Massachusetts Statutes

Section 37. The school committee in each city and town and each regional school district shall have the power to select and to terminate the superintendent, shall review and approve budgets for public education in the district, and shall establish educational goals and policies f…

Section 37A. School committees of cities and towns and regional district school committees may accept grants or gifts for educational purposes from federal, state, county and municipal governments or agencies thereof, charitable foundations and private corporations and disburse t…

Section 37B. A school committee or a board of trustees of a vocational school may, on a day appointed, which shall be within ninety days of the opening of a school year, enter into a written agreement with any of its employees to purchase or make payments to an individual or grou…

Section 37C. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the commonwealth to encourage all school committees to adopt as educational objectives the promotion of racial balance and the correction of existing racial imbalance in the public schools. The prevention or elimination of ra…

Section 37D. As used in this section, sections thirty-seven C, I, and J, sections one I through one K of chapter fifteen, and section twelve A of chapter seventy-six, the following terms shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings: ''Racial imbalance…

Section 37E. The school committee of a city or town may employ legal counsel in connection with collective bargaining with employee organizations for school employees, and may expend money therefor from the funds appropriated by said city or town for school purposes provided, how…

Section 37F. The school committee of a city or town may employ legal counsel for the general purposes of the committee and may expend money therefor from the funds appropriated by said city or town for school purposes. Said legal counsel shall not be subject to the provisions of …

Section 37G. (a) The power of the school committee or of any teacher or any other employee or agent of the school committee to maintain discipline upon school property shall not include the right to inflict corporal punishment upon any pupil. (b) The provisions of this section sh…

Section 37H. The superintendent of every school district shall publish the district's policies pertaining to the conduct of teachers and students. Said policies shall prohibit the use of any tobacco products within the school buildings, the school facilities or on the school grou…

Section 37I. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of law, including, but not limited to, chapter six hundred forty-five of the acts of nineteen hundred and forty-eight, as amended, the board of education, in this section and section thirty-seven J called the board, may, subjec…

Section 37J. The board of education may, subject to appropriation, reimburse any city, town or regional district for all or part of the cost of providing magnet educational programs within the public schools. Any such reimbursement shall be made only after certification by the bo…

Section 37K. Each school committee may authorize business demonstration projects of an educational nature, to be operated by students as an educational service. Each such project shall be subject to all applicable health, safety and nutritional regulations. Any such project may b…

Section 37L. The school committee of each city, town or regional school district shall inform teachers, administrators, and other professional staff of reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect under section 51A of chapter 119 and the reporting requirements for fires und…

Section 37M. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter forty-one or chapter seventy-one or any other special or general law to the contrary, any city or town which accepts the provisions of this section may consolidate administrative functions, including but not limited to fi…

Section 37N. Each school committee shall establish a policy concerning student travel sponsored by a school that is planned to occur between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m., or that will include an overnight stay away from a student's home. The policy shall address, but not b…

Section 37O. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meaning:- ''Approved private day or residential school'', a school that accepts, through agreement with a school committee, a child requiring spec…

Section 37P. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings: "Chief of police'', the chief of police or the board or officer having control of the police department in a city or town. "Commission''…

Section 37Q. (a) As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Approved private day or residential school'', a school that accepts, through agreement with a school committee, a child requiring spec…

Section 37R. (a) As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''School'', a school administered by a school department of a city or town or regional school district, a county agricultural school, a …

Section 38. No school district shall require that an individual reside within the city, town or regional school district as a condition of promotion, assignment, transfer or continued employment as a school teacher, instructional aide, assistant principal, principal, director, su…

Section 38A. The school committee of a town not in an occupational guidance and placement district may employ a director or directors of occupational guidance and placement, approved by the department prior to his or their appointment, and may fix his or their compensation, and a…

Section 38C. Every such director of occupational guidance and placement shall be deemed to be a regularly appointed teacher in the school system of the town by which he is employed, and shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter relating to teachers.

Section 38D. Two or more towns may, by vote of each, form a district for the purpose of employing a director of occupational guidance and placement, who shall annually be appointed by a joint committee composed of the chairman and secretary of the school committee of each of said…

Section 38F. A director of occupational guidance and placement who accepts any commission, fee, compensation or reward of any kind for obtaining a position for any person shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and upon conviction his office shall immed…

Section 38G. As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings: ''Board'', the board of education established by chapter fifteen. ''Military spouse certificate'', a license to teach that the commissioner of education shall issue to a person who is the …

Section 38H. Every school librarian and school library supervisor or co-ordinator appointed by a school committee shall acquire tenure in the school system of the city or town in which he is employed subject to the provisions of section forty-one, relating to tenure for teachers,…

Section 38I. The school committee of any city or town may, under regulations prescribed by the school committee, reimburse teachers for tuition and fees incurred by such teachers for upgrading skills and improving proficiency.

Section 38K. In cities having a population of over one hundred thousand, the school committee may establish within the school department a bureau of public relations for the purpose of improving public relations between the school department and the community. Said bureau shall b…

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.…