The Short Title of this Act is “The Education Act 1877 Amendment Act, 1885.”

The term “the said Act,” wherever in this Act occurring, shall mean “The Education Act, 1877.”

Sections sixty-four and sixty-eight of the said Act shall be read as though the word “April” had been originally inserted therein instead of the word “January,” and the words “preceding year,” in the seventh line of the said section sixty-four, shall mean the year or period ended on the thirty-first day of March next preceding the date of the annual meeting of householders.

If a member of a School Committee be absent without leave during three consecutive months from all meetings of the Committee, except from temporary illness or other cause to be approved of by the Committee, such person shall cease to be a member of the Committee, and his or her office shall thereupon be vacant.

If by any means the number of members of a School Committee be reduced to less than the number required for a quorum, or if five or more members of any Committee shall signify to the Education Board their desire to be relieved from office, the Board may declare their seats vacant, and may direct an election to be held to fill up the vacancies; and the proceedings in connection with such election shall be the same as in the case of an annual election.

Every child required by the said Act to attend a public school shall attend such school during at least thirty days in each quarterly school term.

On the hearing of any information or complaint under the said Act for an order to send children or a child to a public school, or for the recovery of a penalty in respect thereof, the onus shall be on the parent or guardian of such children or child of showing that such children or child have or has attended, or are or is attending, a public school, in accordance with the requirements of the said Act, or that such children or child are or is exempt from such attendance thereunder.

A certificate under the hand of the Chairman or person acting as Chairman of a School Committee, setting forth the name of the clerk or member of Committee by whom the proceedings in the last preceding section shall have been commenced shall be conclusive evidence that such clerk was duly appointed and that such member was duly elected, and it shall not be competent in any such proceedings to inquire into or to dispute the election of the persons acting as members of the School Committee.

This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six.