AN ACT RELATIVE TO SAFETY OF SCHOOL SPONSORED TRAVEL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 1B of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the twenty-second paragraph the following paragraph:-
The board shall adopt a model policy concerning student travel sponsored by a school that is planned to occur between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m., or that will include an overnight stay away from a student's home. The model policy shall address, but not be limited to, such issues as safety of transportation and accommodations, cost, including expectations for fundraising by students, time away from school, appropriateness of the trip for the grade level, and the trip approval process. The model policy shall take into account the recommendations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, including its student motorcoach travel safety guide, as well as relevant safety recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies and organizations. The board shall review the model policy and modify it as appropriate at least every 10 years. The board shall communicate the model policy, and any subsequent revisions of it, to each school committee for use by the school committee in adoption of the policy required by section 37N of chapter 71.
SECTION 2. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 37M the following section:-
Section 37N. Each school committee shall establish a policy concerning student travel sponsored by a school that is planned to occur between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m., or that will include an overnight stay away from a student's home. The policy shall address, but not be limited to, such issues as safety of transportation and accommodations, cost, including expectations for fundraising by students, time away from school, appropriateness of the trip for the grade level and the trip approval process. In adopting its policy, the school committee shall consider the model policy drafted by the board of education under section 1B of chapter 69.
SECTION 3. The board of education shall adopt its initial model policy under section 1B of chapter 69 of the General Laws not later than 1 year after the effective date of this act. Each school committee shall establish its initial policy under section 37N of chapter 71 of the General Laws not later than 2 years after the effective date of this act.