Charge of seal of department. Shall appoint deputies, etc. Issue commissions. Fill vacancies. Prescribe courses of study. Prepare blank forms. Give decisions on school law. Administer oaths. Make valid teachers' certificates. May condemn any school building. Section 1008. He shall have charge of the seal of the Department of Public Instruction, by which copies of papers deposited or filed therein, and all official acts and decisions, may be authenticated, and when so authenticated they shall be evidence equally and in like manner as the originals. Section 1009. He shall appoint two Deputy Superintendents of Public Instruction, also one expert assistant in agricultural education, one expert assistant in industrial education, one expert assistant in drawing, and four inspectors of high schools and other schools, together with such other clerks and employees of the Department of Public Instruction as are now or hereafter may be provided by law, and he shall prescribe their duties. The salary of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and of all the appointees and employes above provided for shall be as fixed by law, and shall be commensurate with the importance of their duties and positions. Section 1010. He shall issue all commissions to superintendents and assistant superintendents of schools in this Commonwealth. Section 1011. He shall fill all vacancies occuring in the office of county superintendent until the next regular election; but in filling such vacancies he shall give careful consideration to any recommendations concerning them made by the officers of the proper county school directors' associations, within ten days. after the vacancies occur. Section 1012. He shall prescribe minimum courses of study for the public schools. Section 1013. He shall prepare and furnish to boards of school directors sample blank forms for keeping and reporting school accounts, and sample bonds for their treasurers, secretaries, tax-collectors and depositories, and samples of other bonds or forms required by this act. Section 1014. He may, when requested, give decisions and interpretations of the school law, which shall be valid and binding in like effect as law until reversed by proper judicial authority. Section 1015. He may administer oaths or affirmations concerning any matter relating to the affairs or duties of his office. Section 1016. He may, subject to the provisions of this act, and such rules as he may prescribe, endorse and make valid for teaching in Pennsylvania any permanent or life teachers' certificate from any other State. Section 1017. He shall have power to condemn as unfit for use, on account of unsanitary or other improper conditions, any school building, school site, or outbuilding in this Commonwealth, and upon failure on the part of the board of school directors to remedy such condition, he shall have power to withhold and declare forfeited all or any part of the annual appropriation apportioned to any such school district. Section 1018. He shall have power to print, at Print annual State expense, his annual report, or any extracts therefrom, for distribution among school officers and teachers, and such other treatises or investigations on educational subjects as he may deem necessary. ARTICLE XI. COUNTY, DISTRICT, AND ASSISTANT SUPERIN TENDENTS. Section 1101. For the superintendence and supervision of the public schools of this Commonwealth, there shall be elected or appointed, in the manner herein provided, county superintendents, district superintendents, and assistant county and district superintendents. QUALIFICATIONS. Section 1102. Every person elected or appointed as county, district, or assistant county or district superintendent must be a person of good moral character. report. Superintendents. Character of. Section 1103. No person shall be eligible for elec- Eligibility. tion or appointment as county, district, or assistant county or district superintendent unless he holds one of the following: college, etc. A diploma from a college approved by the College Diploma of and University Council of this Commonwealth; A diploma issued by a State Normal School of this of State Commonwealth; A Teacher's State Certificate issued by this Commonwealth: Normal School. Certificate. Provided, That no person shall be elected or ap- Proviso. pointed a county, district, or assistant county or district superintendent who has not had successful experience as a teacher within three years, or successful experience as a superintendent of schools: Provided, Proviso. further, That serving either as county, district, or assistant county or district superintendent, in this Commonwealth, at the time of his election or appointment, shall be considered sufficient qualification for any of the aforesaid offices. ELECTION OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. Election of Section 1104. Every four years there shall be elected as herein provided, in every county in this superintendent. Commonwealth, a person to be known as the county superintendent. election. Section 1105. The school directors of each county Method of of this Commonwealth, in which a county superintendent is to be elected, shall meet in convention at Term. Notice to directors. Form of notice. Cost of notice. Organization of convention. Candidate's eligibility. the county-seat of their county, in the court-house, or some other suitable place to be furnished by the county commissioners at the expense of the county, on the second Tuesday of April, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen (1918), and on the same day of every fourth year thereafter, and, by a majority vote of those present, elect as herein provided one duly qualified person as county superintendent, to serve for four years from the first Monday of May next following: Provided, That on the first Tuesday of May, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen (1914), county superintendents shall be elected as herein provided, to serve from the first Monday of June, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen (1914), until the first Monday of May, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen (1918). Section 1106. It shall be the duty of every person serving as county superintendent of public schools, to give notice of the convention of school directors to be held for the purpose of electing a county superintendent on the second Tuesday in April, one thousand nine hundred and fourteen (1914), and thereafter, which notice shall be published in the county, in at least two newspapers, once a week for three consecutive weeks, the last publication to be at least ten days prior to the date of said convention, said notice to be in the following form: Election of County Superintendent. Notice is hereby given that the school directors of on Tuesday, the ...... day of o'clock in ..... ..... 19.., at Meridian, for the purpose of electing a legally qualified person as county superintendent of public schools for the ensuing term. Superintendent of Public Schools. The cost of publishing such notice shall be paid by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, out of the appropriation for the salaries of county and assistant county superintendents. Section 1107. Every convention of school directors, held for the purpose of electing a county superintendent, shall organize by electing a president, a secretary, and at least two tellers from the directors pres ent. Section 1108. No votes for a candidate for county superintendent, at any such convention, shall be counted, unless said candidate has, before the vote is taken, filed with the president thereof a county, district, or assistant county or district superintendent's commission, which has been issued within the previous four years by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or such other evidence of eligibility as is required by this act. to the President. Section 1109. The county superintendent shall fur- List of directors nish to the president of such convention a correct to be furnished duplicate list of all the school directors in said county in the districts over which said superintendent has supervision, said list to be arranged alphabetically by districts. And in taking the vote the president or viva voce vote. secretary shall call in alphabetical order, by districts, the list thus furnished, and each director present shall, when his name is called, rise and announce the name of the candidate for whom he desires to vote. The tellers shall keep a correct tally of the vote as cast and report the same to the president, who shall announce the vote to the convention. of election. Section 1110. It shall be the duty of the president Certification and secretary of each convention of school directors electing a county superintendent, to forthwith certify to the Superintendent of Public Instruction the name and post-office address of the person elected as county superintendent for the ensuing term, together with the number of votes received by him for said office, the names and post-office addresses of, and number of votes received by, the other candidates for said office, the number of directors in attendance at such convention, also the amount of annual salary fixed upon by said convention for the county superintendent so elected, together with the number of votes cast for and against said salary. Section 1111. If no valid objections to the election Commission of a county superintendent be filed with the Superin- to issue. tendent of Public Instruction within fifteen days after his election, a proper commission shall be issued to the person so elected, for the ensuing term, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, under the seal of his department. to elections. Section 1112. If any objections to the election of objections any county superintendent be filed with the Superintendent of Public Instruction within fifteen days from the date of election, and such objections are signed, among others, by a majority of the members of not less than one-fifth of the boards of school directors entitled to participate in such convention, and such objections are verified by the oath or affirmation of at least three objectors, then, in such case, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at a hearing, inquire into and dispose of such objections. The person whose election is so objected to shall have reasonable notice of the time and place of such hearing, together with a copy of the objections made to his election. At such hearing the Superintendent of Public Instruction may require, under oath or affirmation, If objections are sufficient election is void. Appointment to vacancy. To issue subpoenas. Expenses of hearing. Filing of bond by objectors. Pay mileage of directors. such evidence as he may deem necessary and proper, and he is hereby authorized and empowered to administer the necessary oaths to all witnesses testifying before him. Section 1113. If the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall decide that such objections are sufficient, such election of county superintendent shall be void; whereupon he shall refuse to issue a commission to the person so certified by the president and secretary of the convention, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall then appoint, for the full term or the remainder thereof, a properly qualified person as county superintendent, after having given careful consideration to any recommendations concerning such appointment which may have been made to him by the officers of the proper county school directors' association, within ten days after he made public his decision in said case. Section 1114. For any such hearing herein provided the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall have power to issue subpoenas requiring witnesses to attend and testify; and any person, subpoenaed so to do, who shall neglect or refuse to attend and give evidence at any such hearing, shall be liable to the same fine and penalties as if he had refused to appear and testify in the court of common pleas of the county in which such hearing is held. Section 1115. Any such hearing may be held at such time and at such place as the Superintendent of Public Instruction may direct, and he may direct that so much of the cost and expense incurred on account of such hearing, as he may approve, shall be paid by the Commonwealth, by an order drawn on the treasurer thereof, out of any appropriation made for such purpose. Section 1116. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall have power, before proceeding with any such hearing, to require the objectors to the election of any person as county superintendent to file a proper bond in favor of the Commonwealth, in such amount and with such surety or sureties as may be approved of by him, conditioned that if the said objectors to the said election fail to make good the objections filed by them, then, in that case, they shall pay all necessary costs and expenses incurred on account of the filing of such objections and the hearing disposing of the same. Section 1117. Every school director attending a convention for the election of a county superintendent shall be paid the sum of two dollars, and mileage at the rate of three cents per mile for each mile necessary to be traveled between the county seat and the |