Additional branches in cities of the second and third class.

288. In every city of the second class the central board of education, and in every city of the third class the board of school controllers, and in every borough and township of the first class the board of school directors, shall have power to establish and maintain one or more schools for the instruction of pupils in the useful branches of the mechanic arts, athletics and kindred subjects, to provide the necessary buildings, machinery, apparatus and materials, and to employ teachers and instructors therefor."

System of humane education.

289. A system of humane education, which shall include kind treatment of birds and animals, shall be included in the branches of study now required by law to be taught in the commom schools; such instruction to be given to all pupils, up to and including the fourth grade, of the public schools of this Commonwealth, and to consist of not more than half an hour each week, during the whole term of the school.8

Experiment on living animals forbidden.

290. No experiment upon any living creature, to demonstrate in physiology, shall be permitted in any public school of the state."

Monthly reports.

291. The principal or teacher in every school shall certify, in each of his or her monthly reports to the school board, that such instruction has been given in the school under his or her control, and this act shall take effect immediately."

1Ο

Physical culture required to be taught.

292. Physical culture, by a regular and progressive course of calisthenics, shall be included in the branches of study now required by law to be taught in the public schools of this Commonwealth.12

Duty of school directors, controllers and boards of education.

293. It shall be the duty of the school directors, boards of school controllers, and boards of education of the public schools of this Commonwealth, to make proper provisions in all the schools or districts under their jurisdiction, care and control, for instructions to be given the pupils of said public schools in physical culture, by a regular and progressive course of calisthenics, and any failure on the part of said directors, controllers or boards of education, to comply with the provisions of this act, satisfactorily proven to the state superintendent of public instruction, shall be deemed sufficient cause for withholding the warrant for state's appropriation of school money to which district would otherwise be entitled. Provided, That teachers shall not be required to pass examinations in the branch of study provided in this act until after January first, one thousand nine hundred and two. Provided, That this act apply only to cities of the first and second class. '3

Suspension and expulsion of pupils.

294. School directors and controllers may suspend or expel from the school all pupils found guilty, on full examination and hearing, of refractory or incorrigibly bad conduct.14

Power of committee to investigate.

295. This was a petition for mandamus against school directors to compel the restoration of a pupil who had been expelled for incorrigibly bad conduct. The principal of the school made certain charges against the pupil to the school committee of the said board, and the said committee thereupon dismissed the said pupil from the public schools and he was thereafter denied admission to the school by the prin· cipal and refused further instruction therein. It is admitted that the expulsion was by a committee of said board, consisting of three members thereof, and not by the board of directors themselves, and no examination nor hearing of the charges was had before the full board.

13. Act March 8, 1901, Sec. 2, P. L. 49. 14. Act May 8, 1854, Sec. 23, P. L. 621.

The matter was brought however to the attention of the full board, and a hearing before them was demanded, which was refused, and the action of the committee was approved and sustained.

In reviewing the case Mr. Justice Potter said, inter alia: "Under the act of May 8, 1854, power is given to the board of directors, on full examination and hearing, to suspend or expel from the school all pupils found guilty of refractory or incorrigibly bad conduct. The requirement is that the examination and hearing shall be full, but this does not necessarily mean that it should be by the full board. We see no reason why the investigation of charges and the conduct of a hearing may not be delegated to a committee of the board, when the action of the committee is afterwards reported to, and is reviewed and considered and sustained by the full board." 15

Teachers or school boards may expel pupils.

296. The facts of the case, as they appeared on the trial, were as follows: Hughes, the plaintiff, was at a former time a student at the State Normal School at Edinboro, Erie County, Pennsylvania. For some matter, not very grievous, Prof. Cooper, the principal of the school, expelled Hughes from this normal school, and from all the normal schools of the state, no matter where situated, and for all time to come. Some time after this, and at the close of the term, the Potter Literary Society gave an exhibition, at which all the public were invited to attend. Tickets were sold, and great efforts were made to distribute them and secure a full house. On the evening of the entertainment, Mr Hughes and a lady, with tickets, presented themselves at the hall, and upon the surrender of their ticket were passed in and seated near the centre of the room. Soon after, and about the time the hall was filled, Goodell, Cutler and Langley took Hughes, and by force put him out of the school building, and out of the grounds. Verdict for plaintiff of $275.00. New trial refused.

15. Miller vs. Clement, 205 Pa. 484, 1903.

In delivering the charge to the jury, Johnson, J. says: "While the trustees and directors of our public schools and literary institutions have a qualified title to, and possession of, the real estate dedicated to the use of the public for educational purposes, it does not confer upon them that absolute dominion which a private individual may exercise over the premises of which he is the exclusive and fee simple owner. The public have some right in school house property, and among them the right of entry, at all proper times, and for proper purposes. The rights of trustees and directors of public schools are subordinate to this. The public, means all the citizens within a given distance or district, intended to be benefitted by the purposes to which the premises are devoted.

"While the teachers or directors may expel a scholar from the school for sufficient reasons, and deprive him of its advantages, it does not follow, by any means, that they can inflict a perpetual personal disability upon the offending student. If he is afflicted with a contagious disease, or possesses such a bad moral character as to endanger the health or pollute the morals of those with whom he comes in contact, he may, from motives of public policy, be excluded from their association.

"But for a technical violation of school regulations, while he may be expelled from the school, he cannot be further punished by its guardians, by the infliction of disabiliities in derogation of his rights as a citizen.

"The school authorities, of course, have a right to protect themselves and their school from disturbance and annoyances that interfere with the successful prosecution of the purposes for which they are established.

"They would have a right to exclude from their grounds and buildings any man who would enter them to disturb the peace, or break up the order, or interfere with the legitimate exercises of the school.

"Beyond that, they could not impose individual restrictions at their own caprice, making discriminations to the exclusion of some from public exhibitions, to which all the

public are invited. This would be invidious, and in violation of the private rights of the individual. Even during the war, peaceable rebels had a right to live in loyal territory, and enjoy the benefits of our literary and religious institutions.

"Now, to say that a student expelled from a school for disobedience to some municipal regulation, should be excluded from attending a prayer meeting or public lecture, in the school house or college premises, for all time to come, without any evidence of improper conduct or suspicion of improper purposes, would be an exercise of tyranny over his private rights, not vested in the trustees, directors or professors of our educational institutions.

"A scholar may forfeit his rights to a place in the school or college by the violation of some rule that involves no moral turpitude. And, so far as appears, that was the condition of this plaintiff. If the rule of right in the professors be as great as is claimed in this case, he might have been sued in trespass or forcibly expelled for attending the funeral of his mother upon the premises ten years after his expulsion.

"It is a mistake to say that the literary society that got up that exhibition, and the exercises of that evening, was a constituent part of the school, or of the prescribed curriculum, or course of its studies. The literary societies are voluntary aspirations among the students, to which they may or may not belong. The exercises are of their own choice, and the exhibition is held at their own volition. It is true, the organization and its exercises are subordinate to, and subject to the supervision of the professors. When they are approved by the professors, and permission is given to the society to use the public hall of the institution for their exhibition, had they the right to say that any individual member of that community should not attend? I think not, unless something in the moral character of that person, or a reasonable apprehension existed that he intended to break the peace or interrupt the exercises of the evening, made it proper, from public considerations, to exclude him.