C. Hiring practices and policies
State law: All educational personnel hired by the school district must be appropriately certified for the position in which they are employed, unless the district has requested and received from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education a waiver of the certification requirement. The school committee continues to have authority under the certification statute to "prescribe additional qualifications" for educator positions, beyond basic certification. (G.L. c. 71, [[section]] 38G)
The school committee establishes the educational goals and policies for the school district. (G.L. c. 71, [[section]] 37) The superintendent appoints administrators, principals, staff not assigned to particular schools and athletic coaches. (G.L. c. 71, [[section]][[section]] 59B, 47A) The principal hires all teachers and other personnel assigned to the school, consistent with district personnel policies and budgetary restrictions and subject to the superintendent's approval. (G.L. c. 71, [[section]] 59B)
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recommendations: Since achieving a diverse and highly qualified staff is a sound educational goal, the school committee's policies may include policies on non-discrimination, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, and open posting and advertising of positions. However, except for those positions that by statute are the school committee's responsibility to appoint, decisions on hiring staff are operational decisions that are within the authority of the superintendent and principal.
In our view, the authority to hire staff encompasses not only the employment decision itself, but also the details of the process. This means, for example, that the school committee may adopt a policy that requires broad-based screening committees to interview candidates for employment, but the superintendent and principal are responsible for determining the specifics of the process. In many school districts principals have found it valuable to use the school council as an interview committee for finalists for school-based positions.
The school committee's policy on personnel screening may suggest categories of people who should be included on a screening committee. However, a school committee policy that requires all teacher candidates to be screened or interviewed by a school committee member would, in our opinion, be inconsistent with the Education Reform Act. Principals and superintendents may, at their discretion, choose to invite a school committee member, or any other interested member of the community, to participate in the interview process.
We encourage superintendents to use a selection and interview process that is open to the community when hiring principals and others for positions that are particularly significant. For certain administrative positions of major importance, an open meeting of the school committee could be an appropriate forum for public interviews of the finalists.
In short, the school committee may establish personnel policies that are consistent with the law and do not infringe on the superintendent's and principals' management responsibility with respect to personnel selection. In exercising their hiring authority, superintendents and principals should recognize the benefit to be gained from using a broad-based screening process.