Section 59A. In any town, having a valuation of less than two million five hundred thousand dollars, which is not a member of a superintendency union under the provision of section sixty-one, the school committee shall, subject to the approval of the department, employ a full-time or a part-time superintendent of schools, and shall, subject to like approval, fix his compensation and his duties as provided in section fifty-nine.

Expenses incurred under the provisions of this section shall be reimbursable under chapter seventy.