School Committee

Telephone: 781-741-1500

Address: 220 Central Street, Hingham, MA 02043

School Committee
(Established by Mass General Law)

The School Committee derives its authority from Massachusetts General Law and maintains its authority when they serve as a legal body. Members have no authority over school affairs when they act as an individual. The School Committee’s powers and duties consist of the following: the power to select, to evaluate and terminate the Superintendent, to review and approve the school budget, establish educational goals and standards consistent with the law’s requirements, conduct collective bargaining with all school department bargaining units, hire legal counsel for said bargaining and other general purposes and submit an annual report to the town on the state of the schools. The School Committee consists of seven members chosen by ballot from the registered voters of Hingham to staggered terms. Each term is three years which expires at the annual town election with no limit on reelection. Members serve without any compensation.

The School Committee conducts its business in open public meetings, the goal and objectives which include, but are not limited to: (i) establishing and periodically reviewing policies, (ii) assuring that the Superintendent uses competent and conscientious personnel and evaluates their performance in implementing School Committee policies, (iii) adopting budgets which will provide sufficient funds to operate the school system economically and effectively to the extent possible given fiscal constraints, (iv) monitoring the school administration’s execution of established policies and (v) establishing and evaluating annual School Committee performance objectives.

The Committee generally meets every other Monday night and establishes an annual meeting schedule during the month of August. In January, extra meetings are generally held on Thursday nights for budget discussions. In addition, each member is given one or more subcommittee assignments by the School Committee chairperson annually. Each of the six school councils is also assigned a school committee member liaison as well. Meeting schedules, agendas and minutes are posted online, as are current subcommittee assignments.

Persons interested in communicating with the School Committee may:

Send a letter to the School Committee Chair or an individual member, c/o the School Department at 220 Central Street. Letters marked Confidential will be forwarded unopened to the individual.

Send an e-mail to schoolcommittee@hinghamschools.com. A designated school official will receive and print or forward e-mails to the School Committee Chair for sharing and response, as appropriate.