CHAPTER 168 AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE GRADED SCHOOLS OF THE TOWN OF ROANOKE RAPIDS. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. That chapter one hundred and eighty-nine of the Private Laws of North Carolina, session nineteen hundred and seven, as amended by the several laws amendatory thereof, be and the same is hereby repealed and the following enacted as a substitute therefor: Section 1 That all territory lying within the corporate limits of the town of Roanoke Rapids, and all of the portion of Halifax County not embraced within said corporate limits, but lying contiguous thereto within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at a point on Roanoke River, being the dividing line between the farms of the estate of M. A. Hamilton, deceased, and the late B. W. Bass tract; thence south to the canal of the Roanoke Navigation and Water Power Company; thence down the cana! to Medlin and Fulghums line; thence a straight line to the Weldon and Gaston County road; thence west along said county road to Tilghmans Cross Roads; thence along the southern fork of the county read to \Chocoyote Creek; thence up Chocoyozte Creek as it meanders to the dividing line between J. G. Simmojiis tract and John D. Shaws line; thence along the western line of J. G. Simmons tract to the northwestern corner of said tract on the canal bank of the Roanoke: Navigation and Water Power Company; thence from this last named point due north to the banks of the Roanoke River; thence down Said river as it meanders to the point of beginning, shall be and is hereby constituted a public school district for white and colored children. to be known as the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District. Sec. 2 That for the purpose and benefits of this act the provisions of all laws governing the assessment of real estate and personal property, the levy and collection of municipal taxes, and the holding of municipal elections in the town of Roanoke Rapids shall be and are hereby extended to that portion of school district lying without the corporate limits of said town as fully as if the same lay within said corporate limits, and that in all elections held under this act the portion of said school district lying without the said limits shall be deemed a ward of said town. Src. 3 That the board of school trustees hereinafter provided for shall be and is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bonds of said school district to an amount not exceeding seventyfive thousand dollars, of such denomination and of such proportion as said board of trustees may deem advisable, bearing interest thereof at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum, with interest coupons attached, payable semiannually, at such time and at such place or places as may be deemed advisable by said board of trustees, said bonds to be of such form and tenor and transferable in such way and the principal thereof payable or redeemable at such place or places and at such time or times as said board of trustees may deem advisable and determine: Provided, that said board of trustees shall issue said bonds at such time or times, in such amount or amounts as may be required to meet the expenditures hereinafter provided for in section four of this act. Sec. 4 That the proceeds arising from the sale of said bonds, or such part thereof as may be necessary, shall be expended by said board of trustees in providing, by purchase or otherwise, such graded school buildings as may be required, and in furnishing the same with school furniture and other necessary equipment. ' Sec. 5 That none of said bonds shall be disposed of by sale, exchange, hypothecation, or otherwise, for less price than their par value; nor shall said bonds, nor their proceeds, be used for any other purpose than that declared in section four of this act. Sec. 6 That said bonds and their coupons shall not be subject to taxation by the town of Roanoke Rapids until they become due, and tender of payment shall have been made, and such coupons shall be receivable in payment of all taxes and other dues of said town for any fiscal year in which said coupons become due or thereafter; and if the holder of said coupons shall fail to present the same for payment at the time or times and at the place or places therein named, he shall not be entitled to interest thereon for the time they shall have been outstanding after maturity. a Sec. 7 That for the purpose of providing for the payment of said bonds and the interest thereon, and of defraying the expenses of the public graded schools provided for in this act, the board of school trustees shall annually and at the time of levying the municipal taxes in the town of Roanoke Rapids, or as soon thereafter as practicable, commencing with the fiscal year beginning the first day of May, nineteen hundred and seventeen, levy and lay a particular tax on all persons and property subject to taxation within the said limits of said school district, said particular tax to be not more than sixty cents on the one hundred dollars assessed valuation of property and not more than one dollar and eighty cents on each taxable poll. Sec. 8 That said tax shall be collected by a tax collector to .be appointed annually on the first day of May of each and every year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, by said board of school trustees, and shall be collected by said tax collector at the time and in the manner that the municipal taxes of the town of Roanoke Rapids are collected, and said tax collector shall pay over said taxes so collected to the treasurer of said board of school trustees, who shall be appointed by said board of school trustees at the same time that said tax collector is appointed. Said treasurer shall keep said taxes so paid over to him safely in his hands in such bank or banks as said board of school trustees may designate, and shall for the safe performance of his duties furnish such bond as may in the discretion of said board of school trustees be sufficient. The said treasurer shall pay out said taxes and other funds which may come into his hands for the use of said graded school only upon the warrant of the chairman and secretary of said board of school trustees or upon the warrant of either of said officers and two other members of said board. The compensation of said tax collector and said treasurer shall be fixed by said board of school trustees. Sec. 9 That the provisions of sections three and seven of this act shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of said school district at an election on a day to be designated by the board of school trustees at any time after the ratification of this act. That thirty days notice of such election, containing a copy of the provisions of sections three and seven of this act, or a synopsis of the same shall be published in one or more weekly papers published in the county of Halifax and posted at three public places in said school district, as described in section one, and in all other respects said election shall be held and conducted under the provisions of the law governing the holding of municipal elections in said town. Those qualified voters approving the issue of bonds provided for in section three, and the levy and collection of the particular taxes provided for in section seven of this act, shall deposit a ballot containing the written or printed words For Schools, and those disapproving the same shall deposit a ballot containing the written or printed words Against Schools. If a majority of such voters shall vote For Schools it shall be deemed and held that a majority of the qualified voters of said school district are in favor of granting the aforesaid board of school trustees authority to issue such bonds and levy such particluar tax, and said board of school trustees shall have such authority. But if a majority of such qualified voters shall vote Against Schools, then the said board of trustees shall not havesuch authority: Provided, that the result of such election duly ascertained in accordance with law shall be enrolled among the public records of the town of Roanoke Rapids; and after thirty days from the date of such enrollment such record shall not be open to attack, but shall be held and deemed conclusive evidence of the, truth of the facts therein recited: Provided further, that if a majority of the said qualified voters shall fail to vote in favor of issuing such bonds and of levying such special tax, the board of school trustees shall order another election at any time after the expiration of six months from the date of the former election and if at such election a majority of the qualified voters shall vote For Schools it shall have the same force as if no election had been previously held. Src. 10 S. F. Patterson, C. A. Wyche, W.. D. Tillery, J. B. Boyd, William Ivey, L. S. Cannon, John L. Patterson, R. W. Brown, and Louis Grimmer are hereby appointed and constituted a board of trustees for the graded schools of said district, who shall serve without compensation. The first three named shall hold their office for the term of two years, the second three named for a term of four years, the last three named for the term of six years. Vacancies occurring by reason of the expiration of the terms of office of trustees aforesaid, by death or otherwise, shall be filled by the said board of trustees at a meeting called for that purpose, and shall be for the unexpired term of trusteeship so filled, except when the vacancy occurs by reason of the expiration of the terms of office, when the term shall be for six years; a majority of the board shall constitute a quorum: Provided, that the acceptance of said office of shool trustees shall not disqualify any person so accepting from holding any other office of trust or profit whatsoever under the laws of the State of North Carolina. Sec. 11 That said board of trustees and their successors be and are hereby constituted a body corporate by the name and style of the Board of School Trustees of Roanoke Rapids and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with, acquire by gift, purchase, or devise real and personal estate, hold, exchange, mortgage, or sell same, and exercise such rights and privileges as are incident to other corporations. And said corporation shall have a corporate seal, which it may break and change at pleasure. Src. 12 That it shall be the duty of said board of trustees to establish graded public schools for the white and colored children of said district; and said board of trustees shall appropriate and use the funds derived from said particular taxes and from other sources in such manner as shall be deemed just to both races, providing equal school facilities for each, due regard being paid, however, to the diiference in the cost of maintaining such schools: Provided, that all donations to said schools shall be applied as directed by the donors. Sec. 13 That said board of trustees shall have exclusive | control of all public schools in said school district; shall prescribe rules and regulations not inconsistent with this act for their own government, and for the government of such schools; shall employ, prescribe the qualifications, and fix the compensation of all officers and teachers of such schools; shall cause to be taken from time to time, in accordance with the general school law of the State, an accurate census of the school population of the said school district, and shall exercise such other powers as may be necessary for the successful control and operation of said graded schools: Provided, that nothing in this act shall be held to authorize the county board of school directors nor the county superintendent of schools of Halifax County to exercise any authority or control whatever over the graded public schools of said school district or the officers and teachers thereof: Provided, that the schools established under this act shall be subject in all respects to the public school law regulating other public schools of Halifax County and of the State. Sec. 14 That all public school funds derived from the State and from the county of Halifax for the use and benefit of the public schools in said school district shall be paid over to the treasurer of the board of school trustees by the treasurer of said county for the use and benefit of the graded schools in this school district; and the property, both real and personal, of the various school districts embraced within the limits of said school district shall become the property of said graded schools, and the title* thereto shall be vested in said board of trustees in trust therefor, and said board of trustees may, in their discretion, sell the same or any part thereof and apply the proceeds to the use of the said graded schools. Sec. 15 That said board of trustees may, if in their judgment necessary for the maintenance of said graded schools, require from each pupil entered therein an incidental fee of not more than two dollars per annum, payable as said board of trustees may direct: Provided, that such fee shall be applied exclusively to the maintenance of such grade in such schools as the paying pupil shall attend. Sec. 16 That said board of trustees shall elect annually, at least thirty days before the opening of the fall term of said graded school, a superintendent, who shall supervise the graded public schools of said school district and exercise such other powers and discharge such other duties as said board of trustees may prescribe. Sec. 17 That said board of school trustees, together with the superintendent, are hereby authorized, in their discretion, to fix a curriculum of studies, and to adopt text-books for said graded schools, and to admit pupils residing without the limits of said school district upon such terms as said board of trustees may deem just and reasonable. Sec. 18 That the county board of education of Halifax County shall apportion the school funds coming to said school district direct thereto upon a per capita basis, in accordance with the provisions of the laws of North Carolina. Src. 19 That all fines and penalties imposed and collected in the court of the mayor or recorder of the town of Roanoke Rapids shall be paid to the treasurer of the board of school trustees and by him credited to the fund for defraying the expenses of the graded schools provided in this act. Src. 20 Said board of school trustees may, in their discretion, upon two weeks published notice in some newspaper published in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, or if-there be none, then in some paper published in Halifax County, prescribe an eight months compulsory attendance for all children embraced within the limits of the general compulsory attendance law, and may employ a truant officer to enable them to enforce attendance. The provisions of the general compulsory attendance statute as to penalties imposed on both parent and child shall apply to any additional attendance term! prescribed hereunder. Sec. 21 That all laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. Sec. 22 That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification. Ratified this the 5th day of March, A. D. 1917