Sanitary codes.-Plenary power conferred upon State boards of health to make and enforce sanitary codes is no longer an uncommon thing. Thus the Minnesota State Board of Health may adopt and enforce regulations, which when approved by the attorney general and published have the force of law. Among the general subjects on which it may rule are "the construction and equipment in respect to sanitary conditions of schools * and other public institutions." Under this authorization numerous rules have been adopted regarding schools, and the State has found it necessary to enact but little specific legislation. In New York State district superintendents may condemn schoolhouses which in their opinion are "wholly unfit for use and not worth repairing." When an order is made, the district is required to vote an appropriation for a new building costing not less by 25 per cent than the amount specified in the order of the district superintendent. Such order is subject to review by the commissioner of education. The district superintendent may also order repairs and alterations to an amount not exceeding $200 in any one year. Results in Indiana. From the side of tangible results the Indiana State Board of Health has made an enviable record, and has merited the vote of confidence that was expressed in making it the executive authority of the sanitary schoolhouse law of 1911. Gathering encouragement from the pronouncement of the State supreme court in Blue v. Beach in 1900,1the board began a series of inspections which resulted in cases for condemnation coming before most of the quarterly meetings. A study of annual reports gives the following data, the extensions representing additional allowance of time to districts where buildings had been condemned: Results of work of Indiana State Board of Health. Frequency of inspection. The frequency of the inspections is usually left to the discretion of the inspectors. In Montana, however, a rule of the State board of health commands the local health officer to inspect every school in his district once "each school term" and to close it until any insanitary condition is abated. The county superintendent of health in North Carolina during the summer months must make an examination of the sanitary conditions of every public school, and he may prohibit the resumption of work by withholding his certificate of approval. Limitations of power to order corrections.-Power to order repairs is limited in several of the States. The Massachusetts inspector of buildings and the State superintendent of North Dakota are forbidden to make an order entailing unreasonable expense. In New York the district superintendent, an official corresponding closely to the county superintendent in other sections, may condemn entire buildings, but he can not direct repairs that will cost a school over $200 per year. His jurisdiction covers only districts of less than 5,000 inhabitants. In Vermont the State board of health is limit by the law of 1915 to 20 per cent of the grand list (1 per cent of valuation). The county superintendent in South Dakota is held to an expenditure of $50 per year, and the county superintendent in Wisconsin, as previously noted, may not expend more than $25. In Michigan the authority of the county truant officer reaches only the inspection and correction of defects in outbuildings, and a rule of the State board of health applies merely to the school surroundings; but the factory inspectors may condemn all school buildings that they consider liable to collapse or that endanger life. The latter statute is, of course, insufficient so far as ordinary sanitation is concerned. Penalties.-Penalties vary widely in their severity and nature. In Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin the district is made to suffer by losing its share in the apportionment of State or county school funds. In North Dakota a fine of $100 to $1,000 may be imposed, and two other States place a lower figure. In Ohio the penalty is definitely personal; the official may be fined or imprisoned, or both. Comprehensiveness of the Kentucky statute. The Kentucky law is noteworthy in that it provides that the county superintendent— shall condemn any schoolhouse which is dilapidated, unhealthy, or otherwise unfit to be occupied for the purpose of a common school, and any fence or other inclosure of a schoolhouse, when such inclosure is for any reason insufficient for the protection of the house or ground. He shall condemn all school furniture or apparatus, insufficient in quantity, or not of the required character, order the same replaced with the proper furniture or apparatus— and notify the trustees of his decision. These large powers are backed by authority to suspend or remove any trustee for neglect of duty. III. THE SCHOOL SITE. Factors affecting the school site and its surroundings are set forth in Table 2. Provision for playgrounds is included also, together with facts that affect the accessibility of the school to its pupils. Accessi bility is governed mainly by provision for transportation and by size of district. The former has been included only often enough to show the trend in opinion as to how far a child ought to walk; the latter has not been regarded, since many of the boards have the right to establish as many schools in the district as they deem proper. In general it may be said that all directions in this section are mandatory, except that a few States allow option with regard to transportation. Furthermore, some latitude is allowed district boards between the maximum and minimum requirements as to size of school site. Nearly all the provisions are State wide in their application, and there is a tendency to make the provisions of the act apply also to private and parochial schools. The term "private" or "parochial" is found in the statutes of Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The Massachusetts law defines a schoolhouse as "any building or part thereof in which public or private instruction is afforded to more than 10 pupils at one time." Other States use the word "school" in a general way and do not specify its character. The names of 36 States appear in the table, 8 in the regulation of miscellaneous matters with reference to school site, 18 with reference to the proximity of various nuisances, 18 with reference to availability of site through transportation or other devices, and at least 25 with reference to size of school site. Connecticut.. Delaware.... Florila.. Trois. loaa.. Digest of Stat. (1905), sec. 5129; acts of 1905; School Laws, p. 193.. Laws of 1907, ch. 200 (81 Conn., 276); acts of 1911, ch. 173; Gen. Stat., sec. 4070, 4114; Sixteenth Bien. Rep. State Bd. of Health School Laws, pp. 17, 49, 118.. School Law, pp. 134, 150, 188, 201. U. S. Acts of 1913.. School Laws, pp. 61, 85, 103, 107, 130, 267, 312, X School Laws, pp. 66, 74, 84, 175. School Laws, p. 56; Stat., 1909, sec. 4439; X Longiana. Const. and Rev. Laws, 1904, p. 397; amend ments to same, 1904-1908, p. 146; School Mime. Minnesota.. Laws of 1909, ch. 148; School Laws, pp. 4-5... XXX 150 great a diversity exists in the provisions of this table that it has been deemed unwise to attempt to how by it anything as to the character of the regulation itself. "X" signifies some sort of regulation the column headed "References" gives all sources of information for this section. North Dakota... Laws of 1913, chs. 265, 267. Oklahoma. Tennessee.. Texas. Laws of 1910; House bills 264, 482; School Laws of 1914; Senate bill 9. Law of Mar. 20, 1911.. Lord's Oregon Laws, sec. 2133. Law of Apr. 13, 1911; School Code, p. 39.. Annotated Code, 1896, secs. 6795-96; acts of School Laws, pp. 92, 93. :xx X XXX: Vermont.. Virginia..... Washington..... West Virginia.. Pub. Stat., 1906, sec. 5122; Regulations School Laws, pp. 42, 139; Laws of 1910, ch. Codes and Stat., sec. 4425, 4492; State v. State v. Bd. Ed., Clarksburg, Sc. Dist.. protect schools against often expressed itself in The creation of a "dry" Proximity of nuisances. The desire to nuisances in the neighborhood has most laws removing liquor-selling to a distance. zone around schools has become linked with a consideration of other nuisances in only two States. In Iowa no bills, posters, or other advertising matter of liquor and tobacco shall be distributed, posted, or circulated within 400 feet of premises used for school purposes. In Louisiana many special laws have been passed removing gambling and liquor-selling from 3 to 8 miles from schools, but the schools affected are chiefly high schools and higher institutions. The breadth of the dry zone depends principally upon whether urban or rural territory is involved. Three States-Minnesota, Tennessee, and Florida-deal with this matter only outside incorporated towns and cities. Minnesota fixes a zone of only 1,500 feet, but Tennessee practically wipes out the traffic in all except very sparsely settled districts by giving to all schools a dry zone of 4 miles radius.1 Florida has the same provision as Tennessee, but largely nullifies it by a remarkable list of exceptions-hotels of over 25 rooms selling to guests only; incorporated social clubs selling to members only; places retailing liquors within 500 feet of incorporated towns; and saloons in towns of over 200 inhabitants where there is no other saloon Tennessee has since passed a State-wide prohibition law. within 50 miles. Arkansas gives the right to the majority of adult inhabitants residing within 3 miles of any school to secure from the county court, by petition, a dry-zone decree covering their territory. The legislature, however, has supplemented local option by passing acts creating dry zones of 3 to 6 miles radius around nine different schools in the State. Nine other States have set limits upon the proximity of saloons to schools, but since the law applies to city as well as country, the distances set are much less. The distance is 200 feet in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont; 300 feet in Oregon' and Wisconsin, and formerly in Utah; 400 feet in Massachusetts. South Dakota prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquor in the same block with any school or in any block adjacent to it. Exceptions to the operation of these statutes are rather frequent and apply chiefly to hotels and renewals of license. In Connecticut the renewals are, however, subject to the discretion of the county commissioners. As a result of this law the supreme court of the State was called upon in October, 1908, to pass on the appeal of John Schusler from the decision of the county commissioners of Hartford County in refusing to renew a license for a location at which he had been retailing liquor for the past 10 years. The refusal of the commissioners was based upon the fact that a parochial school had been opened about a year previous on a site only 75 feet from the appellant's place of business. That the said commissioners had granted a renewal in another case within 200 feet of a school was held not to affect the present case. The following dictum of the court seems especially important: "It was of no legal consequence that the site for the school was bought years after the establishment of the appellant's saloon, in close proximity to it, and after his becoming the owner of the saloon property." In New Hampshire hotels and drug stores occupied as such on January 1, prior to the passage of the "dry-zone" law, are not affected. New York exempts from the statute hotels and saloons established prior to March 23, 1896, or established prior to the occupation of any premises within 200 feet for church or school purposes. Rhode Island exempts taverns; Vermont, drug stores and inns. In Wisconsin the use of retail liquor licenses is prohibited except in buildings where such a license was in effect on June 30, 1905. Even then, after two and a half years had passed from the time the law went into effect, a remonstrance signed by a majority of the parents or guardians of children enrolled in any public or parochial school was sufficient to prevent any license from being issued to permit business within 300 feet of said school. This 1 Oregon has since passed a prohibition law, and the entire State will be dry after Jan. 1, 1917. *Repealed by ch. 106, Laws of 1911. |