employ teachers properly qualified as provided by law to give such instruction, the commissioner of education shall apportion in the same manner as teachers' quotas are apportioned to such eity or school district an amount equal to one-half the salary paid to each of such teachers, but not to exceed one thousand dollars for each teacher so employed. (Subd. added by L. 1920, ch. 852, and amended by L. 1921, ch. 327.)

V. SPECIAL COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.

Education Law.

(L. 1909, ch. 21; L. 1910, ch. 140.)

$700. Instruction in the humane treatment af animals and birds. The officer, board or commission authorized or required to prescribe courses of instruction shall cause instruction to be given in every elementary school under state control or supported wholly or partly by public money of the state, in the humane treatment and protection of animals and birds and the importance of the part they play in the economy of nature. Such instruction shall be for such period of time during each school year as the board of regents may prescribe and may be joined with work in literature, reading, language, nature study or ethnology. Such weekly instruction may be divided into two or more periods. A school district shall not be entitled to participate in the public school money on account of any school or the attendance at any school subject to the provisions of this section, if the instruction required hereby is not given therein. The commissioner of education shall, pursuant to this act, cause the consideration of the humane treatment of animals and birds to be included in the program of teachers' institutes. (Added by L. 1917, ch. 210.)

§ 705. Courses of instruction in patriotism and citizenship. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intellectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obligations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of the university of the state of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in patriotism and citizenship, to be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The boards of education and trustees of the several cities and school districts of the state shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruction.

Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruction in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to instruction given to pupils of like age in

the public schools of the city or district in which such pupils reside. (Amended by L. 1918, ch. 241.)

§ 730. Duty to maintain drills. It shall be the duty of the principal or other person in charge of every public or private school or educational institution within the state, having more than one hundred pupils, or maintained in a building two or more stories high to instruct and train the pupils by means of drills, so that they may in a sudden emergency be able to leave the school building in the shortest possible time and without confusion or panic. Such drills or rapid dismissals shall be held at least twelve times in each school year, eight of which required drills shall be held between September first and December first of each such year. At least one-third of all such required drills shall be through use of the fire escapes on buildings where fire escapes are provided, and signals for such drills shall be separate and distinct from signals used for drills through corridors and stairways. (Amended by L. 1923, ch. 402.)

§ 735. Fire prevention. The commissioner of education is hereby directed to provide and prescribe a course of instruction in fire prevention relating to the protection of life and property against loss or damage as a result of preventable fire, for use in the schools. of the state, as prescribed by this article. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 397, in effect Sept. 1, 1923.)

VI. BLIND, DEAF AND DUMB.

Education Law.

(L. 1909, ch. 21; L. 1910, ch. 140.)
ARTICLE 38.

(Added by L. 1923, ch. 163, in place of former art. 38 repealed.)

INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND OF THE BLIND.

Section 970. Duties of commissioner of education.

971. Regulations for admission.

972. Persons eligible for appointment as pupils to institutions for instruction of the deaf.

973. Support and term of instruction of deaf state pupils.

974. Clothing for deaf state pupils.

975. Indigent deaf children.

976. Deaf children improperly cared for.

977. Maintenance of deaf children.

978. Payment of expenses of tuition and maintenance for deaf children.

979. Persons eligible as pupils to institutions for instruction of the blind.

980. Support and term of instruction of blind state pupils.

981. Clothing for blind state pupils.

982. Blind and deaf children.

983. Aid for blind or deaf pupils.

§ 970. Duties of commissioner of education. All the institutions for the instruction of the deaf and of the blind, and all other

similar institutions, incorporated under the laws of the state, or that may be hereafter incorporated, shall be subject to the visitation of the commissioner of education, and it shall be his duty: 1. To inquire into the organization of the several schools and the methods of instruction employed therein.

2. To prescribe courses of study and methods of instruction that will meet the requirements of the state for the education of state pupils. 44404

3. To make appointments of pupils to the several schools, to transfer such pupils from one school to another as circumstances may require; to concel appointments for sufficient reason.

4. To ascertain by a comparison with other similar institutions whether any improvements in instruction and discipline can be made; and for that purpose to appoint from time to time, suitable persons to visit the schools.

5. To suggest to the directors of such institutions and to the legislature such improvements as he shall judge expedient.

6. To make an annual report to the legislature on all of the matters before enumerated and particularly as to the condition of the schools, the improvement of the pupils, and their treatment in respect to board and lodging. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 971. Regulations for admission. The commissioner of education may make such regulations and give such directions to parents and guardians, in relation to the admission of pupils into any institution, specified in this article, as will prevent pupils entering the same at irregular periods. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 972. Persons eligible for appointment as pupils to institutions for instruction of the deaf. All deaf children resident in this state, of the age of five years and upwards and of suitable capacity, who are not now under appointment as county pupils in one of the institutions for the instruction of the deaf of the state and who shall have been resident in this state for one year immediately preceding the application, or, if an orphan, whose nearest friend shall have been resident in this state for one year immediately preceding the application, shall be eligible to appointment as state pupils in one of the institutions for the instruction of the deaf of this state, authorized by law to receive such pupils; provided however the foregoing requirement as to length of residence in this state may be waived in the discretion of the commissioner of education. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 973. Support and term of instruction of deaf state pupils. 1. Each pupil so received into any of the institutions aforesaid shall be provided with board, lodging and tuition; and the directors of the institution shall receive an annual appropriation for each pupil so provided for, in quarterly payments, to be paid by the treasurer of the state, on the warrant of the comptroller, to the treasurer of said institution, on his presenting a bill showing the actual time and number of pupils attending the institution, which

bill shall be signed by the chief executive officer of the institution, and verified by his oath.

2. The regular term of instruction of any such deaf pupil shall be twelve years, or until the pupil shall have attained the age of eighteen years before the expiration of twelve years from the beginning of such term; provided, however, that the number of years that any deaf pupil may have attended such an institution as a county pupil shall be counted as part of such term. The commissioner of education may, in his discretion, extend the term of any pupil for a period not exceeding three years. It shall also be lawful for the commissioner of education to continue such pupils as state pupils for an additional period of three years for the purpose of pursuing or completing a high school course of study; such pupils must be recommended by the trustees of the institution in which they are attendants, before such extension of time is granted.

3. Children placed in any such institution for the instruction of the deaf, pursuant to sections nine hundred and seventy-two and nine hundred and seventy-three, shall be maintained therein at the expense of the state. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 974. Clothing for deaf state pupils. 1. The officer or board responsible for the care of destitute children in any county in this state from which state pupils may be appointed to any institution for the instruction of the deaf, whose parents or guardians are unable to furnish them with suitable clothing, are hereby authorized and required to raise in each year for each such pupil from said county, the sum of fifty dollars and to pay the sum so raised to the said institution, to be by it applied to furnishing such pupils with suitable clothing while in said institution.

2. If in any case all or any of said moneys are not expended before the expiration of the periods of appointment of such pupils, as provided in the foregoing subdivision of this section, then the unexpended residue shall go to the general clothing fund of the said institution, to be devoted to furnishing state pupils with suitable clothing. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 975. Indigent deaf children. Whenever a deaf child under the age of five years shall become a charge for its maintenance on any of the towns or counties of this state, or shall be liable to become such charge, it shall be the duty of the officer or board responsible for the care of destitute children in such county to place such child in one of the institutions enumerated in the next section. The pupils provided for in this section and sections nine hundred and seventy-six and nine hundred and seventy-seven of this article shall be designated county pupils. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)

§ 976. Deaf children improperly cared for. Upon the application of any parent, guardian or friend of a deaf child within this state, the officer or board responsible for the care of destitute children in the county where such child may be, shall proceed as

follows: If the child be under the age of five years and shall have become a charge on the town or county for its maintenance, or shall be liable to become such charge, they shall place such child in one of the institutions hereinafter named or described. In the case of any deaf child of the age of five years and upwards, and under the age of eighteen years, they shall report the facts to the commissioner of education. The commissioner of education may appoint to one of such institutions the child so reported, if found to be eligible under the provisions of section nine hundred and seventy-two, or any other child found by him to be so eligible. Such institutions are as follows:

or,

1. The New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb; or, 2. The Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-mutes;

3. The Le Couteulx Saint Mary's Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-mutes in the city of Buffalo; or,

4. The Central New York Institution for Deaf-mutes in the city of Rome; or,

5. The Northern New York Institution for Deaf-mutes in the village of Malone; or,

Saint Joseph's Institute for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-mutes, Westchester, in the city of New York; or,

7. Rochester School for the Deaf, in the city of Rochester; or, 8. Any other institution in the state for the education of deaf children as to which the state board of charities shall have filed with the commissioner of education a certificate to the effect that said institution has been duly organized and is prepared for the reception and instruction of such pupils. (Added by L. 1923, eh. 163.)

$977. Maintenance of deaf children. The children placed in said institutions, in pursuance of the last two sections, shall be maintained therein as follows: those of the age of five years and upward, at the expense of the state; those under the age of five years, at the expense of the county from which they came, until they attain the age of five years, at the same annual per capita rate as is paid by the state of New York for the support and instruction of state pupils in said institutions, unless the directors of the institution to which a child has been sent shall find that such child is not a proper subject to remain in said institution; provided, however, that all deaf children over the age of five years and under the age of twelve years, appointed as county pupils prior to March twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, in pursuance of this section and sections nine hundred and seventyfive and nine hundred and seventy-six of this article, shall be maintained as such at the expense of the county from which they came until they attain the age of twelve years, at the same rate of expense and under the same conditions as other county pupils placed in said institutions. (Added by L. 1923, ch. 163.)