Alvord v. Inhabitants of Chester
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort by an infant, by her father and next friend, for the exclusion of the plaintiff from a public school in the town of Chester.
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Tort by an infant, by her father and next friend, for the exclusion of the plaintiff from a public school in the town of Chester. Writ dated April 25, 1900. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Lawton, J., without a jury, it appeared, that the plaintiff at the time of her exclusion-from the school in April, 1900, was five years and ten months old, that she applied for admission to a public school for beginners taught by one teacher, and that at the time of the application there were children younger than the plaintiff attending this school. The rule under which the plaintiff was…
1Opinion of the CourtBarker, J.
The sole reason for the exclusion of the plaintiff from school was the regulation adopted by the school committee to the effect that children under the age of seven years could not enter the school except at the beginning of the fall term or within three or four weeks thereafter unless qualified to enter classes existing in the school at the time of entry.
This was a reasonable rule. Children under seven years of age, although allowed to attend the public schools, are not required to attend. St. 1898, c. 496, § 12. Grading is a permitted if not an essential feature of the public school system.…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Libby v. Inhabitants of DouglasMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1900
- Russell v. Inhabitants of LynnfieldMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1874
3Cited by8 opinions
- Leonard v. School Committee of AttleboroMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1965
- Barnard v. Inhabitants of ShelburneMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1913
- Tate v. School District No. 11Supreme Court of Missouri · 1930
- Antell v. StokesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1934
- Morrison v. City of LawrenceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1902
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