Section 53. The school committee shall appoint one or more school physicians and registered nurses, shall assign them to the public schools within its jurisdiction, shall provide them with all proper facilities for the performance of their duties and shall assign one or more physicians to the examination of children who apply for health certificates required by section eighty–seven of chapter one hundred and forty–nine, but in cities where the medical inspection hereinafter prescribed is substantially provided by the board of health, said board shall appoint and assign the school physicians and registered nurses. The department may exempt towns having a valuation of less than one million dollars from so much of this section as relates to school nurses.

A superintendency district formed and conducted under the provisions of section sixty, or a superintendency union formed and conducted under the provisions of sections sixty-one to sixty-four, inclusive, may employ one or more school physicians and may employ one or more school registered nurses; determine the relative amount of service to be rendered by each in each town; fix the compensation of each person so employed; apportion the payment thereof among the several towns; and certify the respective shares to the several town treasurers. A school physician or registered nurse so employed may be removed by a two thirds vote of the full membership of the joint committee. The joint committee of any superintendency union may employ clerical and secretarial help, special teachers and supervisors, fix the compensation of each person so employed and apportion the payment thereof among the several towns; and certify the respective shares to the respective town treasurers.