Meeting Information

2018-20198 Tentative Agendas
School Committee Agendas & Minutes

The School Committee generally holds meetings on Monday evenings, twice per month from September to June at Case House, 89 Wellesley Street, at 7:00 PM.  The next meeting is scheduled to be Monday, October 15, 2018.  All members of the community are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Meeting Procedures

Official business meetings of the School Committee are conducted under a prepared and limited agenda distributed to the Committee a few days ahead of time. Copies of the agenda are made available at our meetings for your use. Tentative agenda items are published in The Town Crier and Westword and are posted on the website.
Listed on the agenda as the Open Forum for Residents, the first ten (10) minutes of this meeting is reserved for public input. Following is the policy of the Committee with respect to public participation:
The School Committee believes that one of its paramount responsibilities is to listen to the citizens it represents and keep itself informed of their opinions and viewpoints on school matters. Therefore, the public shall always be welcome at all official meetings of the School Committee except those designated as executive sessions.

It shall be the policy of the Committee to designate a portion of each meeting as an open forum, thus encouraging community members to bring forth their comments, questions, and concerns.

The chairman shall be responsible for recognizing all speakers, who shall properly identify themselves; for maintaining proper order; and for adhering to time limits. When possible, questions asked by the public will be answered immediately by the chairman or referred to a staff member present for reply;questions requiring investigation shall be referred to the superintendent for consideration and later response.

In response to public input, the School Committee is currently trying some changes from prior meeting procedures. In order to provide additional time for comment beyond the Open Forum, community members may be recognized by the Chairman in the course of its discussions of specific agenda items. It will be the responsibility of the chair to limit, if necessary, the number of speakers and the duration of the comment period.
During both the Open Forum and during subsequent comment periods, the Committee suggests the following guidelines:
  1. Speakers should identify themselves
  2. Remarks should be limited to no more than three (3) minutes
  3. Residents may present written or oral statements. The Committee would appreciate receiving copies of any written statements
  4. If many citizens desire to speak on the same subject, they will be asked to limit their remarks so that other topics can be heard
  5. Other than to obtain answers to questions of a routine nature, citizens should not expect an immediate reply from the Committee since this is a time for citizens to be heard and not for decisions to be made. If the Committee desires to discuss the citizen’s matter of interest further, it may place the matter on the agenda of a future meeting
In addition to its business meetings, the Committee and school administration may offer public forums during the year to discuss general issues of concern or specific predetermined topics. These provide lengthier open sessions at which citizens are invited to interact with the School Committee and administration. The purpose is to promote dialogue and ideas about the school system. No decisions will be made at such sessions. However, the topics discussed will be taken under advisement and may be acted upon at a later date.
The School Committee appreciates your assistance in helping it discharge its duties properly. The Committee would appreciate any comments relative to possible improvements.