AG's 'Call To Action' Targets Hate, Bias In MA High School Sports

DANVERS, MA — While it's hardly unique to a single Massachusetts community, school or sport, there is little doubt that one area where cases of hate, bias and hazing have been on the rise across the state is high school athletic fields and locker rooms.

Weeks after Attorney General Maura Healey's office confirmed it has launched an official probe into how Danvers school, town and police officials handled reports of racist and homophobic hazing within that school's high school boys hockey team in 2019-20, Healey said on Tuesday that it is much more pervasive than one high-profile case in issuing her "Call to Action" to help quell the surging concern.

"Massachusetts is not immune to hate and bias," Healey said. "We've seen an infection of bias and hate make its way into places it should not be. Bullying of fellow students, inappropriate hazing of teammates, racist and antisemitic graffiti or language directed at peers.

"I think that right now that gives us a clear opportunity to address this."

In an hour presentation that was long on statements and short on many actionable specifics, the AG's office and Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association officials did give details of a reporting process member schools must follow on incidents of hate and bias and plans for an upcoming teen symposium and summer conference on the issue.

MIAA Assistant Director Mike Rubin said schools have 24 hours to report an incident involving a sports program to the MIAA and then must follow up with a report on the results of their investigation and "any and all actions that were taken" to address those responsible.

In Danvers, school officials were criticized for their lack of transparency when it came to the details of the hockey accusations and discipline taken against students and the coaches charged with overseeing the locker room. Officials cited privacy laws that prevented them from sharing those details with staff, students, families and the general public.

But one theme in Healey's "Call to Action" forum was the need for both action and accountability when hate and bias occur.

"In taking your actions was your focus on protecting kids?" Billerica Superintendent Tim Piwowar asked. "If there is an incident of hate or bias, and our focus is on protecting kids, we have to share the truth with each other, and our partners in law enforcement when necessary, no matter how uncomfortable it may be in the moment. Shielding the truth in internal reporting is usually about protecting adults, not kids.

"We also need to be clear in our public statements. We know we can not share every detail that the public wants to hear because we have the legal and moral obligation to protect the rights of our students and, in some cases, our staff. But what we can not share in details, we can often share in our tone and our adherence to our processes."

Abby Taylor, the AG's Office Chief of the Civil Rights Division, stressed the need for vigilance of athletic staff and coaches when it comes to looking for possible cases of hate, bias and bullying within high school programs.

"Schools that fail to identify and address problems may be violating a student's civil rights," she noted.

Healey said, as a youth sports coach, she is concerned with adult behavior on the sideline, but that it remains imperative that schools and coaches make sure to the extent possible that the space within a high school athletics program remains safe for all student-athletes regardless of outside influences.

"I believe with the right tools, resources and effort we can do this," she said. "We can build positive and supportive cultures on our teams and in our school communities."

(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.)