couraged to form reading circles for the purpose of pursuing courses of study in professional subjects, and it shall be the duty of the state superintendent to prescribe a course of study in the said subjects, to provide for examining those who complete the said course and to issue certificates of merit to such persons as pass satisfactory examinations thereon.

The state superintendent of schools may also outline additional professional work and projects for teachers and issue coupons of credit, good only for the school year in which they are issued, to such teachers as complete such professional work or project satisfactorily. Such coupons when signed by the state superintendent and by the county superintendent shall entitle the holder thereof to one dollar a month additional salary for each coupon so held, payable by the district or independent district board of education at the expiration of the school term out of the teeachers' fund of such district.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE

Sec. 122. Age-Time-Misdemeanor. Every person who has legal or actual charge of a child or children not less than seven nor more than fourteen years of age shall cause such child or children each year to attend a free day school for the full school term of the district or independent district in which such person resides; provided, however, that such person shall be exempt from the foregoing requirement for any of the following causes:

(a) Instruction for a time equal to that required by this act in a private, parochial or other school approved by the district board of education. The principal or other person in control of such private, parochial or other approved school shall upon the request of the district board of education, furnish to said board such information as it may require with regard to the attendance and instruction of pupils between the ages of seven and fourteen years enrolled therein.

(b) Instruction for a time equal to that required by this act in the home of such child or children or elsewhere by a person or persons who are, in the judgment of the district board of education, qualified to give instruction in the subjects required to be taught in the free elementary schools of this State. The person or persons giving such instruction shall, upon the request of the district board of education, furnish to said board such information as it may require with regard to the attendance and instruction of pupils between the ages of seven and fourteen years receiving such instruction.

(c) Physical or mental incapacity for school attendance and the performance of school work.

(d) Death or serious illness in the immediate family of the pupil.

(e) Extreme destitution of parents or other person or persons in legal or actual charge of a child or children. Exemption for this cause shall not be allowed when such destitution is relieved through public or private means.

(f) Conditions rendering school attendance impossible or rendering it hazardous to the pupil's life, health or safety.

(g) Residence of the pupil at a distance of more than two miles from the nearest school by the shortest practicable road or path, unless free transportation to and from school is provided for such pupil.

(h) Observance of regular church ordinances.

(i) Other causes that are accepted as valid by the county superintendent or by the district supervisor of schools or by the superintendent of schools of an independent district.

Any person who, after due notice has been served upon him as hereinafter provided, shall fail to cause a child or children in his legal or actual charge to attend school as hereinbefore provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace be fined not less than three dollars nor more than twenty dollars, together with the costs of prosecution, or confined in jail not less than five days nor more than twenty days. Each day a child is out of school contrary to the provisions of this act shall constitute a separate offense.

Whenever a person accused of violating the provisions of this act has been tried and acquitted, the costs of prosecution shall be paid by the district board of education out of the building fund of the district.

Sec. 123. Attendance Officer-Duties. The board of education of every district or independent district shall, at its first meeting or as soon thereafter as practicable, appoint one or more attendance officers, who shall qualify as such and shall enforce the provisions of this act in the districts or independent districts in which they have been appointed to serve; provided, however, that any school trustee may be appointed to serve as truant officer in his subdistrict. Each officer so appointed shall use due diligence to ascertain any violations of this law, and when from personal knowledge or by report or complaint from any resident or teacher of the district under his supervision, he believes that any child subject to the provisions hereof has been absent from school contrary to the provisions of this act, he shall immediately give written notice to the parent, guardian, or custodian of such child that the attendance of said child at school is required, and if the parent, guardian or custodian of such child does not comply with the provisions of this act at once, then such attendance officer shall make complaint against such parent, guardian or custodian before a justice of the peace of the county; and provided, that for subsequent offenses in any school year no such notice shall be required. When any doubt exists as to the age of a child absent from school, the attendance officer shall have authority to require a properly attested birth certificate or an affidavit from the parent, guardian, or custodian of such child, stating the age of such child. The attendance officer shall, in the performance of his duties as such officer, have authority to visit and enter any office, factory, or business house employing children; he shall also have the authority to arrest without warrant any child absent from school in violation of the provisions of this act and to place such child in the school in which such child is or should be enrolled. Said attendance officer shall be paid monthly at such rate per diem for the time actually spent in the performance of his duties as the board shall determine; but in no case shall payment for any month's services be made until the attendance officer has filed with the secretary of the district board of education the statement required by said board of education, together with a sworn statement of the number of truancy cases investigated and the time actually spent in performing such duties. When the attendance officer has faithfully performed his duties and filed the statement required, the district board of education, if satisfied that the same is just and correct, shall issue to him an order on the sheriff for the amount of his account, payable out of the building fund of the district.

Sec. 124. Secretary to Furnish Enumeration List. It shall be the duty of the secretary of the district board of education at the beginning of the school term to furnish to the teacher of each one-room school in the district a copy of the last school enumeration for the sub-district, together with the name and address of the attendance officer of the district. Such teacher shall at the opening of school and at such times as the district board of education may require, compare said enumeration list with the enrollment of the school and report to the attendance officer the names and residences of parents, guardians or custodians of children between the ages of seven and fourteen who are or have been absent from school without a legal excuse; also, the names and residences of parents, guardians, or custodians of children of compulsory school age not included in such enumeration list who are, or have been absent from school without legal excuse. The secretary of the district board of education shall furnish said enumeration list, together with the name and address of the attendance officer, to the superintendents, district supervisors or principals of all town and city schools and to the principals of all district schools of two or more rooms, and said superintendents, district supervisors, and principals shall make reports to the attendance officer concerning all cases of truancy as hereinbefore required of teachers of one-room schools.

Sec. 125. Fine for Neglect of Duty. Any school officer, attendance officer, district supervisor, superintendent, principal, teacher or other person upon whom a duty is imposed by this act who neglects or refuses to perform any duty or duties so imposed upon him shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than three dollars ($3.00) nor more than twenty dollars ($20.00) and may be imprisoned not to exceed twenty-five days.

Sec. 126. Aiding or Abetting Violations of Compulsory Attendance. Any person who induces or attempts to induce any child unlawfully to absent himself from school or who harbors or employs any child of compulsory school age while the school which he is required to attend is in session, or employs such child within the term of said school without the written permission of the county, district or city superintendent of schools shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twentyfive dollars ($25.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00), or may be confined in jail not less than five days nor more than thirty days.

Sec. 127. Fines Collected. All fines collected under the provisions of this act shall be paid over at once by the justice to the sheriff, and by him credited to the building fund of the proper district; and every attendance officer shall make to the secretary of the district board of education and to the sheriff an itemized statement on the last day of each month of all fines imposed as provided herein.

Sec. 128. Unemployed Children over Fourteen and Under Sixteen Shall Attend School. Every child over fourteen and under sixteen years of age who is not engaged in some regular employment or business for at least six hours per day or who has not received written permission from the superintendent of schools of the city or county in which he resides, to engage in profitable employment at home, shall attend a public day school or other day school approved by the board of education of his school district or independent school district during the entire time the public schools are in session, subject to such exemptions

as are provided for in section one hundred twenty-five* of this act, except that no child over fourteen and under sixteen years of age shall be exempt from school attendance as herein required for the reason that he has completed an eightyears' course of study in the elementary and grammar schools or junior high schools of the State, if a high school or other school of advanced grades is provided within two miles of his home.

Sec. 129. Children Over Fourteen and Under Sixteen Who Are Employed Shall Attend Evening or Part-Time Day Schools. Every child over fourteen and under sixteen years of age who is engaged in regular employment or business for six or more hours during the day shall attend an evening school, part-time day school or other continuation school for at least five hours per week for a period of twenty weeks, or for such period as such school is in session, if it is in session less than twenty weeks; provided, there is an evening school, part-time day school or other continuation school approved by the board of education of the district in which such child resides, within two miles of such child's home or temporary place of residence. Individuals, firms and corporations employing children over fourteen and under sixteen years of age shall, if necessary to enable such children to attend an evening school, part-time day school or other continuation school as herein required, release such children from work for at least five hours per week for a period of not less than twenty weeks each year. All children over fourteen and under sixteen years of age shall be included as a separate class in the enumeration list required in section ninety-five of this act. The requirements of this section shall be enforced by the persons and in the manner prescribed for the enforcement of the requirements of sections one hundred twenty-five to one hundred thirty-one, †inclusive, of this act.

Sec. 130. Compulsory Education of the Deaf and the Blind. Every parent, guardian or other person having control of any mentally normal minor over eight years of age who is defective in sight or hearing to the extent that he can not be benefited by instruction in the public schools, shall be required to send such minor to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind at Romney. Such minor shall continue to attend said schools for a term of at least thirty-six weeks each year until he has completed the course of instruction prescribed for said schools by the state board of education, or until he has been discharged by the superintendent of said schools. It is provided, however, that minors of the Negro race who come under the requirements of this section shall be placed in a separate school or schools located at such place or places as may be determined by the state board of control.

Any such deaf or blind minor shall be exempt from attendance at said schools for any of the following reasons:

1. Instruction by a private tutor or in another school approved by the state board of education, for a time equal to that required by the first paragraph of this section.

2. Physical incapacity for school work.

3. Any other reason deemed good and sufficient by the superintendent of said schools, with the approval of the state board of education.

Any parent, guardian or other person in charge of such minor or minors who fails or refuses to comply with the requirements of this section shall be guilty

*Refers to section one hundred twenty-two.

†Refers to sections one hundred twenty-three to one hundred twenty-seven.

of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than thirty dollars ($30.00) for each offense.

Failure for the period of one week within the school year to send such minor to school shall constitute an offense; provided, that the time necessary for such minor to travel from his home to Romney shall not be counted as time absent from school.

Any person who induces or attempts to induce such blind or deaf minor to absent himself from school or who employs or harbors such minor unlawfully, while said schools are in session shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty dollars ($20.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each offense.

It shall be the duty of school attendance officers, prosecuting attorneys and any special attendance officers appointed by the said schools for the deaf and the blind to enforce the provisions of this section.

It shall be the duty of the public school teachers of each county to furnish to the county superintendent of schools of their county the names of deaf or blind persons in their sub-districts between the ages of six and twenty-five years together with information as to the age, sex and race of each such deaf or blind person. The county superintendent of schools shall certify the names of all such persons with the names and addresses of their parents or guardians to the superintendent of the schools for the deaf and the blind at Romney.

It shall be the duty of the state superintendent of schools to provide suitable blanks for the enumeration of such deaf and blind persons to each county superintendent for distribution among teachers and others responsible for taking the school enumeration. The enumeration of such deaf and blind persons shall be taken at the time the regular school enumeration is taken and shall be reported to the superintendent of the schools for the deaf and the blind at the time that the regular school enumeration is reported to the state superintendent of schools.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Sec. 131. Acceptance of Federal Act. The provisions of an act of congress entitled " 'an act to provide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for co-operation with the states in the promotion of such education in agriculture and the trades and industries; to provide for co-operation with the states in the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects; and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditures," are hereby accepted by the State of West Virginia as to:

(a) Appropriations for the salaries of teachers, supervisors or directors of agricultural subjects.

(b) Appropriations for salaries of teachers of vocational and industrial subjects.

(c) Appropriations for the training of teachers of vocational subjects.

Sec. 132. Custodian of Funds. The state treasurer is hereby designated as the custodian of funds to be paid into the treasury of this State for vocational education and shall receive money paid to the state from the United States Treasury under the provisions of said act of congress and shall pay the same upon the warrant of the auditor of state when the same is certified by the state board of control.