Passions Soar As Danvers School Committee Talks Hockey Charges

DANVERS, MA — Passionate public comment, defense of a yearlong investigation process, calls for Danvers School Committee members to resign and a motion to place Superintendent of Schools Lisa Dana on administrative leave filled the first two hours of the School Committee's emotional meeting on accusations 0f homophobic hazing and racial taunts within the hockey program Monday night.

School Committee member Robin Doherty, who was elected this past spring nearly a year into the investigations, began the night with a motion that Dana be placed on administrative leave "while the School Committee can ascertain the best path moving forward." The School Committee then went into a brief executive session and determined they will take up the motion, which was seconded, at an executive session scheduled for Nov. 15.

"I do not believe appropriate action or discipline was taken following the independent investigation into the accusation of racism and hazing within our high school hockey program," said School Committee member Alice Campbell, who was also elected this spring well after the initial incident sparking the investigation in June 202o. "It is unacceptable that not a single adult was held accountable. I believe with the lack of real action we failed our students, teachers, parents, caregivers and community members.

"We've been told that these actions do not reflect the core values, mission and vision that we seek for our school system. But, yet, the lack of transparency and actions says otherwise. As a parent, I sit here worried about what else has been hidden from us. We cannot accept no further action."

Dana provided a statement to Patch on the district's behalf earlier Monday that said the district "addressed appropriate personnel and student discipline" following an investigation detailed in a Boston Globe front-page story on Saturday charging the district concealed player locker room rituals within the program that included racial taunts and the use of sex toys to embarrass players who would not adhere to requests from older teammates.

(READ: Superintendent: Schools Took 'Appropriate' Action On Accusations)

School Committee member Arthur Skarmeas also defended the School Committee's and district's response during Monday's meeting — outlining the extensive steps taken to investigate the conduct within the hockey program without stigmatizing both the innocent players and potential victims involved in any incidents.

"If you think that we haven't done anything about this or focused on this for the past year and a half," 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."

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The Globe story said Danvers Police Chief James Lovell investigated the incidents as well as the independent investigator, provided the accuser with an opportunity to press charges — which was declined — and determined the police "ultimately do not have any reason to believe any criminal behavior occurred at this time."

"It bothers me more than anything that people are thinking that we covered up something because the Boston Globe said so," School Committee Chair Eric Crane said. "I know I spoke about the particulars to the extent that I could.

"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."

Crane said things kept out of the public discussion were the names of the students involved, details of the incidents that could have given away the identity of students involved and specific personnel decisions — potentially involving coaches — that he said the School Committee is not allowed to discuss in open meetings.

"That is not fodder for the public," he said. "It's simply not. If that's something that people disagree with you need a change in a place much higher than this."

Stephen Baldassare, a former school resource officer, took a leave of absence as the varsity head coach during the 2019-2020 season and was not rehired when the hockey position was posted the following summer. According to the Globe, he denied any knowledge of the incidents to investigators.

Dana used her time to talk about the additional oversight safeguards, training and support put in place within the high school extracurricular activities as a result of the investigations. First-year Danvers High principal Adam Federico said the school is working to open a greater dialogue about inclusion and diversity.

He said the Globe article was addressed with high school students on Monday and that starting Tuesday students will be given an opportunity to share their feelings in smaller group settings.

Student School Committee representative Lil Montevecchi said the high school's Anti-Discrimination Club has yet to meet this school year because of low interest, but that she hopes this week's discussions will spur a desire for more students to get involved.

(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.)