Charting the Course: An Orientation Program for New and Veteran School Leaders

The hallmark of an effective school committee is how well its members understand their roles and the issues they need to address in these challenging times.

This training program, developed and presented by the MASC Academy for School Leadership, is designed to introduce new and aspiring school committee members to the Eight Key Components of School Leadership as identified by the MA Legislature in the Acts of 2002, and also to provide veteran members with an update on ever-changing requirements and regulations school committee members should be aware of.

The Charting the Course program has been structured to meet the mandates of the new school committee training legislation requiring that all school committee members newly elected after March 24, 2003 participate in a minimum of eight hours of supervised training covering the topics listed below.

Attendance at this Charting the Course program meets the eight hour orientation requirement for new school committee members (MGL Chapter 71 Sec 36A). This session also includes important changes to the Ethics and Open Meetings Laws relative to all school committee members.

Topics covered include:

• School Finance
• Open Meeting Law
• Public Records Law
• Conflict of Interest Law
• Special Education Law
• Collective Bargaining
• School Leadership Standards & Evaluations
• School Committee Roles & Responsibilities