Danvers School Committee Debates Placing Superintendent On Leave

DANVERS, MA — The Danvers Teachers Association late this week became the latest voices critical of how the district administration and School Committee handled accusations of racist and homophobic hazing within the high school hockey program in recent years.

"Danvers educators were dismayed to learn about the horrific behaviors by some members of the 2019-2020 boys hockey team and are outraged that the leadership of Danvers Public Schools was not forthcoming with us or the community about the seriousness of this racism, homophobia, antisemitism and bullying taking place," the Teachers Association President Kathleen Murphy said in a statement to Patch. "It was disturbing that the community had to learn about these episodes through a news investigation and not through direct communication with the educators in the school system.

"The lack of communication from school district leadership around this issue allowed these hostile behaviors to fester in our schools. The school leadership's secrecy prevented educators from playing an active role in addressing the racism, homophobia, antisemitism and bullying taking place."

A front-page Boston Globe story last weekend revealed accusations that players within the hockey program engaged in locker room rituals that included yelling racial slurs and the use of a sex toy to embarrass players who did not go along with the demands of older teammates.

School Committee member Robin Doherty, who was elected this spring, made a motion that Superintendent of Schools Lisa Dana be placed on administrative leave "while the School Committee can ascertain the best path moving forward" at last week's emotional School Committee meeting. That motion was scheduled to be heard in an executive session of the School Committee this Monday night.

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Longer-tenured School Committee members defended the district's response to the allegations — saying there were three thorough investigations into the accusations and that the district "addressed appropriate personnel and student discipline."

Dana cited new locker room protocols and other support services implemented since the accusations were first made in June 2020, while School Committee members claimed privacy obligations prevented them from discussing the details of the charges publicly.

"If you think that we haven't done anything about this or focused on this for the past year and a half," School Committee Arthur Skarmeas said, "and that we took it in any way lightly, or that we brushed it off, or as some people would like to say 'swept it under the rug' that's a bunch of crap.

"This and the pandemic have been the primary focus of what we've been doing here for the past year and a half."

While then-hockey coach Stephen Baldassare, who was also the high school's resource officer at the time, took a leave of absence last year and eventually was not re-appointed as coach, School Committee Chair Eric Crane indicated the committee was restricted from discussing the coaching staff's employment status publicly as well.

"I know I spoke about the particulars to the extent that I could," Crane said. "We used words like abhorrent. We made clear during our discussions that there were things that could have had racist overtones, homophobic overtones. What we didn't do was give explicit details."

The hockey accusations and the finding of more racist and homophobic graffiti — including two swastikas — in a middle school bathroom at the Holten Richmond School add to a string of racist and hateful incidents within the town in recent years, which school and town administrators condemned in a joint statement this week.

"We are acutely aware that this most recent incident fits into a broader pattern," officials said on Tuesday after detailing the middle school graffiti, "both within our schools and within our broader community that includes allegations of racial profiling at a local business, an apparent noose left outside a local church, an investigation into racist and homophobic behavior last year by student-athletes, a Confederate flag flown in our downtown as part of a political rally and a swastika discovered in the woods behind the middle school.

"We want to be clear in our condemnation of these acts, actions and allegations. Individually, they are ugly, unacceptable and have no place in Danvers or any other community. Collectively, they are proof that there is much work to be done."

Town Administrator Steve Bartha, Crane, Dana and Human Rights and Inclusion Committee Chair Dutrochet Djoko issued the joint statement.

(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.)

More Patch Coverage: MIAA Vows Action Amid Danvers Hockey Abuse Probe, Racism Charges

Danvers Middle School Racist Graffiti: 'It Will Not Be Tolerated'

Danvers Apologizes In Racial Profiling Accusation At Connors Farm

Superintendent: Schools Took 'Appropriate' Action On Accusations