"What does the School Committee do?"

via Denise Spencer (@DSpencerFSC), current Franklin School Committee Chair

With a little over a month until its time to pull nomination papers (where does time go?), I thought I would once again share "What does the School Committee do?" and "just how much of a time commitment is this?" https://t.co/epya1uEEGL

The School Committee provides oversight & direction to the operation of the District. The committee's role, responsibilities & high level operating procedures are established in the context of Chapter 71, section 37 of the general laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Our primary responsibilities are to approve the budget, establish policies, and hire/evaluate the Superintendent. The implementation and achievement of these goals lies with the Superintendent and the administrative team.

School Committee meets twice a month, however December & July we usually only meet once, for the regular meeting. These run anywhere from 2 - 3 hours (generally). You receive the materials in advance so you have time to thoroughly prepare for each meeting.

The School Committee also has several subcommittees and liaison roles (you can find a full list here: https://franklinps.net/district/school-committee/pages/subcommittees-and-liaisons) and you are required to participate. Each committee/liaison role varies in time commitment.

There are also joint budget subcommittee meetings, town council meetings, finance committee meetings, town events, school events, etc etc that we attend. This is not a small commitment. I am available to answer any questions for folks looking for further information!

TLDR: The role of School Committee is not to run the schools, but rather to establish the policies by which the schools are run & to oversee their maintenance in a broad sense... it is also not a "light lift", it is a lot of work, requires time from family, but is rewarding

Twitter thread started here -> https://twitter.com/DSpencerFSC/status/1673316652019077120

"What does the School Committee do?"