Education/Schools - Historical Notes

Board of Education

The following acts once affected the board of education in Fentress County but are no longer operative.

1. Private Acts of 1937, Chapter 622, provided for the election of members of the County Board of Education for Fentress County. The Board consisted of five members who were to be elected from five districts. No two of whom could reside in the same district. Each member was to serve a two year term.
2. Private Acts of 1987, Chapter 39, amended this act by raising the Board Members compensation from $15 to $100 for each day's attendance up to six days. However, the act was not approved locally and did not become effective.
3. Private Acts of 2006, Chapter 121, amended Private Acts of 1972, Chapter 251, as amended by Private Acts of 1994, Chapter 160, and Private Acts of 1998, Chapter 149, relative to compensation of members of the county board of education in Fentress County. The act proposed to compensate members at a rate of $100 per day for each day’s attendance at meetings of the county board of education.  This act never received local approval.

Superintendent or Director of Schools

The act referenced below once affected the office of superintendent of education in Fentress County, but is no longer operative.

1. Private Acts of 1937, Chapter 216, established the office of county superintendent of schools in counties having a population of not less than 11,030 nor more than 11,040 under the federal census of 1930 to be elected by the people at the regular biennial August elections, beginning the first Thursday in August, 1938, and every two years thereafter. Later, T.C.A. § 49-2-301(d) provided that county superintendents of schools be elected for four (4) year terms.

General Reference

The following acts constitute part of the administrative and political heritage of the educational structure of Fentress County but are no longer operative since they have either been superseded, repealed, or failed to receive local approval.

1. Private Acts of 1826, Chapter 176, incorporated the Mount Cumberland Academy in Fentress County. The act appointed John Redgan, William Travis, Erby Alberson, John Crofford, Samuel Odle, Strother Frog, James Finely, John Guinn and John Evans as Trustees of the Academy. The Trustees were given the authority to select and purchase a site for the Academy in Jamestown.
2. Private Acts of 1831, Chapter 131,  appointed Joseph H. Schooler, William H. McGee, Hannibal Clemmins, William Richardson, William Chilton, Jr., James Campbell, William H. Atkinson, John H. Rogers and H. C. Rogers as Trustees of Mount Cumberland Academy in Fentress County.
3. Private Acts of 1835-36, Chapter 100, gave the Fentress County Court authority to remove and replace any Trustee of the Mount Cumberland Academy, if in the discretion of the court it was believed that the safety of the Academy required such actions.
4. Acts of 1855-56, Chapter 267, authorized the school Trustees to pay out all school funds that might come into their hands from the sale of land to Fentress County, in the same manner as other funds received by them.
5. Acts of 1907, Chapter 143, created a special school district in the Fourteenth Civil District of Fentress County. The school was to be designated and knows as "Wilder District No. 14". Dock Morgan, Alexander Boles and D. L. Sparks were appointed the School Directors. They were to serve until the next regular election for School Directors in Fentress County. The Trustee of Fentress County was authorized by this act to apportion this special school district all funds then on hand or funds to be collected for that District.
6. Acts of 1907, Chapter 217, created a school district in the First District of Fentress County to be known as the "Jamestown School District of Fentress County." W. W. Wood, J. T. Wheeler and J. L. Garrett were appointed the School Directors. They were to serve until the next regular election for School Directors in Fentress County. The Trustee was authorized by this act to apportion to this school district its rate pro rata of all school funds or those funds that would come into his hands.
7. Acts of 1909, Chapter 494, required parents or guardians of children over eight years old and under fourteen years old to direct such children to attend some public school four months or eighty consecutive days each year. This act applied to Fentress and other Counties. Failure to comply with the provisions of this act was a misdemeanor. A fine of $1 per day a child was absent was the penalty upon conviction. Cost of prosecution was to be paid out of the public school fund of the county. Those children enrolled in private or parochial schools, those who had covered the subjects required by law were exempted from the provisions of this act. Those children with a mental condition or those who were needed by the family to work were also exempt.  This act was amended by Private Acts of 1911, Chapter 221. This amendment made the act applicable to counties have a population of not less than 90,000 and not more than 120,000 persons. Public Acts of 1978, Chapter 716, repealed Acts of 1909, Chapter 494 and the amendment, Private Acts of 1911, Chapter 221.
8. Private Acts of 1921, Chapter 807, exempted from any further examination all teachers in Fentress County who had forty consecutive years experience. Such teachers were to receive their teaching certificate from the State Department of Education upon application and affidavit that they had such teaching experience.
9. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 803, authorized the citizens of Fentress County who had taught in public schools not less than fifty consecutive years to be entitled to be enrolled by the County Board of Education upon a list to be known as County Teacher's Pension List provided they remain in Fentress County.
10. Private Acts of 1937, Chapter 622, was the first act providing for the popular election of the County Board of Education. The Board consisted of five members who were to be elected from five districts. No two of whom could reside in the same district. Each member was to serve a two year term.  This has now been superseded by the current law.