Education/Schools - Historical Notes

The following acts constitute part of the administrative and political heritage of the educational structure of Bradley County but are no longer operative since they have either been superseded, repealed, or failed to receive local approval.  Also referenced below is an act which repealed prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

1. Acts of 1837-38, Chapter 248, incorporated James Berry, John Hardwick, Henry Price, Ezekiel Spriggs, Ezekiel Bates, Nicholas Spring, P. J. G. Lea; and William Grant, as Trustees of the Oak Grove Academy in Cleveland granting to them all the powers incidental to a corporation of an educational institution.
2. Acts of 1847-48, Chapter 80, was the legal authority for the Trustees of the Oak Grove Academy in Bradley County to establish a female department in the Academy for the special education of girls.  The department could be located in Cleveland, or at any other site no more than one mile from town.  Funds on hand would be divided, and the Trustees were empowered to acquire real property and hold it in the name of the new department of the school.  The Act appointed P. J. R. Edwards, William H. Tibbs, J. W. Inman, Isacc Low, J. D. Traner, G. W. Parker, John H. Payne, and Samuel A. Smith, as Trustees of the new addition with all the powers of the other Trustees.
3. Acts of 1849-50, Chapter 158, amended an Act passed on October 26, 1849, entitled an act to appoint a separate Board of Trustees for the male and female department of the Oak Grove Academy in Bradley County, so as to give the County Court the power to appoint at its January term each year the seven Trustees which make up the Board.  This Act named as Trustees Gideon B. Thompson, John D. Trayner, William K. Pickins, Robert S. Stewart, and John M. Cowan for the Male Academy, and J. W. Inman, James A. Ruble, John H. Payne, W. H. Craigmiles, and D. C. Kenner, for the Female Academy.
4. Acts of 1855-56, Chapter 241, allowed the Board of Trustees for the Female Department of the Oak Grove Academy in Bradley County, in order to establish a permanent Female School of a higher caliber and quality in Cleveland to convey to the Cleveland Lodge #134, Free and Accepted Masons, the entire management and control of the school, together with all real and personal property belonging to it.  The Lodge was enabled under this law to receive the said properties and funds for the school whose name was changed to the Cleveland Masonic Female Institute, and, in the event the Lodge failed to keep the school going, all the property would revert back to the original source.
5. Acts of 1865, Chapter 28, incorporated the East Tennessee Female College which was located in Cleveland, Tennessee, naming as Trustees, G. B. Thompson, Robert N. Fleming, William Hunt, J. H. Brown, P. M. Craigmiles, J. H. Craigmiles, Thomas H. Colloway, William Cate, Thomas L. Cate, Jonathan C. Tipton, William C. Daily, Hiram Rouglas, Robert Sneed, J. H. Saut, L. P. Gaut, D. P. O'Neil, H. E. Davis, James M. Henderson, Joseph H. Davis, and Isaac Lowe.  The corporate succession was 99 years and the powers generally incidental to educational corporate institutions were conferred upon them.
6. Acts of 1868-69, Chapter 54, incorporated for the ensuing 33 years, D. M. Nelson, John F. Rodgers, John D. Trayner, P. M. Craigmiles, J. N. Craigniles, J. K. Chingon, Joseph Tucker, James McGee, T. L. Coate, J. T. Cate, S. C. Hambright, Abe Henry, and S. Beard, as the Bradley County Agricultural and Mechanical Association and bestowed upon them the ordinary and normal powers incidental and essential to the operation and maintenance of such a group.
7. Acts of 1869-70, Chapter 67, recited that in order to advance the interests of education in the City of Cleveland, in Bradley County, the Trustees of the Oak Grove Academy were authorized to convey by deed to the City Public Schools of Cleveland all the lot and improvements of the Academy.  The State hereby quitclaimed all its right, title, and interest as the same might appear at any time, and all title to the school and its assets was vested in the Board of Education in Cleveland.  See Williamson v. McClain, 147 Tenn. 495, 249 S.W. 812, (1923).
8. Acts of 1869-70, Chapter 83, provided that in consideration of Chapter 241, Acts of 1856, conserving the Oak Grove Female Academy at Cleveland which was permitted to be conveyed to Masonic Lodge #134 in that city, and because the title to the property was burned and lost during the recent war, the State of Tennessee would hereby quitclaim and convey all its right, title, and interest in the said property to Masonic Lodge #134 for the purposes and to the extent herein stated.
9. Acts of 1869-70, Chapter 121, named William Taylor, William Johnston, J. A. Millow, B. L. Johnston, J. J. Millow, E. K. Good, and J. B. Hunt, and their associates, as the incorporators of the Coahulla Academy in the 13th Civil District of Bradley County.  The above named trustees would have and could exercise the same power and authority heretofore granted to other school Trustees.
10. Acts of 1885, Chapter 155, was the legal authorization for the present Trustees of the Oak Grove Academy in Cleveland, in Bradley County to sell and convey the same and to invest the proceeds of the sale thereof in the Cleveland High School Building then in the process of being constructed, the funds to be held in that property as they were formerly held in the Oak Grove Academy.
11. Acts of 1895, Chapter 62, formed independent School District Number 24 in Bradley County which included the area described in the law and which also contained the town of Charleston.  All the children of school age who resided within the area prescribed in the Act were entitled to all the privileges and benefits of this law and the school.
12. Acts of 1895, Chapter 121, created a new School District to be known as the Georgetown Academy which was established from portions of Bradley, James, and Meigs Counties, and which included the area described by metes and bounds.  This School District would have and enjoy the same rights as all others.  The District would have a three member Board of Directors elected from the fragments of the counties making up the District. 
13. Acts of 1899, Chapter 98, the contents of which can be found on Page 97 of the 1974 Edition of Bradley County's Private Acts, established a School District in Bradley County embracing the area described in the Act which would be known and numbered as the 25th School District.
14. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 78, was the enabling legislation for the Quarterly Court of Bradley County to levy a tax of 75 cents per $100 property valuation, or of any amount less than that, for the purpose of supporting, carrying on, and maintaining the public schools of the county.
15. Private Acts of 1925, Chapter 570, amended Chapter 98, Private Acts of 1919, to provide that the said Act would apply only to grammar and elementary schools in the county and to no others.
16. Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 562, applied to certain employees in the school system in Bradley County and defined certain terms as they were used in the Act.  Among other things, the Act stated that no employee could be dismissed, or demoted, except for improper conduct, inefficient service, neglect of duty, or for the general good of the school system, and then only after all the formalities specified in this Act had been closely observed and followed.  Regulations were established concerning notice of charges, a hearing wherein witnesses and evidence could be subpoenaed.  The decision arrived at must be reduced to writing and the entire record subscribed and certified.  Appeals would lie to the Chancery Court of Bradley County.  The provisions of this Chapter would apply only to those employees holding certificates from the Commissioner of Education and then only during the life of the certificate.  This Act was repealed by the one below.
17. Private Acts of 1951, Chapter 539, repealed Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 562.