employed in high school instruction whose quali-
fications do not meet the standards set up by the State Board of
Education. The State board shall appropriate, out of the high school
fund, to the standard four-year high school, an amount not to exceed
one thousand dollars, and to the two-year high school, organized
according to plans prepared by the State Board of Education for
junior high schools an amount not to exceed eight hundred dollars,
unless other provision is made therefor by the general appropriation
act. The State board shall have power to make such rules and regula-
tions as may be necessary for the proper distribution of the funds
appropriated for high schools, which shall be paid out in the same
manner other funds are paid out of the State treasury.

(e) No tuition shall be charged for pupils attending high school;
provided that county and city school boards may charge, under
regulations prescribed by the State Board of Education, tuition for
pupils from one county, or city, attending high school in some other
county or city, and that the school boards of the cities of Norfolk
and Hampton and the town of Lexington may charge, under regula-
tions prescribed by the State Board of Education, tuition for pupils
attending high schools therein, and that the school board of a town
constituting a separate school district and operated by a school board
may charge, under regulations prescribed by the State Board of Edu-
cation, tuition for pupils from any district of the county or from another
county attending high school in said town, provided such charge shall,
in no case, exceed the actual per capita cost for instruction and main-
tenance in the high school department. Except in the special town
school districts preserved under the provisions of section six hundred
and fifty-three, no laboratory or other special fees, or charges of any
kind, for school supplies or materials, other than library fees and
examination paper, pens, pencils and ink, shall be levied or collected
from resident pupils entitled to attend either primary, grade or high
school of the public school system, by any city, county or town school
board, city or town council or board of supervisors, or the State
Board of Education or any person employed in such school, nor shall
any such fees be charged for entrance, admission or attendance upon
the class of any subject taught in such schools; provided, however,
nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the collection of class
dues or assessments charged for voluntary student activities, tuition
and fees incident to attendance on night schools, post-graduate classes,
classes in vocational or manual training, summer schools, or to any
city or county having a system of the rental of school books to pupils
of such schools, or, any class or course outside of, or additional to,
the regular course of study required for a high school certificate, but
no pupils scholastic report card or diploma shall be withheld because
of non-payment of any such voluntary dues or assessments, or any
fee or charge herein permitted, and, provided further however, that
these provisions as to special fees and charges shall not apply to any
city or county furnishing free text-books to other than indigent pupils;
provided, however, nothing in this section shall be construed to pro-
hibit the school board of any county, city or town from renting books,
supplies and materials to the pupils of any school within the jurisdic-
tion of said board, and provided, further, that nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed to prevent school boards from purchasing
text-books or bookkeeping, art, manual training, and other con-
sumable supplies at wholesale rates and selling such books and sup-
plies to pupils at cost; and provided further that each pupil shall be
required to reimburse the school for any actual breakage or destruction
of property done by such pupil in pursuit of his studies; and provided
further, that a deposit of such sum of money as may be reasonably
necessary for such purpose may be required of any pupil using labora-
tory or library material, equipment or supplies, which deposit, after
deducting therefrom any loss of or damage to such material, equip-
ment or supplies, caused by such pupil or pupils, shall be returned to
the pupils at the completion of the year or term as the case may be.

(f) With the consent and approval of the State Board of Educa-
tion and the division superintendent, in the discretion of the county
school board, high school subjects may be taught in schools having
three or more rooms, when such schools are not less than two miles
distant from a high school operated in said county.

Section 786. Powers and duties of boards of trustees; qualifica-
tions of trustees, and so forth; a corporation.—(a) Every school
trustee shall, at the time of his appointment, be a resident of the
school district for which appointed, and if he shall cease to be a
resident thereof, his office shall be deemed vacant. Before entering
upon the discharge of the duties of his office he shall take and sub-
scribe the oaths prescribed for officers of the State before the corpora-
tion or the circuit court; or, in vacation, before the judge or clerk of
said court, and the clerk of the said court shall make in his record book
a minute of the qualification of said trustee.

No State officer, except a notary public, no city officer, no member
of council, or any officer thereof, shall during his term of office be
chosen or allowed to act as a school trustee; but this provision shall
not have the effect of prohibiting a referee in chancery or commis-
sioner in bankruptcy, or member of the board of health, from holding
such office.

(b) The city school board of every city shall establish and main-
tain therein a general system of public free schools in accordance
with the requirements of the Constitution and the general educational
policy of the Commonwealth for the accomplishment of which purpose
it shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) To explain, enforce, and observe the school laws, and to make
rules for the government of the schools, and for regulating the conduct
of pupils going to and returning therefrom.

(2) To determine the studies to be pursued, the methods of
teaching, the government to be employed in the schools, and the
length of the school term.

(3) To employ teachers on recommendation of the division super-
intendent and to dismiss them when delinquent, inefficient or in
anywise unworthy of the position; provided, that no school board
shall employ or pay any teacher from the public funds unless the
teacher shall hold a certificate in full force, according to the pro-
visions of section six hundred and sixty of the laws relating to the
public free schools in counties; and provided, further, that it shall
not be lawful for the school board of any city or of any town con-
stituting a separate school district to employ or pay any teacher or
other school board employee from the public funds if said teacher or
other employee is the father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son, daugh-
ter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law of the
superintendent or of any member of said board; provided however,
that this provision shall not apply to any such relative employed by
any school board at any time prior to the effective date of this act;
and provided, further, that this provision shall not apply to any person
within such relationship or relationships who has been regularly em-
ployed by any school board prior to the taking of office of any member
of such board or division superintendent of schools; if the school
board violates these provisions, the individual members thereof shall
be personally liable to refund to the local treasury any amounts paid
in violation of this law, and such funds shall be recovered from mem-
bers by action or suit in the name of the Commonwealth at the relation
of the attorney for the Commonwealth; such funds, when recovered,
shall be paid into the local treasury for the use of the public schools.

(4) To suspend or expel pupils when the prosperity and efficiency
of the school make it necessary.

(5) To decide what children, wishing to enter the schools of the
city, are entitled by reason of the poverty of their parents or guardians
to receive textbooks free of charge, and to provide for supplying them
accordingly.

(6) To establish high and normal schools and such other schools
as may, in its judgment, be necessary to the completeness and efficiency
of the school system.

(7) To see that the census of children required by section six
hundred and ninety-five is taken within the proper time and in the
proper manner.

(8) To hold regular meetings and to prescribe when and how
special meetings may be called.

(9) To call meetings of the people of the city for consultation in
regard to the school interests thereof, at which meetings the chairman
or some other member of the board shall preside if present.

(10) To provide suitable schoolhouses, with proper furniture and
appliances, and to care for, manage, and control the school property
of the city. For these purposes it may lease, purchase, or build such
houses according to the exigencies of the city and the means at its
disposal. No schoolhouse shall be contracted for or erected until the
plans therefor shall have been submitted to and approved in writing
by the division superintendent of schools, and no public school shall be
allowed in any building which is not in such condition and provided
with such conveniences as are required by a due regard to decency
and health; and when a schoolhouse appears to the division superin-
tendent of schools to be unfit for occupancy, it shall be his duty to
condemn the same, and immediately to give notice thereof, in writing,
to the chairman of the school board, and thenceforth no public school
shall be held therein, nor shall any part of the State or city fund be
applied to support any school in such house until the division superin-
tendent shall certify, in writing, to the city school board that he is
satisfied with the condition of such building, and with the appliances
pertaining thereto.

(11) To visit the public free schools within the city, from time to
time, and to take care that they are conducted according to law, and
with the utmost efficiency.

(12) To manage and control the school funds of the city, to
provide for the pay of teachers and of the clerk of the board, for the
cost of providing schoolhouses and the appurtenances thereto and the
repairs thereof, for school furniture and appliances, for necessary
textbooks for indigent children attending the public free schools, and
for any other expenses attending the administration of the public
free school system, so far as the same is under the control or at the
charge of the school officers.

(13) To examine all claims against the school board, and when
approved, to pay the same; provided, that a record of such approval
shall be made in the proceedings of the board, and a warrant on the
city treasurer shall be drawn, signed by the chairman of the board
and countersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person or per-
sons entitled to receive such money, and stating on its face the purpose
or service for which it is to be paid, and that such warrant is drawn
in pursuance of an order entered by the board on the ....... day of

(14) It shall be the duty of the school board of every city, once
in each year, and oftener if deemed necessary, to submit to the council,
in writing, a classified report of all expenditures and a classified
estimate of what funds will be needed for the proper maintenance and
growth of the public schools of the city, and to request the council to
make provisions by appropriation or levy, for the same.

(15) To perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by the
State Board of Education or are imposed by other parts of this chapter.

(c) City school boards shall, in general, have the same power in
relation to the condemnation or purchase of land and to the vesting
of title thereof, and also in relation to the title to and management of
property of any kind applicable to school purposes, whether hereto-
fore or hereafter set apart therefor, and however set apart, whether
by gift, grant, devise, or any other conveyance and from whatever
source, as county school boards have in the counties, and in addition
thereto, they shall have the further right and power to condemn not
in excess of five acres of land for any one school, when necessary for
school purposes, whether dwellings, yards, gardens or orchards be
invaded or not. They shall also have a clerk, who may or may not
be a member of the board and who shall be charged with the same
duties as the clerk of a county school board, and whose salary shall
be fixed by the board.