The school committee shall consist of seven (7) members, one
(1) of whom shall be the mayor, who shall be chairman. The remaining
six (6) members shall be elected at large, each to serve four (4)
years, three (3) of whom shall be elected biennially. The members
of the school committee shall elect one (1) of its members to serve
as vice chairperson annually. The committee shall organize annually
on the first Sunday in January, and shall elect one of its members
as vice chairman, who shall preside at all meetings of the committee
at which the mayor is not present. No member of the school committee
shall, while a member thereof, hold any other office or position in
the school department the salary or compensation for which is payable
out of the city treasury.
Except as otherwise provided in this charter and subject to
any laws which limit the amount of money that may be appropriated
in any city for school purposes, the school committee, in addition
to the powers and duties conferred and imposed by law on school committees,
may provide, when necessary, temporary accommodations for school purposes,
may make all repairs, the expenditures for which are made from the
regular appropriation for the school department, shall have control
of all school buildings and grounds connected therewith and shall
make all reasonable rules and regulations, consistent with law, for
the management of the public schools of the city and for conducting
the business of the committee.
If a vacancy occurs at any time in the office of school committee
by failure to elect, or otherwise, the city council and the remaining
members of the school committee shall meet in joint convention, which
shall be called by the city clerk forthwith, and elect a suitable
person to fill the vacancy until the first Sunday in January following
the next regular municipal election; and, if there would be a vacancy
on said first Sunday, it shall be filled at such regular municipal
election for the balance of the unexpired term. The mayor, if present,
shall preside at the convention.
All meetings of the school committee shall be open to the press
and to the public, except as otherwise authorized by section twenty-three
A and twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine of the General Laws. The
vote in any particular measure taken in open session shall be recorded
by roll call vote when requested by two (2) members. All votes taken
in executive session shall be recorded by roll call vote.
The school committee shall elect a superintendent of schools
annually, except as provided in section forty-one of chapter seventy-one
of the General Laws, and may under chapter thirty-one of the General
Laws appoint, suspend, or remove at pleasures such subordinate officers
or assistants, including janitors of school buildings, as it may deem
necessary for the proper discharge of its duties and the conduct of
its business; it shall define their terms of service and their duties
and shall fix their compensation.
No site for a school building shall be acquired by the city
unless the approval of the school committee is first obtained. No
plans for the construction of or alterations in a school building
shall be accepted, and no work shall begin on the construction or
alteration of a school building, except with the approval of the school
committee and the mayor. The mayor shall notify the school committee
in writing prior to or at the time of each change in plans after work
is begun. This section shall not require such approval for the making
of ordinary repairs.
