BOSTON, Mass. — Boston city councilors and parents are demanding answers from Boston Public Schools after district records surfaced showing thousands of complaints of sexual misconduct, harassment and bullying involving students over a six-year span.
The records, released only after a three-year court fight over public access, describe more than 2,000 cases of sexual misconduct between students, covering children from kindergarten through high school. The incidents took place in school buildings and on school property, including buses.
The findings took center stage Tuesday when the council’s education committee held a hearing. Several parents told councilors that when they reported abuse or bullying involving their children, the district brushed the concerns aside, and some said they ended up pulling their children out of the system.
Councilor Ed Flynn said the numbers troubled him and called for the district to release the records publicly and for a task force led by the community to take on the problem. Councilor Julia Mejia said the district must go beyond citing new policies and spell out what went wrong, what it will change and how it will measure progress.
In a statement, the district said it takes every report seriously, investigates each one under district policy and federal and state law, and has adopted new reporting and investigation rules for all schools and staff in recent years, including schools with autonomy. A district representative said the records were not hidden but were shielded by federal student privacy law until a court ruled they were not covered.
Mayor Michelle Wu’s office referred questions to the district’s statement.
Section: More Boston MA education news
Filed under: Boston MA Education News
