(a)
Composition, Term of Office - There
shall be a school committee which shall consist of seven members.
Six of these members shall be nominated and elected by and from the
voters of the town at large. The mayor shall serve, by virtue of office,
as the seventh member of the school committee with all of the same
powers and duties as the members elected by the voters as school committee
members.
(b)
Term of Office - The term of office
for the six school committee members elected by the voters as school
committee members shall be for four years each, beginning on the first
business day of January in the year following their election, and
until their successors have been qualified. The terms of office shall
be so arranged that three such terms are to be filled at each biennial
election.
(a)
Election and Term - As soon as practicable after the school committee members-elect have been qualified following each biennial town election, as provided in section 8-10, the school committee shall organize by electing one of the persons elected to the office of school committee member to serve as school committee chair and one of the persons elected to the office of school committee member to serve as school committee vice chair until the next town election.
(b)
Powers and Duties - The school committee
chair shall preside at all meetings of the school committee, regulate
its proceedings and shall decide all questions of order. The school
committee chair shall appoint all members of all committees of the
school committee, whether special or standing. The school committee
chair shall have the same powers to vote upon all measures coming
before the school committee as any other member of the school committee.
The school committee chair shall perform such other duties consistent
with the office as may be provided by charter, by ordinance or by
other vote of the school committee.
No member of the school committee shall hold any other town
office or town employment for which a salary or other emolument is
payable from the town treasury. No former member of the school committee
shall hold any compensated appointed town office or town employment
until one year following the date on which such member's service
on the school committee has terminated. This provision shall not prevent
a town officer or other town employee who has taken a leave of absence
in order to serve as a member of the school committee from returning
to the same office or other position of town employment held at the
time such leave of absence commenced; provided, however, no such person
shall be eligible for any other municipal position until at least
one year following the termination of service as a member of the school
committee.
(a)
Salary - The members of the school
committee shall receive such salary for their services as may from
time to time be set by ordinance. No ordinance increasing the salary
of school committee members shall be effective unless it shall have
been adopted during the first eighteen months of the term for which
town councillors are elected and it provides that such salary is to
take effect upon the organization of the town government following
the next municipal election.
(b)
Expenses - Subject to appropriation
and to prior authorization, the school committee members shall be
entitled to reimbursement of their actual and necessary expenses incurred
in the performance of their duties.
The school committee shall have all powers which are conferred
on school committees by general laws and such additional powers and
duties as may be provided by the charter, by ordinance, or otherwise
and not inconsistent with said grant of powers conferred by general
laws. The powers and duties of the school committee shall include
the following:
1)
To elect a superintendent of the schools who shall be charged with
the day-to-day administration of the school system, subject only to
policy guidelines and directives adopted by the school committee and,
upon the recommendation of said superintendent, to establish and appoint
assistant or associate superintendents as provided in section fifty-nine
of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws;
2)
To make all reasonable rules and regulations for the management of
the public school system and for conducting the business of the school
committee as may be deemed necessary or desirable;
3)
To adopt and to oversee the administration of an annual operating
budget for the school department, subject to appropriation by the
town council.
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The school committee shall have general charge and superintendence
of all school buildings and grounds and shall furnish all school buildings
with proper fixtures, furniture and equipment. The school committee
shall provide ordinary maintenance of all school buildings and grounds;
provided, however, the town council may, by ordinance, provide for
the establishment of a central municipal maintenance department which
may include maintenance of school buildings and grounds. Whenever
the school committee shall determine that additional classrooms are
necessary to meet the educational needs of the community, at least
one member of the school committee, or a designee of the school committee,
shall serve on the agency, board or committee to which the planning
or construction of such new, remodeled or renovated school building
is delegated.
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(a)
Runner-Up to Succeed to Office - If
a vacancy shall occur in the office of school committee member the
vacancy shall be filled in descending order of votes received by the
candidate for the office of school committee member at the preceding
town election who received the largest number of votes without being
elected, provided such person remains eligible and willing to serve
and provided such person received votes at least equal to thirty percent
of the vote total received by the person receiving the largest number
of votes for the office of school committee member at the said election.
The town clerk shall certify such candidate to the office of school
committee member to serve for the balance of the then unexpired term,
provided, however, if the vacancy occurs during the first eighteen
months of the term for which school committee members are elected
the person so chosen shall serve only until the next biennial election
at which election the remainder of the term shall be filled by the
voters.
If a vacancy shall occur in the office of school committee member
during the last six months of the term for which councillors-at-large
are elected, such vacancy shall be filled by the person at the biennial
town election who receives the highest number of votes for the office
of school committee member and who is not then serving as a member
of the school committee. Such person shall forthwith be certified
and shall serve for the last two months of the concluding term in
addition to the term for which such person was elected.
(b)
Filling of Vacancies By School Committee - Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of school committee member and there is no available candidate to fill such vacancy in the manner provided in section 4-6(a), the vacancy shall be filled by the remaining members of the school committee. Persons elected to fill a vacancy by the school committee shall serve only until the next regular election at which time the vacancy shall be filled by the voters and the person chosen to fill such vacancy shall forthwith be sworn and shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term in addition to the term for which elected. Persons serving as school committee members under this section shall not be entitled to have the words "candidate for reelection" printed against their names on the election ballot.
