Public schools have the responsibility to overcome, insofar as possible, any barriers that prevent children from achieving their educational potential. This commitment to the community is affirmed by the School Committee’s declaration of its intent to:

1. Promote the rights and responsibilities of all individuals as set forth in the State and Federal Constitutions, pertinent legislation, and applicable judicial interpretations.


2. Encourage positive experiences in human values for children, youth and adults, all of whom have differing personal and family characteristics and who come from various socioeconomic, racial and ethnic groups.
   
   
3. Work toward a more integrated society and to enlist the support of individuals as well as groups and agencies, both private and governmental, in such an effort.


4. Use all appropriate communication and action techniques to air and redress the grievances of individuals and groups.


5. Carefully consider, in all the decisions made within the school system, the potential benefits or adverse consequences that those decisions might have on the human relations aspects of all segments of the town and broader society.


6. Initiate a process of reviewing policies and practices of the school system in order to achieve to the greatest extent possible the objectives of this statement.

The Committee's policy of nondiscrimination will extend to students, staff, the general public, and individuals with whom it does business. No person shall be excluded from or discriminated against in admission to a public school or in obtaining the advantages, privileges, and courses of study of such public school on account of race, color, age, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability. If someone has a complaint or feels he/she has been discriminated against because of race, color, age, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability, a complaint should be registered with the district’s Title IX compliance officer.

LEGAL REFS.:
Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972
Executive Order 11246, as amended by E.O. 11375
Equal Pay Act, as amended by the Education Amendments of 1972
Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
M.G.L. c.71B:1 et seq. (Chapter 766 of the Acts of 1972)
M.G.L. c.76:5; Amended 1993
M.G.L. c.76:16 (Chapter 622 of the Acts of 1971)
Board of Education Chapter 622 Regulations Pertaining to Access to Equal Educational Opportunity, adopted 6/24/75, as amended 10/24/78
Board of Education 603 CMR 26:00
Board of Education Chapter 766 Regulations, adopted 10/74, as amended through 3/28/78

CROSS REFS.:
ACA- ACE, Subcategories for Nondiscrimination
GBA, Equal Opportunity Employment
JB, Equal Educational Opportunities

Approved by School Committee 12/12/16