Kenyon v. Moore

• Decision Date: 02 April 1919
• Docket Number: No. 12306.,12306.
• Citation: 287 Ill. 233,122 N.E. 548
• Parties: KENYON et al. v. MOORE, County Superintendent.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

287 Ill. 233

122 N.E. 548

KENYON et al.

v.MOORE, County Superintendent.

No. 12306.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 20, 1919.

Rehearing Denied April 2, 1919.

Appeal from Circuit, Court, McLean County; Sain Welty, Judge.

Petition for certiorari by Arthur T. Kenyon and others against B. C. Moore, County Superintendent. Petitioner's motion to quash record of the organization of Community High School District No. 332 granted, and County Superintendent appeals. Affirmed.

George W. Hunt, of Hennepin, and Oglevee & Franklin, of Bloomington, for appellant.

Barry & Morrissey, of Bloomington, for appellees.

DUNCAN, C. J.

Appellees, Arthur T. Kenyon and 29 others, on April 5, 1918, filed in the circuit court of McLean county a petition praying for a common-law writ of certiorari directed to appellant, B. C. Moore, county superintendent of schools of said county, attacking the record of the organization of community high school district No. 332. Appellant filed the record of the organization of said district in answer to the writ. Appellees filed their motion to quash the record and appellant filed his motion to quash the writ. The court granted the motion of appellees and quashed the record, and appellant has prosecuted this appeal.

The trial court held section 89 of the general School Law as amended in 1917, under which said district was attempted to be organized, unconstitutional. Appellant by proper assignments of error questions that ruling. That section as so amended reads as follows:

‘Upon the receipt of a petition signed by fifty or more legal voters residing in any compact and continuous territory described in said petition, whether in the same or different townships, the county superintendent of schools of the county in which the territory or the greater part thereof described in the petition is situated, shall order an election to be held for the purpose of voting ‘for’ or ‘against’ the proposition to establish a community high school, by posting notices for at least ten days in ten of the most public places throughout the territory described in the petition, which notices may be substantially in the following form: [Here follows the form of notice.] Said community high school district shall be formed, as far as practicable, about a community center, and have sufficient territory, assessed valuation, and prospective high school pupils to form a satisfactory and efficient high school, and it shall be the duty of the county superintendent of schools before calling the election to consider the form, size, and assessed valuation of the proposed high school district and the number of prospective high school pupils in the same, and if in his judgment the proposed district does not meet the requirements heretofore specified in this section he may refer the petition back to the petitioners with recommendations as to changes before he calls the election, or he may deny the prayer of the petition: Provided, however, that in forming these high school districts, existing school districts shall not be divided by high school district boundaries, except where in the judgment of the county superintendent of schools of the county in which the larger part of the proposed high school district lies, it is necessary in order to make a compact and satisfactory high school district. * * * The expense of all elections called by the county superintendent of schools under the provisions of this act shall be paid by the county.' Laws of 1917, p. 738.

The copy of the record filed as a return to the writ contained the petition of the organization of the district, in which was described the territory to be embraced therein, signed by 86 petitioners. A plat of the territory was filed showing the territory to be contiguous, lying in three townships, the major part thereof in McLean county, and the remainder in Logan county. An election was called by the county superintendent, and notices providing for three polling places were posted in 16 public places in the territory 10 days before the election. The county superintendent issued warrants to three sets of officers to hold and conduct the election. The election held on March 19, 1918, resulted in 543 votes for and 174 votes against the organization of the high school district. The county superintendent...