Chapter 71

Section 38M. School committees of cities, towns and regional school districts shall meet at least once every other month, during the months school is in session, with a student advisory committee to consist of five members to be composed of students elected by the student body of…

Section 38N. The school committee of each city, town or regional school district shall hold a public hearing on its proposed annual budget not less than seven days after publication of a notice thereof in a newspaper having general circulation in such city, town or district. Prio…

Section 38O. In any city, town or regional school district which accepts this section, the school committee shall meet at least once every other month with an advisory committee which shall advise said school committee concerning reading, visual aid and all other material pertain…

Section 38P. Every school psychologist and supervisor of school psychologists appointed by a school committee and holding certification as a school psychologist from the department of education shall acquire tenure in the school system of the city, town or district in which he is…

Section 38Q. Every school district in the commonwealth shall adopt and implement a professional development plan for all principals, teachers, other professional staff, paraprofessionals and teacher assistants employed by the district, to include the professional support teams es…

Section 38R. In a manner prescribed by the board of elementary and secondary education, the school committee and superintendent of any city, town or regional school district and the principal or other administrator, by whatever title the position may be known, of a public or priv…

Section 39. No public school committee or official shall inquire concerning, or require or solicit from an applicant for a position in the public schools any information as to, his religious belief, creed or practice, or his political opinions or affiliations; and no appointment …

Section 4. Every town containing, according to the latest federal census, five hundred families or householders, shall, unless specifically exempted by the board of education and under conditions defined by it, maintain a high school, adequately equipped, which shall be kept by a…

Section 40. The compensation of each teacher, except a person in training and except a person employed as a temporary substitute, upon a majority vote of the respective school committee and the appropriating authority or, in the case of a regional school district, upon acceptance…

Section 41. For the purposes of this section, a teacher, school librarian, school adjustment counselor, school nurse, school social worker or school psychologist who has served in the public schools of a school district for the three previous consecutive school years shall be con…

Section 41A. The school superintendent may grant a leave of absence for study or research to any teacher, registered nurse, principal, supervisor, director, school librarian, school business administrator, or assistant superintendent, serving at discretion which would increase hi…

Section 41B. A school superintendent shall grant to a teacher who has been accepted to serve in the Peace Corps of the United States and who is currently in good standing in a public school of the commonwealth a leave of absence for the term of such service. Such leave shall be w…

Section 42. A principal may dismiss or demote any teacher or other person assigned full-time to the school, subject to the review and approval of the superintendent; and subject to the provisions of this section, the superintendent may dismiss any employee of the school district.…

Section 42B. The provisions of this chapter relating to school personnel granted certificates in accordance with section thirty-eight G shall apply to all such school personnel employed by regional school districts. Any such school personnel who have professional teacher status o…

Section 42C. School officials of cities and towns keeping records concerning any teacher or his work shall, at the written request of the teacher, permit the teacher by appointment to inspect the contents of his personnel folder, files, cards and records, and to make copies of su…

Section 42D. The superintendent may suspend any employee of the school district subject to the provisions of this section. The principal of a school may suspend any teacher or other employee assigned to the school subject to the provisions of this section. Any employee shall have…

Section 43. The salary of no teacher employed with professional teacher status in any city or town except Boston shall be reduced without his consent except by a general salary revision affecting equally all teachers of the same salary grade in the town or except in connection wi…

Section 44. No committee shall by rule, regulation, or otherwise, restrict any teacher in, or dismiss him for, exercising his right of suffrage, signing nomination papers, petitioning the general court or appearing before its committees, to the extent that such rights, except vot…

Section 45. No person shall demand or accept from any applicant for the position of teacher in the public schools a fee or other compensation exceeding two dollars, and no additional sum shall be charged to cover expenses or for any other reason, except that further compensation,…

Section 47. The committee may supervise and control all athletic and other organizations composed of public school pupils and bearing the school name or organized in connection therewith. It may directly or through an authorized representative determine under what conditions the …

Section 47A. The superintendent may contract to employ athletic coaches hired under the provisions of section fifty-nine B for periods not in excess of three years. The provisions of section forty-one relative to tenure shall not apply to such athletic coaches, unless they are ot…

Section 48. The principal at each school, subject to the direction of the superintendent, shall, at the expense of the school district, purchase textbooks and other school supplies, and consistent with the district policy, shall loan them to the pupils attending such school free …

Section 48A. School committees shall have authority to organize school safety patrols, consisting of pupils, whose functions shall be to encourage pupils to cross highways at designated crossings and when conditions are safe, to assist drivers of school buses in maintaining safet…

Section 48B. The school committee may make expenditures for the purchase and care of uniforms to be worn by employees whose duties require the preparation, handling and serving of food in connection with the sale of school lunches, or involve the care, maintenance, repair or heat…

Section 49. Pupils in the public schools may, if the committee so votes, purchase from the town, under such regulations as the committee may prescribe, any textbooks which are to be, or have been, used by them in such schools.

Section 49A. At any time after the annual appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year are made by a city or town or by all the member cities and towns of a regional school district, a school committee may order materials, supplies and equipment and may contract for services for th…

Section 4A. Every town which, without having received a specific exemption from the board of education, fails to keep open all schools required to be maintained under sections one and four or fails to provide school facilities under section six for grade nine through twelve, the …

Section 50. A change may be made in the school books used in the public schools by a vote of two thirds of the whole school committee at a meeting thereof, notice of such intended change having been given at a previous meeting.

Section 51. The school committee may, at any national, state, or foreign exposition, make an exhibition showing the character, standing, or work of its public schools.

Section 52. The school committee shall serve without compensation, except that a member of a school committee of a city, town, regional school district or superintendency union may be compensated for his services by a majority vote of the city council in a city having a Plan D or…

Section 53. The school committee shall appoint one or more school physicians and registered nurses, shall assign them to the public schools within its jurisdiction, shall provide them with all proper facilities for the performance of their duties and shall assign one or more phys…

Section 53A. A superintendency district formed and conducted under the provisions of section sixty, or a superintendency union formed and conducted under the provisions of sections sixty-one to sixty-four, inclusive, may employ one or more school physicians and may employ one or …

Section 53B. The towns comprised in a superintendency district or union employing, to the satisfaction of the department, one or more school physicians and registered nurses in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-three A shall be exempt from the provisions of section …

Section 54. Every school physician shall make a prompt examination of all children referred to him as provided in this chapter, and such further examination of teachers, janitors and school buildings as in his opinion the protection of the health of the pupils may require. Every …

Section 54A. A physician employed by a school committee or a person who has completed a full course in emergency medical care as provided in section six of chapter one hundred and eleven C shall be assigned to every interscholastic football game played by any team representing a …

Section 54B. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of public health shall promulgate regulations governing the administration of medications, including psychotropic medications to children in school settings, in accordance with sections 7 and …

Section 54C. (a) Each school district, vocational district, charter school, approved private day or residential school and collaborative school shall provide and maintain at least 1 automated external defibrillator, AED, on site at each school facility where instruction is provid…

Section 55. A child infected, or in a household where a person is infected, with a disease dangerous to the public health as defined in accordance with section six of chapter one hundred and eleven, or in a household exposed to contagion from any such disease in another household…

Section 55A. A child showing signs of ill health or of being infected with a disease dangerous to the public health as defined in accordance with section six of chapter one hundred and eleven shall be sent home immediately, or as soon as safe and proper conveyance can be found, o…

Section 55C. Each teacher and pupil of any school, public or private, shall, while attending school classes in industrial art or vocational shops or laboratories in which caustic or explosive chemicals, hot liquids or solids, hot molten metals, or explosives are used or in which …

Section 55D. (a) Upon the issuance of a musical wind instrument to a student who is permitted to use or borrow the instrument while attending any public or commonwealth charter school or prekindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, the school issuing the instrument shall inform the st…

Section 56. If any child is found to be suffering from any disease or defect, or if any child is found to have any defect or disability requiring treatment, the school committee shall forthwith notify the parent or guardian of such child.

Section 57. The committee, or the board of health in those municipalities where school health services are the responsibility of the board of health, shall cause every child in the public schools, and at the individual request of a parent or guardian of a pupil in a private schoo…

Section 57A. The department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the department of early education and care, shall, subject to appropriation, issue guidelines to assist districts in developing screening procedures or protocols for students that demonstrate …

Section 59. The school committee of a town not in a superintendency union or district shall employ a superintendent of schools and fix his compensation. A superintendent employed under this section or section sixty or sixty-three shall manage the system in a fashion consistent wi…