ANDERSON COUNTY SCHOOLS
This segment is about the school system throughout the years of Anderson County.
Different Private Acts were changed through the years for different purposes.
Click here for a list of Anderson County Schools
The general state statutes regulating education are found in Title 49 of “Tennessee Code Annotated”. Of particular interest to county officials are Chapter 2 (Local Adminstration), Chapter 7 (Bonds for School Purposes), Chapter 8 (School Property), Chapter 10 (Elementary Schools) and Chapter 11 (High Schools).
The following private or local acts constitute part of the administrative and political heritage of Anderson County but are today no longer operative since they have either: (1) been superseded by general law, or (2) been specifically repealed, or (3) failed to receive local approval.
1. Acts of 1806, Chapter 8, Page 74, incorporated as a body corporate and politic, Arthur Crozier, Benjamin J C Parker, Jesse Roysden, Hugh Barton, and Samuel Frost, who were to be known as the Trustees of Union Academy located in Anderson County.
2. Acts of 1807, Chapter 56, Page 92, name John McWhorter as an additional Trustee for Union Academy in Anderson County since Samuel Frost, nominated as a member of the original Board of Trustees had refused to serve in that capacity.
3. Acts of 1809, Chapter 106, Page 136, named additional Trustees for several academies located throughout the State, including Union Academy in Anderson County to whose Board of Trustees Quinn Morton and Joseph Hart were added.
4. Acts of 1813, Chnapter 40, Page 33, appointed Arthur Crozier, John Lieb, John McAdoo, Quinn Morton, John Underwood, John Parks, Charles Y Oliver, and Robert Dew, as Trustees of a lottery which was formed to raise a sum through a scheme which the Trustees would adopt. The sum raised was not to exceed $2,000 all of which would be used for the benefit of Union Academy. The Trustees must make bond in double the amount mentioned to insure the payment of prize money and must conduct the lottery under all approved rules and regulations.
5. Acts of 1823, Chapter 276, Page 240, named John Gibbs, John Sutherland, John McAdoo, and Charles Y Oliver as additional Trustees to serve on the Board of Union Academy in Anderson County. The new Trustees were given all the powers and authority possessed by the existing Trustees.
6. Acts of 1827, Chapter 38, Page 31, appointed John Whitson, Lewis Miller, Whither Cox, and David Wallace, as Trustees for Houston Academy in Anderson County.
7. Acts of 1847-48, Chapter 25, Page 55, incorporated the Board of Trustees of Clinton Seminary in Clinton, Anderson County, Tennessee, naming John Jarnigan, W W Walker, R E Cummings, William Neil, R Miller, John McAdoo, and William C Griffith, as the first Board of Trustees, granting to them those specific powers essential to the operation and management of the school. Provisions were also made to fill vacancies within the ranks of the Trustees and to discipline students when, and if, the need arose to do so.
10. Acts of 1867-68, Chapter 68, Page 137, incorporated John C Tate, Calvin Kirkpatrick, Henderson Whitson, Peter Butler, and Samuel Cross, as the first Board of Trustees for the “First Colored Institute of Anderson County”, located in the City of Clinton. The Board would hold the title to the lands and the buildings in the name of the Institute which could be used for both educational and religious purposes. All the organizational details and the responsibilities of each corporate officer were spelled out in the Act.
11. Acts of 1867-69, Chapter 65, Page 352, Section 3, authorized and directed the Trustees of Union Academy in Anderson County to expend the fund now resting in their hands, or so much thereof as might be necessary, to build an academy, or building, sutiable for a high school in or near the City of Clinton, and to sell the present lot and purchase another, if they so desired and if such were in the best interests of the Academy.
13. Acts of 1899, Chapter 180, Page 355, formed a sschool district in Anderson and Roane Counties near Oliver Springs which included the land describe in the Act. All the remaining terms and conditions of the Act were similar to others creating school districts which have been mention in the section herein on that subject. This Act was superseded by a later one.
14. Acts of 1909, Chapter 206, Page 718, was a compulsory attendance law for Anderson County which required every parent of a child between the ages of 8 and 14 to send the child to school at least 16 weeks each year if school were in session that long, or for the entire session if the same did not last that long, unless the child were excused, or came within the exceptions specified in the Act. Parents who failed to comply with the terms of the Act, could be fined $1.00 for each week of non-attendance by their child. No one was permitted to employ a school child during the school year which act would be contrary to this law, at a penalty of $2.50 per day for each day the child might have worked. The Clerks must enter the names of children and the school attended, while the teachers and school principals were also required to furnish certain attendance records.
17. Private Acts of 1923, Chapter 653, Page 2358, abolished the office of Attendance Officer in the school system of Anderson County and Stated that the compulsory school attendance laws would be enforced by the County Superintendent of Public Instruction with the Sheriff and Constables executing all the warrants issued under the attendance law, for which they would receive the normal fees.
18. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 804, Page 2658, provided that old disabled teachdrs of the State of Tennessee who have taught in the State for a period of 30 eyars continuously, or more, who were disabled to continue the practice of teaching any longer, and who were unable to pursue any other gainful employment and were wholly dependent on their own labor would receive a pension of $50.00 per month from the State. This Act would apply to teachers in any grade of a State supported school.
25. Private Acts of 1951, Chapter 412, Page 1171, proveded for a salary increase of $25.00 per month for each teacher and principal in the Anderson County School system for a period of ten months each year. The increase would be in addition to all other salary and payment supplements now being received by these employees. The Act did not apply to teachers in Oak Ridge who were on the Federal payroll, nor to those on leaves of absence for military service until their return to their jobs.
27. Public Acts of 1981, Chapter 252, made it the responsibility of the principal, or chief administrative officer, of any public, or private school who has probable cause to believe that the “Drug Control Act” is being violated on the school premises, or buildings, to report such an event to the County Sheriff, or the City Chief of Police, as the case may be, immediately.