The management and control of the public schools
of said city shall be vested in a School Committee, consisting of
the Mayor, two members at large and one from each ward of the city.
The Mayor shall serve as Chairperson of the School Committee. The
at large members shall serve for four-year terms with one being elected
every two years, and the members from the wards shall serve two-year
terms.
[1]
Editor's Note: The City Council changed the
number of wards from seven to nine 12-28-1934 and 1-23-1940, effective
4-30-1940. Chapter 271, Acts of 1941, provided for nonpartisan elections;
Chapter 25, Acts of 1943, changed terms of School Committeemen; and
Chapter 4, Acts of 1998, changed the terms of office of the members
of the School Committee.
In case of a vacancy in or nonelection to the
office of a member of the School Committee the Mayor shall call a
joint convention of the City Council and of the School Committee,
and such vacancy shall, by vote of a majority of all the members of
the two bodies, be filled by the election of a member according as
the vacancy or nonelection exists, to serve until the end of the municipal
year in which the order calling the next annual municipal election
shall be passed; at such election the further vacancy, if any, shall
be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term, in the same manner
as the member whose office is vacant was elected. The Mayor may be
present at all sessions of the School Committee, and when present
may participate in the discussions. The Committee shall be the judge
of the election and qualifications of its members and shall determine
the rules of its proceedings. A majority of the whole number provided
to be elected shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business,
but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Chapter 484, Acts of 1996, changed the
time of the organizational meeting of the School Committee from each
municipal year to even-numbered years; and Chapter 4 of the Acts of
1998 deleted the requirement for an organizational meeting.
The School Committee shall annually appoint,
but not from its own number, a Superintendent of Schools, who shall
act as Secretary of the Board. The Committee shall fix the salary
of such Superintendent and may remove him for cause. The Committee
shall annually elect one of its own number to attend the meetings
of the City Council for the purpose hereinbefore mentioned.
The School Committee shall exercise the powers
and discharge the duties imposed by law upon School Committees. All
orders, resolutions or votes of the School Committee, except those
fixing salaries, which involve the expenditure of money, shall be
presented to the Mayor for his approval, and thereupon the same proceedings
shall be had by the Mayor and School Committee as are provided in
section twenty-seven of this act to be had by the Mayor and City Council;
but nothing in this act contained shall affect the powers and duties
of the Committee in relation to votes cast at elections. The School
Committee shall, on or before the first Monday in January in each
year, submit to the Mayor an estimate in detail of the amount deemed
by it necessary to expend for its purposes during the ensuing financial
year, and the Mayor shall transmit the same with the estimates of
the departments to the City Council, and shall recommend such appropriation
as he shall deem necessary.
The School Committee shall be the original judge
of the expediency and necessity of having additional or improved accommodations
for any public school within the limits of the city; and whenever
in its opinion a schoolhouse is required or material alterations are
needed it shall send a communication to the City Council, stating
the locality and the nature of the further provisions for schools
which are needed. The City Council shall not authorize the erection
of a schoolhouse or any addition thereto, nor pass any appropriation
for such purpose, until plans of the same have been approved by vote
of the School Committee, and such approval has been certified in writing
to the City Council by the Chairman of said Committee. Whenever the
City Council shall authorize the erection of a School Building or
any addition thereto one member of the School Committee, to be designated
by the Mayor, shall be a member of any commission or committee which
may be appointed to have supervision of the erection of such building
or addition.
The School Committee shall have the sole authority
to make repairs to existing school buildings, including the purchasing
of furniture and supplies, and apparatus for heating and ventilating
said buildings.
