File:  JB - EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

In recognition of the diversified characteristics and needs of our students and with the keen desire to be responsive to them, the School Committee will make every effort to protect the dignity of the students as individuals.  It also will offer careful consideration and sympathetic understanding of their personal feelings, particularly with reference to their race*, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, active military/veteran status, marital status, familial status, pregnancy, or pregnancy-related condition, homelessness, ancestry, ethnic background, national origin, or any other category protected by state or federal law.

To accomplish this, the Committee and its staff will make every effort to comply with the letter and the spirit of the Massachusetts equal educational opportunities law which prohibits discrimination in public school admissions and programs. 

This will mean that every student will be given equal opportunity in school admission, admissions to courses, course content, support services, and extracurricular and athletic activities.

All implementing provisions issued by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in compliance with this law will be followed.

*race to include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture, hair type, hair length and protective hairstyles.

SOURCE: MASC - Updated 2021

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

Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972

M.G.L. 76:5; 76:16 (Chapter 622 of the Acts of 1971)

603 CMR 26:00

603 CMR 28.00

The McKinney-Vento Act and Title I Part A, as Amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015

Acts of 2022, Chapter 117 - https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2022/Chapter117

CROSS REF.:   AC, Nondiscrimination

NOTE:  The cross reference is to a related statement in this manual.