ART. — .] PUBLIC EDUCATION.

131

6. In all cases where the county has not been pro-
perly divided into school districts, and full records of
the boundaries thereof have not been made and re-
corded, the board of county school commissioners shall
appoint a committee, if in their opinion they deem it
necessary, consisting of three persons of intelligence
and sound judgment, who shall divide the county
into suitable school districts, define and describe the

Division of
county into
school districts

boundaries of each ; provided, that no school district
shall contain a greater area than four miles square,
unless part of it be located in a thinly settled region ;
in the formation of the school districts, the committee
shall take into consideration the most suitable site for
the school house, the general features of the country,
and shall make each school district of such size and
form as will best accommodate the population within
its bounds; the committee shall make an accurate
description of the bounds of the school districts, ac-
companied by a plat, and shall report the same to the
board of county school commissioners, who shall there-

Proviso.

upon give notice, in all the newspapers of the county,
at what time they will meet to hear applications for a
change of boundaries, which applications shall be made
in writing, and within two months from the date of
the first publication of such notice ; when the applica-
tions shall have been made and considered, the board
of county school commissioners may then change the
boundaries of the school districts and revise the de-
scription, or they may, without application, make such
change as may be deemed important, or they may
ratify and confirm the report of the committee; the

Notice.

description of the boundaries of school districts shall
be recorded in a book kept for that purpose by the
secretary of the board of county school commissioners ;
in those counties where no newspaper is publised, the
notice of application for a change of boundaries shall
be published in such a manner as the board of county
school commissioners may decide; whenever it may
be necessary, the board of county school commissioners
shall employ a surveyor, to aid the committee in the

Boundaries.