There shall be established advisory councils to the board in the following areas: school and district accountability and assistance; life management skills; home economics; educational personnel; fine arts education; gifted and talented education; math and science education; racial imbalance; parent and community education and involvement; special education; bilingual education; digital learning; vocational-technical education; violence prevention; adult basic education; global education and comprehensive health education and human service programs. [...]

The advisory council on violence prevention shall consist of twelve members, who shall include one assistant district attorney, one assistant attorney general, two teachers of public schools in the commonwealth, one duly elected member of a school committee in the commonwealth, one school district superintendent in the commonwealth, one principal of a public school in the commonwealth, one police chief and two students enrolled in secondary public schools in the commonwealth. Of the student members, at least one shall have experience with a youth violence prevention program.

Grants may also be awarded to assist school districts in developing comprehensive programs to help prevent violence in schools, from whatever causes, and to promote school safety. The programs shall be designed to meet the following objectives: creating a school environment where students feel safe and that prevents problems from starting; helping students to take the lead in keeping the school safe; ensuring that school personnel have the skills and resources to identify and intervene with at-risk students; equipping students and teachers with the skills needed to avoid conflict and violence; and helping schools and individuals to reconnect with the community and share resources.

(a) As used in this section the term "safe and supportive schools" shall mean schools that foster a safe, positive, healthy and inclusive whole-school learning environment that: (i) enables students to develop positive relationships with adults and peers, regulate their emotions and behavior, achieve academic and non-academic success in school and maintain physical and psychological health and well-being; and (ii) integrates services and aligns initiatives that promote students' behavioral health, including social and emotional learning, bullying prevention, trauma sensitivity, dropout prevention, truancy reduction, children's mental health, foster care and homeless youth education, inclusion of students with disabilities, positive behavioral approaches that reduce suspensions and expulsions and other similar initiatives.