'Great First Step': Danvers Schools Balance Transparency With Privacy On Incidents

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Superintendent Dan Bauer told the School Committee that a greater priority will be placed on acknowledging incidents that occurred and that school officials are acting accordingly — even if the details of those incidents and actions must be kept confidential out of privacy considerations — as part of an updated communications plan the School Committee requested at its last meeting.

Danvers School Committee Chair Gabe Lopes called for a re-examining of communication policies with parents and guardians last month after he said many have voiced frustration with the lack of information shared from the districts after what he called "recent events" in the town.

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Lopes asked Bauer to work with legal counsel to determine how the district could better execute what he called the "delicate dance" between individual privacy and the importance of an informed school community.

"When you deal with situations like this you have very vulnerable situations," Bauer told the School Committee Monday night. "You have families that are on both sides so it's really important that we are timely with our communication. That's an area where I want to make sure we are working with our principals and all of our directors to make sure we are being as transparent as we can but knowing that we have to protect student rights.

"It may not make people happy sometimes with decisions about what we can share and what we can't share. But I think that's an area where we really have to focus on to make sure that even if it's an update that 'we don't have all the information' just to let people know what we're working on it. You have to put yourself in the shoes on the side that your child may be facing discipline or may have been involved in a serious situation. It's very sensitive. It's really on us as a district to make sure we are on top of that and sensitive to that as well."

Bauer said one adjustment — to the extent legally possible — will be to ensure to parents and families involved that the school is taking steps to address incidents and not simply saying they cannot be discussed out of confidentiality concerns.

"It's always difficult when you are on the side where something may have happened to your child," Bauer said. "Or on the side where you want to know all the information. Unfortunately, we can't share the specific items that occurred on the other side of the discipline or actions we've taken. But just really acknowledge, or reassure, that we've taken the appropriate actions to the best of our abilities."

Lopes said he received feedback after the last School Committee from families that were thankful the issue was raised and that the explanations Monday and any adjustments were "a great first step" toward greater communication protocols.

"I think it shows respect and clarity for privacy, the parents, the victims," Lopes said. "And maybe we still have a ways to go. But this is a great first step."

(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.)