A report from the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey found that the Danvers Public School District failed in its response to discriminatory behavior among high school athletes.
Healey's office had been investigating how school leaders addressed allegations of troubling behavior on the varsity hockey team at Danvers High School. It said Monday that the school district had "agreed to take significant steps to improve tis ability to prevent, investigate, and address hate and bias incidents, particularly in its athletics program."
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The school district has been embroiled in controversy since last year, when allegations surfaced about racist, homophobic and antisemitic hazing incidents in the locker room.
"Racism, homophobia, and bigotry of any kind have no place in our locker rooms, rinks, or playing fields — we need to create a safe and supportive environment for our students to grow and learn," Healey said in a statement. "With today's resolution, the Danvers Public School District has committed to making needed changes to improve the culture in its schools and athletics program, protect students' rights, and ensure that incidents of hate and bias are never overlooked again."
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More on Danvers High School
The investigation found that Danvers school leaders "struggled to manage certain aspects of overlapping investigations into the hockey team, creating clear challenges with varying results," the attorney general's office said, noting that the district didn't properly discipline students involved.
Danvers Police Sgt. Stephen Baldassare, who was the head hockey coach at the time, resigned from that position. He had remained the supervisor of the town's school resource officers despite calls for his removal by the North Shore chapter of the NAACP.
Tuesday, Healey's office said the Danvers Police Department had agreed to reassign Baldassare.
"We are grateful that the AG's Office proactively investigated this case and negotiated an appropriate resolution," said Natalie Bowers, President of the North Shore NAACP. "We now hope the entire town of Danvers — the school, police department, town hall and individual community members — all take to heart their individual responsibility within it. If we all do our part and sincerely engage in the work, we will ensure Danvers is a place where our youth can sow fond childhood memories instead of receiving scars from trauma. This alone is worth the work."
"The bullying that we're seeing in the schools simply reflects the greater amount of hate speech and scapegoating that we're seeing, particularly in our political environment," said Janson Wu, executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. "It certainly seems as if multiple people dropped the ball in this situation, and the real harm is the students who were impacted, the students who were forced into situations that they should never have to face ever."
Healey's office said the school district would review and revise policies and procedures "necessary to effectively prohibit and address harassment, bullying and biased misconduct." Students and school employees will be given training regarding these issues, as well.
The attorney general's office also said the Danvers Public School District would notify it of any new allegations of "discriminatory bullying, harassment, or other biased misconduct."
"I think the first lesson is that preventing bullying is the best way to address bullying," said Wu. "And the way you do that is by role-modeling mutual respect and empathy."
Keith Taverna and Mary Wermers, the district's acting co-superintendents following the retirement of Superintendent Dr. Lisa Dana last month, said in a statement Monday that it had been cooperating with Healey's investigation and agreed to the changes her office recommended.
"We thank the AGO for recognizing in their letter the important steps DPS has already taken in response to these incidents. The steps recommended by the AGO directly align with the work that we have been actively focused on since these allegations arose," the district said. "We understand the seriousness and complexity of these issues and pledge to do better. We know words must be followed by actions."
Keith Taverna and Mary Wermers, the district's acting co-superintedents following the retirement of Superintendent Dr. Lisa Dana, said in a statement Monday that it had been cooperating with Healey's investigation and agreed to the changes her office recommended.
"We thank the AGO for recognizing in their letter the important steps DPS has already taken in response to these incidents. The steps recommended by the AGO directly align with the work that we have been actively focused on since these allegations arose," the district said. "We understand the seriousness and complexity of these issues and pledge to do better. We know words must be followed by actions."
Taverna and Wermers added that the district's website would have a page "dedicated to culture change" by the end of the school year.
"We look forward to taking additional steps as outlined by the AGO and implementing programs we feel will positively affect culture moving forward," the statement read.
