Danvers Parent Frustrations Spur Schools Communications Review

DANVERS, MA — Danvers School Committee Chair Gabe Lopes is calling for a re-examining of communication policies with parents and guardians after he said many have voiced frustration with the lack of information shared from the districts after "recent events" in the town.

He said Superintendent Dan Bauer has been asked to look at what types of information can and cannot be shared with the public so the district can better execute what he called the "delicate dance" between individual privacy and the importance of an informed school community.

While Lopes did not elaborate on the "recent events" he was present at an emotionally charged Select Board meeting last month as Danvers Police Chief James Lovell spoke about the department's response to the assault on resident Chris "Ducky" Anderson. While police said in earlier statements that information shared with the public was limited because of the juveniles involved and the ongoing investigation, the District Attorney's Office released a statement on Nov. 22 saying that four teens — including three from Danvers — had been indicted in the assault, along with two other juveniles whose identities could not be shared because they are under 14 years old.

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"I wanted to check in with the superintendent and have a conversation around how we can better communicate not only to the impacted students and parents when particular things happen," Lopes said at Monday night's School Committee meeting, "but also balance that with the level of respect and privacy that is mandated by state law. I think it's a little bit of a delicate dance.

"A personal opinion here: I think we have kind of overcorrected. We're just hearing too many instances of parents sharing frustrations that when they meet with the school there doesn't feel like there is a follow-up. They start to get the impression that incidents or situations are happening within the schools and no one is doing anything about it — which is actually exactly the opposite. But I feel we have to put together a better communication protocol to better inform the parents of the next steps and what's happening when things do happen."

Bauer said communication improvements are an "A No. 1" priority and that he would provide an update at the next School Committee meeting.

Frustrations over the lack of information and details regarding incidents — and the consequences for them — date back five years to state-investigated hockey hazing accusations when the School Committee often claimed confidentiality restrictions for not being able to share more specific information with the public.

"There has always been a difficult balance," said School Committee member Eric Crane, who was the chair of the Committee during the hazing investigations and the ensuing superintendent search, "especially when social media is so powerful now, between what parents want to know and what members of the community want to know, and legally what they can know.

"So this is not new. Hopefully, we'll find that real sweet spot. But I am certainly in favor of looking into anything that will help."

Lopes said the goal of the updated protocols would be: "To better empower our teachers and our principals and any administrator to be able to address these situations so parents can walk away feeling that they are fully informed."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)