Danvers 'School Culture And Climate' Improvement Site Launched

DANVERS, MA — A new page on the Danvers Public Schools' website highlights the work the district has done to improve school climate and culture — as well as the next steps to be taken — following Attorney General Maura Healey's investigation into how the schools handled racist and antisemitic incidents and accusations of homophobic hazing over the past three years.

The AG's office cited a "toxic team culture" in the accusations of high school boys hockey locker room hazing from 2019-2020 and called on the district to review district civil rights policies, introduce additional staff training, and provide a curriculum for identifying and preventing bullying and hazing to students.

As part of that process, Danvers Acting Superintendent Mary Wermers told the Danvers School Committee the district has added a page of responses and future actions to the school website under the Communications tab "Improving School Culture and Climate."

"This page highlights the work we've done over the last months," Wermers said. "Any of these activities are not one and done. They are ongoing and they grow."

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.

The webpage is broken into three sections — "Safe & Supportive Schools and Classrooms," "Improving Athletic Culture" and "Student Voice."

The "Safe & Supportive Schools and Classrooms" tab includes information on identity work, this past winter's student and adult Holocaust Symposium, Anti-Defamation League anti-bias training, family committees on transparency, the creation of a Culturally Responsive Leadership Academy, and the Kindness Mural Project.

The Improving Athletic Culture section includes information on Northeastern Center for Sport in Society training, an MIAA course and summit on diversity, equity and inclusion, and how Danvers High teams held field days to connect with elementary school students.

The Student Voice section includes information on how many different student organizations developed and contributed to anti-bias initiatives.

"These issues are all the more important given our complex, difficult, and ever-changing world," the webpage said in its mission statement. "What we can do and are committed to doing is both sharing what we have done to improve the culture of DPS in general and the Danvers High School's athletic programs more — specifically since December of 2021.

"We know words alone are insufficient — deeds speak louder and better."

(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.)