AG's Office Cites 'Toxic Team Culture' In Danvers Hockey Hazing Probe

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Public Schools officials have agreed to review district civil rights policies, introduce additional staff training, provide a curriculum for identifying and preventing bullying and hazing to students and report any future incidents to the state Attorney General's Office as part of the resolution into the state investigation into how the district handled accusations of racist and homophobic hazing within the high school boys hockey program.

The AG's Office acknowledged the district's cooperation in the investigation launched earlier this spring and noted: "that there has been turnover among significant DPSD personnel since the incidents at issue occurred" in making no "factual or legal findings" in the case.

"We thank the AGO for recognizing in their letter the important steps DPS has already taken in response to these incidents," said Co-Acting Superintendents Keith Taverna and Mary Wermers on Monday. "The steps recommended by the AGO directly align with the work that we have been actively focused on since these allegations arose.

"We understand the seriousness and complexity of these issues and pledge to do better."

The accusations of homophobic locker room hazing and use of racist language among boys hockey players during the 2019-2020 season led to a series of internal and external investigations from the district, Danvers police and an independent investigator. While the investigations found no grounds for criminal prosecutions, some parents, school staff and community leaders criticized the district for not being more transparent about exactly what took place and the discipline that followed.

Though the AG's Office's report did not cite the district for any specific "factual or legal finding", AG Maura Healey issued a news release later on Monday charging "DPSD failed to properly respond to several years of bullying and harassment in violation of the state’s Anti-Bullying Law, Student Anti-discrimination Act, and Fair Educational Practices Act."

"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," Healey said in a statement.

The School Committee and former Superintendent Lisa Dana, who went on medical leave in December and recently notified the district of her decision to retire, repeatedly countered that privacy laws prevented them from revealing many of the lurid details of the incidents and the exact nature of the discipline for students and staff involved.

Danvers police said former hockey coach Stephen Baldassare also requested a reassignment within the department from being the school resource officer. He has publicly denied any knowledge of the behavior while it was taking place on the team he coached.

"Players on the hockey team engaged in hazing rituals that involved racist, homophobic, and physically and sexually abusive behavior, which were part of a toxic team culture that developed and persisted because the varsity hockey coach failed to properly supervise the team," Healey's office charged in the statement.

The AG's Office criticized the district for not disciplining students over "racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and misogynistic comments and images posted to the hockey teams' group texts." While the AG's Office said the district viewed these texts at the time as "private, off-campus speech" it argued that the district had the ability — and obligation — to issue discipline because the speech interfered with students' rights at school.

"The AG's Office also concluded that DPSD could have improved its communications with the school community concerning the incidents on the hockey team in order to build trust and maintain an open, supportive, and inclusive educational environment," Healey's statement said.

Under the agreement with the AG's Office, the district will review its existing civil rights policies and procedures and make any necessary changes. It has agreed to submit those changes to the AG's office prior to implementation.

The district will provide administrators, teachers, coaches and staff with "sufficient training snd support to permit them to effectively implement the policies approved by the AGO."

The district will introduce to students programming to develop "the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to prevent and respond to bullying harassment and biased misconduct," with additional training specific to student-athletes.

The district has also agreed to report any hazing, hate or bias incidents involving Danvers High students and the result of any ensuing investigations to the AG's Office.

"We know words must be followed by actions." Taverna and Wermers said. "Over the past several months we have presented many of the steps we have already taken and will take to the School Committee.

"Before the end of the school year, we will have a page on our website dedicated to culture change and will inform (the school community) when the page is active. We look forward to taking additional steps as outlined by the AGO and implementing programs we feel will positively affect culture moving forward."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)