The Education Act of 1993 outlines three key responsibilities for Massachusetts School Committees: establish educational goals and policies for the district, oversee the school district budget, and hire and evaluate the superintendent of schools.
While the School Committee's work is big picture -- setting goals, vision, and policies -- the superintendent oversees personnel, including: hiring and evaluation of staff, day-to-day operations, and the development of procedures and protocols to implement policy.
The School Committee works with the Superintendent; the Superintendent works with the staff. The School Committee is concerned with the end results; the Superintendent is in charge of the methods to achieve the end results. The School Committee monitors progress toward goals; the Superintendent reports on progress for the School Committee.
Both the Superintendent and School Committee advocate on behalf of the Falmouth Public Schools.
How do the School Committee and Superintendent work together?
The School Committee and Superintendent generate a set of mutually agreed-upon Operating Protocols to facilitate understanding of respective roles in a variety of circumstances, identified as a "best practice" for high - performing school committees by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. These Operating Protocols are reviewed annually and whenever there is a change in the committee members or superintendent.
The School Committee's power stems from its actions as a team, such as when a vote is taken by the full committee. Therefore, the ability to work together is crucial to success. Individual members have no power alone, and must abide by Committee votes.