CHAPTER 500

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 28-282.1, 22-282.2, 22-282.8, 22-282.5,
22-282.7 and 22-282.10 of the Code of Virginia, to repeal § 22-232.9
of the Code of Virginia, and to add a new section numbered 22-282.17,
declaring the provisions of Article 1.1 of Chapter 12 of the Code
of Virginia to be severable, to authorize issuance of subpoenas by
the Pupil Placement Board or its agents and punishment as for
contempt in the event of failure or refusal to obey such subpoenas;
and to prescribe standards governing the Pupil Placement Board in
the enrollment of pupils in the public schools and certain adminis-
trative procedures and remedies for pupils seeking enrollment in a
public school or a change from one public school to another. [H 637]

Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 22-232.1, 22-232.2, 22-232.3, 22-232.5, 22-232.7 and 22-232.10
of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted, and a new section
numbered 22-232.17 added, as follows:

§ 22-232.1. All power of enrollment or placement of pupils in and
determination of school attendance districts for the public schools in
Virginia is hereby vested in a Pupil Placement Board as hereinafter pro-
vided for. The local school boards and division superintendents are hereby
divested of all authority now or at any future time to determine the school
to which any child shall be admitted. The Pupil Placement Board is hereby
empowered to adopt rules and regulations for such enrollment of pupils as
are not inconsistent with the provisions hereinafter set forth. Such rules
and regulations shall not be subject to Chapter 1.1 (§ 9-6.1, et seq.) of
Title 9 of the Code of Virginia, the short title of which is “General Ad-
ministrative Agencies Act”. *

§ 22-232.2. There is hereby created a board to be known as the
Pupil Placement Board which shall consist of three residents of the State,
* who shall be appointed by the Governor and serve during the pleasure
of the Governor. Members of the Board shall receive as compensation for
their services a per diem of twenty dollars for each day actually spent in
the performance of their duties and shall be entitled to reimbursement
for their necessary expenses incurred in connection therewith.

§ 22-232.3. The Pupil Placement Board may designate, appoint and
employ such agents as it may deem desirable and necessary in the adminis-
tration of this article. It may authorize such agents to hold the hearings
hereinafter provided for and take testimony and submit recommendations
in any and all cases referred to them by said Board. The Pupil Placement
Board and any of its agents shall have authority to administer oaths to
those who appear before said Board or any of its agents in connection with
the administration of this article. The Pupil Placement Board and any of
its agents shall also have authority to issue subpoenas in the name of the
Commonwealth to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production
of documents. All such subpoenas shall be served by the sheriff, sergeant,
constable, or any deputy thereof, of the county, city, town or school division
to which the same is directed. Should any person fail or refuse to obey any
subpoena issued by the Board or any of its agents, any court of record
of the Commonwealth shall have jurisdiction, upon application by the
Board or its representative, to compel such person to appear before the
Board or any of its agents and give testimony or produce documents as
ordered. Should any person fail or refuse to obey an order of the court
issued in accordance with this section, he may be punished by the court
tssuing the same as for contempt thereof.

§ 22-232.5. The Pupil Placement Board * shall enroll each pupil in
a school in each school district so as to provide for the orderly adminis-
tration of such public schools, the competent instruction of the pupils
enrolled and the health, safety and general welfare of such pupils.

§ 22-232.7. Any child who desires to enter a public school for the
first time following December 29, 1956, and any child who is graduated
from one school to another within a school division or who transfers to
or within a school division, or any child who desires to enter a public
school after the opening of the session, shall apply to the Pupil Placement
Board for enrollment in such form as it may prescribe, and shall be en-
rolled in such schoo] as the Board deems proper under the provisions of
this article. Such application shall be made on behalf of the child by his
parent, guardian or other person having custody of the child; provided,
however, that any parent, guardian or other person having custody of a
child, who conscientiously objects to the signing of an application, may
execute the required application “under protest” in order to secure the
prompt placement of the child in the public school system, without waiving
any right to which such parent, guardian, other person or child are or
may be properly entitled.

In the event that any parent, guardian, or other person, in violation
of this section, refuses or fails to execute an application for placement
either voluntarily or “under protest”, the Board may issue subpoena to
compel such parent, guardian or other person to appear before it and
furnish such information as may be necessary to assign the child to a
proper school; and pending the receipt of such information, the Board
may take such action as to the placement of such child as, in its discretion,
it may deem proper.

§ 22-232.10. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the * Pupil Place-
ment Board under this article or any party defined as an interested party
in § 22-232.8 may obtain a review of such decision by filing in the clerk’s
office of the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city in
the jurisdiction of which such party resides, within fifteen days after such
decision, a petition in writing, specifying the decision sought to be re-
viewed, and the actions taken by the * Pupil Placement Board, together
with a statement of the grounds on which the petitioner is aggrieved or by
reason of which he is an interested party. The petitioner shall file with his
petition a copy of the decision of the * Pupil Placement Board and a
transcript of the proceedings before the * Pupil Placement Board, which
shall be furnished to the petitioner by the * Pupil Placement Board within
ten days after the request therefor upon payment of the costs of such
transcript by the petitioner.

§ 22-282.17. The provisions of this article are hereby declared to be
severable. If any of its sections, provisions, clauses, phrases, or parts, be
held unconstitutional or invalid, the remainder of this article, shall,
nevertheless, remain in full force and effect.

2. That § 22-282.9 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.