Education

Boston Public Schools releases new report detailing racial climate at Boston Latin School

The new report included analysis of more than 100 allegations of “bias-based” incidents.

Students leave Boston Latin School at the end of a school day earlier this year. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe, file

By Allison Pohle

August 3, 2016

2 minutes to read

Boston Public Schools released the second phase of its investigation into the racial climate at Boston Latin School Wednesday, after analyzing more than 100 allegations of “bias-based” incidents. The first phase of the investigation was released February 18 of this year, but the most recent investigation revealed new instances where administrators failed to follow district policy in responding to bias-based incidents.

The new report administrators violated policy six times, teachers four times, and students seven times.

“The Office of Equity has thoroughly examined every concern raised by a BLS student or employee since the issues were brought to our attention in January,” Superintendent Tommy Chang said in a statement. “We take every concern regarding possible bias seriously.”

The initial investigation looked into incidents that occurred between November 2014 and January 2016. The latest report examined more than 100 newly reported bias-based incidents dating as far back as 2012, many of which were documented during a January 22, 2016, meeting held with the student organization BLS BLACK.

Two members of BLS BLACK made waves in January when they posted a video criticizing headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta and other administrators for ignoring or not taking seriously complaints of racism. The video launched the first investigation by the Office of Equity, which found that administrators violated school policy in the handling of one of seven reported incidents.

But, in this phase, the Office of Equity examined a total of 115 reports of bias-based conduct at the city’s elite exam school. This included 91 complaints describing 81 separate alleged incidents that were documented during January’s BLS BLACK meeting. A total of 109 people submitted reports of biased-based incidents. Of the people reporting, 24 were black, 11 white, 7 Hispanic, 3 Asian, one self-identified as “other,” and 63 were anonymous.

There were 11 allegations of “insufficient action” by administrators, all of which took place before January. The investigation found six instances in which “an administrator did not follow district policy by failing to appropriately investigate, document, and/or take steps to prevent recurrences of bias-based conduct,” according to the executive summary.

The new investigation analyzed 34 reports in which there was reported bias-based conduct by teachers, and found four cases where “an instructor failed to follow district policy.”

The investigation also looked into 39 incidents in which students were accused of biased conduct, and found seven in which students didn’t follow district policy.

There were 31 other incidents that didn’t result in formal investigations, because they “lacked critical information — such as the identity of the subject or the reporter — or the alleged conduct did not rise to the level of a policy violation,” according to the report.

In response to the incidents, the Office of Equity issued recommendations that included disciplinary action and mandatory training sessions. The recommendations also included adopting district-wide guidelines outlining best practices for classroom discussions around issues of racial, ethnic, and other differences, including how to approach situations where offensive language is used.

The results come after a year filled with turmoil over allegations of racial discrimination at the city’s elite exam school. The allegations caused Teta to resign at the end of the year despite much protest from the rest of the school’s staff.