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Investigators find additional cases of racism that Boston Latin administrators didn't adequately address
By adamg on Wed, 08/03/2016 - 3:37pm
BPS investigators say they found several new instances of Boston Latin School failing to adequately respond to "alleged bias-based incidents" - in addition to the one previously reported instance for which the school headmaster received a two-day suspension.
The BPS Office of Equity today released a summary of its investigation into racism at the nation's oldest public school before January of this year - when black students sparked investigations at the local and federal level into the school.
The Office of Equity examined a total of 115 reports of bias-based conduct at BLS, including 91 complaints describing 81 separate alleged incidents that were documented during a Jan. 22, 2016, meeting held by the BLS student organization, Black Leaders Aspiring for Change and Knowledge (B.L.A.C.K.).
The office says there were six cases in which allegations of bias were strong enough that school administrators failed "to appropriately investigate, document, and/or take steps to prevent recurrences of bias-based conduct."
In total, the Office of Equity found four cases of teachers and seven cases of students acting inappropriately towards other students, its report says.
However, the office, which did not detail any of the cases in its executive summary, said there were several additional cases it could not identify because either the person who reported them did so anonymously or because they did not identify the other person involved. The office lumped these into a total of 31 cases that also included ones in which investigators concluded no actual racism occurred.
The Equity investigation involved interviews with a total of 134 BLS administrators, teachers, staff, students, and parents, and the review of extensive documents, including social media posts, text messages, emails, personnel records, and student disciplinary records.
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| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Executive summary of racism investigation at BLS | 259 KB |
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Comments
114 ????
When they all sat down and were asked write down everything they could think of.
Only a small fraction of these were even deemed actionable.
6 of 11 Administrator cases
4 of 34 teachers not following district policy
7 of 39 student not following policy
33 not investigated
17 actionable out of 114....
the witch hunt continues. the 114 is not the story but the Herald headline makes it
Witch Hunt?
The acceptable standard is ... ZERO STAFF FAILS
Administrators and Headmasters should NOT EVER be engaging in any of this and they should NOT EVER fail to report.
I guess Latin is just toooooooooooooooo Important to Stop Bullying and Race Baiting
Are you kidding?
This is the BPS, what school do you think you will find where all teachers and principals are infallible? And while you're at it, how about letting the rest of us know how life is as a perfect human?
Zero is a goal
But they asked the students write down everything they thought was a incident. Most were never reported before. They were oh investigated after the meeting. This was a fishing expedition. Don't you think if they did the same at by other school they would find similar results ? And yes Latin Scool is that important and why this matters
Never reported before?
What about the headmaster getting a two days suspension? Or did I read that right.
It's called political
Pandering. BLS lost an amazingly intelligent and dedicated educator. It's truly a loss!
Now for this "report" to be relevant
A) What is considered an incident
B) Looking at schools of comparable size, how does BLS compare
Hopefully the full report is a bit more substantive.
"B" is the question
Yes, without comparing these results with another school of similar size, this data is not very valuable. It's like doing research with the sole goal of supporting your hypothesis.
Racial Sterotypes: White Privilege at BLS
While the new report from the diversity consultants hired by BPS says the school must be on guard against reinforcing racial stereotypes, this very same consulting firm was hired by the Office of Equity to subject my child at Boston Latin to a workshop dialogue on "white privilege." If that doesn't reinforce racial stereotypes, I don't know what does. BPS should be teaching our children to see one another as individuals, deserving the same rights and respect as everyone else -- not encouraging more "us vs. them" social divisions, resentment, shame, guilt and self-hatred. It's one thing for a university student to elect to take a course on privilege theory as a sociology major. But workshops on "white" privilege have no place in our public high schools. This is the diversity industry (and it has become a professional industry) run amok.
As a Pale-American
And as somebody whose daughter just graduated BLS, I don't see a problem with this at all. If you think whites don't still have an advantage in the system, well, that is part of the reason to bring up the issue of "white privilege" - because not everybody is treated equally, and, no, it's not whites who are having problems because of it.
Is there a third phase?
It might be helpful to hear if bias was experienced by other groups as well.
I think you answered your own question
Kids are kids, and kids can be cruel. Kids typically bully others because of self confidence issues or for attention. The easiest target is appearance. Bullying another student based of their skin color is no different than bullying based on weight, other than historical intolerance by adults (bullying). Same as sexual preference.
Kids are idiots sometimes regardless of their intellect.
And yes, white kids are bullied because of their skin color too. Or at least I was in BPS. As is every other race of student.
State Law requirements
Last I checked, kids are kids AND state law requires schools to not just sanction such behavior, but to create an environment that PREVENTS such behavior.
That includes everyone from the bus drivers to the lunch ladies and custodians to the headmasters and administrators.
Guess what: that also applies to Boston Latin. Perhaps the focus should be taken off the racism specifically, and aimed at investigating whether the administrators created an environment that prevented bullying (and that includes bullying by teachers and staff) or promoted it.
Too many people appear to take pride in the bullying culture of the place from what I have been reading here. If such a culture does indeed still exist, time to grow up and face the music and obay the laws and quit playing the "we are too special to have to do what other schools do" game.
I don't think you're looking at the BIG
Picture.
Like I said kids are kids and they can suck sometimes.
This is no different than your criticism of vehicle owners. It's something you choose not to participate in and are critical if those that do. (You're judging others based of your practices/ beliefs).
As adults; are bullying tends to be towards those who philosophically differ from us versus physically do. Look at this Bezare election!
It's no different than me calling you fat, were just slightly mature.
Culture at BLS
is not of bullying but of asking for achievement, and yes I am proud of that. No one suggested BLS is above the law, i have suggested that BPS went looking for problems and dug up anything that they could. Sorry but i think that any BPS school would fare poorly under such circumstances.
I wonder
Equity used to have a different meaning when I was a kid. Back then it meant "the quality of being fair or impartial."
Do you think that the best way to determine if the racial climate of a school is wholesome, welcomes all students of all races and backgrounds, and supports the participation of all students, is to call a meeting under a racial group label, and then solicit, at that meeting, reports of slights or abuses committed against that group?
I like your idea better, of including everyone.
Pathetic
Pathetic.
Now What?
If BLS sets the standard for race relations in the Boston Public Schools then the whole system needs to be investigated. How ironic that the office of Equity is located adjacent to Dudley bus terminal which has had several major fights and near riots between high school students and Vision's office is located across from Fields Corner station where Asian students have been robbed and beaten and by other students. School starts in two months and all students deserve to be safe from racism, robbery,bullying and sexual assault.
Oh, don't you fret
Both BPS and the mayor say they're looking at systemwide standards.
Really
Let me guess, you voted for mumbles every election on his 20 promise to "fix" BPS.
Nopers
I voted for Floon the last time.
But, yes, I think Menino left BPS in far better shape than he found it - along with Payzant - enough so that we entrusted BPS with our daughter's education, a decision that worked out well.
Better?
If you truly believe that then you've never seen a trophy case in a BPS high school. Not BLA or BLS, your average high school.
We used to have competitive science fairs, marching bands, sport teams, ROTC and a higher graduation rate less than twenty years ago.
I went to Westie and was forced to play hockey (wanted to play soccer) because I was white and could skate.
All of the schools plaques and trophies were older than I was at the time.
Competition breads competitiveness which allowed kids to set goals.
I truly am happy it worked out for you
My immediate family has been in Boston for approx. 90 years and my biggest fear buying a house where i grew up is the school system.
The Answer
End this foolish notion of earning things
in life! Open BLS to everybody. Have
on staff a department of micro
aggression. Also a department to
monitor the Internet. Weekly
Meetings with community activists.
That should improve the climate at
the school.