Danvers School Resource Officer To Be Reassigned: Report

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Police Sgt. Stephen Baldassare will be reassigned within the department two years after members of the high school boys hockey team he used to coach were accused of homophobic hazing and using racist language.

The Boston Globe reported that Baldassare requested the reassignment from his role as school resource officer effective at the end of the school year and that Danvers Police Chief James Lovell agreed to fulfill the request.

Baldassare coached the 2019-2020 team that included players who were accused of locker room hazing and using racist slurs — leading to two years of investigations, contentious School Committee meetings and ultimately the resignation of Superintendent Lisa Dana following a lengthy medical leave.

The state Attorney General's Office launched an official probe into the district and town's handling of the accusations.

Baldassare resigned as coach of the hockey program in the months following the accusations of hazing, which he has said he was unaware of at the time, but remained as the department's school resource officer.

The School Committee repeatedly told parents requesting a change in resource officer that the position was under the authority of the police department, and not the School Committee.

The North Shore Chapter of the NAACP recently released a report on the accusations and how they were handled — which included recommending Baldassare's removal from the school resource position as a way to address the "unprocessed racial trauma" within the district and town.

"These disturbing events have had a damaging impact on the Danvers community and our prime concern is repairing the broken trust between our community members and town institutions," NAACP North Shore President Natalie Bowers said in calling out officials for "failing to execute their authority to investigate and to respond to reports of hate in Danvers."

(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.)