(a) All school directors of the component school districts forming an administrative unit composed of two (2) or more school districts approved by the State Board of Education to be established as a school district shall serve out the terms of office for which they were elected. No vacancies occurring in such position after the date of establishment shall be filled.

(b) On or before the fifteenth day of February immediately preceding the date of establishment, such incumbent school directors of the component school districts shall be called into convention by the county superintendent of schools and shall select by majority vote an interim operating committee composed of nine (9) incumbent school directors. In selecting the interim operating committee, the incumbent school directors shall take into consideration the principle of proportionate representation according to population. The decision of the convention in selecting the interim operating committee shall be final. Three (3) of the members of the interim operating committee shall be selected for a term expiring on the first Monday of December, 1969, three (3) for a term expiring on the first Monday of December, 1971, and three (3) for a term expiring on the first Monday of December, 1973. In the event an incumbent director is selected for a term on the interim operating committee which would expire later than the term for which he was elected as a school director, he shall serve only until the end of his term for which he was elected as a school director. The school directors elected at the municipal elections held in November, 1969, and thereafter, shall be elected for six (6) year terms and shall take the place of the appointed members of the board of school directors of the newly established school district as their terms expire. The members of the interim operating committee shall become and shall serve as the board of school directors of the school district on and after the date of establishment.

(c) The interim operating committee shall have the power and its duty shall be to meet, prepare and adopt a budget, levy and assess taxes and perform all acts and functions necessary to enable the proposed school district to function properly prior to the date of its establishment. The committee shall have the power to fill vacancies should a deficiency in membership arise due to death, resignation or otherwise: Provided, however, That vacancies shall first be filled by the selection of an incumbent school director, if any.

(d) The incumbent school directors not selected for membership on the interim operating committee shall serve in an advisory capacity to the interim operating committee and to the board of school directors of the newly established school district. Such incumbent school directors may attend meetings and participate in discussions of the interim operating committee and board of school directors, but shall have no vote.

(e) In the case of a single school district forming an administrative unit approved by the State Board of Education to be established as a school district, the incumbent school directors shall be the school directors of the newly established district and the election of school directors at each municipal election subsequent to the date of establishment shall be as provided in section 7 of this act.¹ In the event the number of incumbent school directors is less than nine (9), the board of school directors on and after the date of establishment shall have the power to raise its membership to nine (9) in the manner now provided by law to fill vacancies on the board.

(f) The interim operating committee or the board of school directors shall also have the power and its duty shall be to propose a name for the school district to be established. The name proposed shall be reported to the Department of Public Instruction² which shall review the proposed name and approve it if it is not a duplication of a name previously approved by the Department of Public Instruction. When it approves a name, the Department of Public Instruction shall issue a certificate stating that the approved name has been registered as the official designation of the school district.

(g) In the case of an administrative unit comprised according to section 2(b) of this act,³ the directors then in office in each component school district shall, until the end of their respective terms, be directors of the newly formed school district. Vacancies occurring in such incumbent positions shall not be filled. At the first municipal election following the date of establishment of the new district and at each subsequent municipal election, three (3) directors shall be elected at large for six (6) year terms. Their term of office shall begin on the first Monday of December following their election.

The school directors of the component districts of the new district before the date of establishment or the board of school directors after establishment, may, if they choose, develop a plan to divide the new school district into three (3) or nine (9) regions in the same manner as provided in section 7 of this act.