The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1915-10-15

worth township and in providing for
the transportation of pupils to the
central building.
He ruled further that the phrase
"as herein provided" modifies the
word suspended and hence applies to
all schools suspended by the local
board of education, no matter why sus
pended. That is, a board of educa-
ton may reopen a school at any time
It It may seem, in ii its judgment, wise to
do so. Moreover, Mr.. Turner be-
lieves that section 773O of the 1915
law applies to all schools closed by a
board of education since this section
was amended by the recent legislature,
even though such suspension took
place before the 26th day of August
last, when the new law went into eff
feet. as all boards of education knew
that this amendment would go into ef-
| feet at that time.
In deciding the meaning of the word
district" as used in the law, Mr.. Turn
er cites section 7646 of the General
Code, which reads as follows:
"The board of education of each
rural school district shall establish and
maintain at least one elementary
school in each sub-district under it's
control, unless transportation is furn-
ished to the pupils thereof as pro-
vided by law"
He therefore believes that the word
district" applies to the part or sub
division Of the township which the
board has assigned to certain school.
In this connection it may be of inter-
est to cite an opinion sent out from
the office of the attorney general on
December 21, 1914, which reads as fol-
lows:
"Local boards Of education Of rural
; school districts, formerly township
school districts, cannot change boun'
daries Of districts for the reasor
: that such boundaries of such sub-dis
, tricts no longre exist. However, sucl
boards of education under section 76
ia have the authority to make sucl
1 | assignment of the youth Of their res
pective districts to schools established
by them as in their opinion will bes
promote the interests of education il
their districts"
In giving his opinion as to whethe
: "may' is mandatory or merely op
tional, Mr.. Turner cites rulings by tn
courts in which "may" has been in
terpreted as "shall" or must" an,
! further quotes the definition in tn
that "may" in a statute is sometime
used in mandatory and sometimes il
a directory sense. Mr.. Turner, how
ever, states that the Interpretation il
any particular section must depen'
upon the purpose and force off, tn
u passage or section as a whole. H
calls attention to the fact that tn
Legislature itself recognized distinc
y tion between the two words "may" an
n "shall" in this same section, in provid
+ ing that village boards Of educatio
o may provide and rural boards sha
' provide transportation upon the sui
l. pension of schools. At this point W
5 quote from Mr.. Turner's opinion:
S II think it was the intention of tn
u legislature to vest in the local boar
D the discretion to determine, in view {
is all the facts and circumstances
al each particular case, whether or not
At suspended school should be re-estal
D. lished at any time the school enrol
le ment Of the said suspended distri'
m shows IL or more pupils of lawf1
Or school age even though petite
ty signed by at least majority Of Il
IT, roters of the suspended district
OF aied with said board asking for SUE
Il establishment"
Mr.. Turner calls attention to sectic
u ret Of TIE General Code in suppol
rt of his opinion and closes as follows
in g am of the opinion therefore tn;
Of the latter provisions of said statute