Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
State orders Southwick schools to take ‘corrective actions’ after ‘mock slave auction’ last year
State officials found that the district failed to comply with the Civil Rights Act "because the school knew, or should have known, of a hostile environment based on race."
State education officials ordered the Southwick-Tolland-Granville school district to take a series of corrective actions following an investigation into incidents of racist bullying that occurred there last year. This included a mock “slave auction” on the social media platform Snapchat.
News of the auction and the associated bullying caused an uproar last year. Civil rights groups filed lawsuits, Attorney General Andrea Campbell stepped in to work with the district on an action plan, and six juveniles faced criminal charges.
About a year after receiving a complaint, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released a 17-page “letter of finding.” It details DESE’s investigation into the matter and outlines actions that the district needs to take in the future. A redacted version was made available to Boston.com.
Advertisement:
DESE determined that the district failed to comply with Title VI Of The Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
School officials “knew, or should have known, of a hostile environment based on race,” according to the letter, issued by DESE’s Problem Resolution System Office.
The corrective actions ordered by DESE involve revisions to the district’s bullying policies and measures to educate the school community of those revisions by April 4.
The district’s bullying policy dictates that school leaders must promptly contact the parents or guardians of a student who was involved in an alleged bullying incident only after receiving a “viable” report. DESE ordered the district to remove the word “viable” to align with state regulations.
Advertisement:
DESE also found that the district’s “Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan” and its “Anti-Bullying Policy and Procedures” give contradicting timelines about how long school officials should take to conclude their investigations into bullying incidents. One says this should not exceed 15 school days, while the other says that investigations should be completed in 14 days. State officials ordered that these be revised so the timelines align.
Superintendent Jennifer Willard said that DESE conducted a “thorough” investigation and that the district has complied with the corrective actions already.
“The DESE investigation confirmed that the District followed all applicable laws and procedures in addressing the February 2024 incident. While the findings recognized that the District responded with urgency and took disciplinary and educational measures to address the matter, we also recognize that there is always room for growth and improvement,” Willard said in a statement to Boston.com.
Campbell’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
DESE’s timeline
The bullying incidents involved eighth-graders at Southwick Regional School in Southwick, officials said last year. Specific dates and other pieces of identifying information were redacted from the DESE letter before it was made public. Skyla Lopez, a Black student, was the subject of the bullying, according to a lawsuit she and her mother filed last year.
Advertisement:
DESE investigated three incidents, two of which occurred in 2023 and preceded the “racist mock auction.”
First, Lopez reported that a classmate used a “racial epithet” when greeting her. She told school leaders that she did not want them to get in trouble, but instead sought support on how to talk to him about the incident. She did not report feeling bullied or harassed.
The assistant principal met with the offending student and contacted his parents. He was educated on the history of the epithet, which included readings from Frederick Douglass. The two students were given the chance to address each other directly, which they did.
Later in 2023, Lopez came to Southwick school officials and said that a different classmate slammed a computer closed and said a racial epithet in “apparent frustration.”
The student who slammed the computer closed “stated that he did not know why he used the word to express his frustration. He stated that he didn’t even think about it until he was saying it,” according to the letter. School officials took a “restorative justice approach” similar to the first incident.
A parent of Lopez expressed concern to school officials and said that “education on a larger scale” was necessary. The assistant principal agreed, and administrators later met to discuss the need for “an alternative approach” if any more incidents took place. “Peer education” sessions were scheduled, and the school counselor provided regular check-ins with the student.
Advertisement:
In the lawsuit filed last year, Lopez and her mother accused school officials of ignoring an “alarming, months-long campaign of racist bullying and harassment” even before the Snapchat incident. They mentioned an incident involving an apparently racist comment about Lopez’s hair in January 2024.
In February 2024, Lopez woke up one morning to see that she had been added, then removed, from a group chat on Snapchat. At school that morning, a classmate told her that other students were “saying they would bid” on her for “$2, $4, etc.”
Southwick school leaders began an investigation immediately, according to DESE. They reviewed images of the group chat and contacted the families of the students who had allegedly been involved in it. The district eventually concluded its investigation and determined that the messages directed at Lopez “caused emotional harm,” placed her “in a reasonable fear of harm,” “created a hostile environment at school,” infringed on her rights, and “substantially disrupted” the school’s operations. All of this amounted to racist bullying.
The DESE letter goes on to detail the various communications that subsequently occurred between Lopez’s family, the district, and others.
Lopez and her family took issue with the district’s “anemic, weak, and ineffective” responses to the bullying, pointing to a “safety plan” for Lopez that “singled her out and caused her to be ostracized further by treating her differently from her peers,” according to the lawsuit.
Advertisement:
Last spring, the district took various steps to promote inclusion and education about racism, according to the letter. This included multiple workshops, extra counseling services, a partnership with Northeastern University on combating hate, collaboration with Campbell’s office, and the implementation of a new “anti-bias curriculum.”
DESE found that the district’s response to the incidents complied with state anti-bullying laws.
“As we stated at the time of the incident, we take all reports of discrimination, bullying, and harassment seriously and will continue to implement measures that foster an inclusive and respectful school community,” Willard said. “Moving forward, we are committed to strengthening our policies, increasing staff training on racial equity, and enhancing student education on diversity, inclusion, and belonging through our partnerships with Northeastern University, William James College, PACT (Promoting Acceptance and Compassion Together, a community action group) and the Attorney General’s office.”
The redacted DESE letter can be read here:
Redacted 10863 Southwick LOF-CAP 1-17-25 Final by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com