Boston, MA
Scathing investigation prompts Boston superintendent to recommend closing ‘failed’ Mission Hill School – The Boston Globe
![Scathing investigation prompts Boston superintendent to recommend closing ‘failed’ Mission Hill School – The Boston Globe Scathing investigation prompts Boston superintendent to recommend closing ‘failed’ Mission Hill School – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/IWyaIsLyQcd5mb20JD4amIVBaLU=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/RE22NZFYXLBYUS5WYIKY2MQ2MQ.jpg)
The findings from the investigation are so damning that BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius proposed to the Faculty Committee Wednesday evening that the town take the extraordinary step of closing the varsity on the finish of the tutorial yr in June.
“As an educator for over 30 years, it’s one of many hardest issues I’ve ever needed to learn,” mentioned Cassellius in an interview, noting that many of the misconduct preceded her tenure. “It will be significant that we’re holding ourselves accountable proper now and validating these households who’ve had ache for a lot of, a few years, and starting the therapeutic course of.”
Cassellius mentioned the report will immediate district reforms, together with larger oversight over autonomous pilot faculties equivalent to Mission Hill to make sure these faculties, which have extra freedom over curriculum and hiring, are following obligatory guidelines.
Investigators mentioned they discovered a “cult-like” local weather on the academically struggling faculty and an intolerance of dissent. Concluding the varsity has “little tradition value saving,” the report served to validate workers and households who had reported incidents of hurt to youngsters and ostracization from the varsity’s management.
The report additionally instructed some faculty workers put their own-self pursuits earlier than that of youngsters, together with through the use of a separate e-mail server and deleting at the least three key worker e-mail accounts whereas the varsity was below investigation.
The investigators discovered, by 65 interviews and a pair of million paperwork, “an image of a failed faculty, one which largely hid behind its autonomous standing and the philosophical beliefs of [its founder and former leaders], typically to the detriment of the Boston Public Faculty college students it served.”
Mayor Michelle Wu mentioned she was “devastated” concerning the abuse.
“Whereas closure isn’t a straightforward determination, on this case, it’s the proper one,” Wu mentioned, vowing to convey “accountability to each degree of the district.”
The report additionally provides to the talk that has swirled across the Mission Hill’s standing since its two co-principals have been positioned on go away in August, with the varsity’s defenders repeatedly testifying at Faculty Committee conferences that the district has destabilized the varsity. (Investigators say they’re nonetheless trying into the e-mail points and who was accountable for which failures.)
“It feels just like the district made this [closure] determination final August and spent this yr discovering the justification,” mentioned Allison Cox, cochair of the varsity’s governing board and a Mission Hill dad or mum. “That’s not to say that there will not be college students who skilled hurt, however there may be an terrible lot of fine at Mission Hill that they’ve refused to acknowledge exists.”
The potential closure of Mission Hill means its roughly 200 college students in kindergarten by eighth grade would want new faculties for September. The district has recognized 400 seats at close by high-quality faculties. The Faculty Committee plans to vote on Might 6 on Cassellius’ advice.
“What number of adults have been asleep on the wheel?” committee member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez requested on the assembly. “Now we have damaged a variety of belief.”
The report revealed that shortcomings of the varsity’s response to the sexual abuse allegations went past the case that made headlines in August. That’s when BPS reached a $650,000 settlement in a lawsuit introduced by 5 Mission Hill households over their six younger youngsters’s stories of repeated sexual abuse by the identical pupil. They contended the varsity did not adequately act, enabling the abuse to proceed.
“My purchasers’ curiosity from the get-go was about having some accountability for what was occurring and the shortage of responsiveness from the administration about their considerations, which weren’t being taken severely,” mentioned Dan Heffernan, the lawyer for the 5 households. “It’s validating that the go well with they introduced has been a catalyst to reform and can hopefully result in systemic modifications.”
Whereas investigators pointed to some institutional failings by BPS, they lay a lot of the blame for the varsity’s issues on a former administrator they labeled “MH Admin 3.” That administrator’s tenure coincided with former principal Ayla Gavins.
Gavins, who not works for BPS, didn’t reply to an e-mail searching for remark.
The administrator, investigators wrote, “cultivated and tolerated a tradition of pervasive indifference to sexual misconduct, bullying and bias-based conduct and towards guidelines, laws and insurance policies, and created a local weather of hostility and intimidation towards dad and mom and workers who questioned or disagreed with that tradition,” undermining pupil security.
Throughout Gavins’s 12-year tenure, which led to summer season 2019, the varsity “hid behind lofty objectives of social justice and social-emotional development for college kids whereas failing to ship primary tutorial and security providers,” the report mentioned.
The report particulars witnesses’ accounts of the principal’s response to the the case of the scholar recognized in court docket data as “A.J.,” who was accused within the households’ lawsuit of inappropriately touching fellow college students and digitally penetrating one from 2014 to 2016. Gavins instructed dad and mom who complained they need to “pull their very own youngsters out,” and that A.J. “had a proper to be” there, the report says. A staffer recalled listening to Gavins say that folks have been “organizing in opposition to” A.J., and different loyal workers additionally voiced considerations that the scholar can be stigmatized and criminalized as a result of he was Black, the report says.
![A school bus outside the Mission Hill School Jamaica Plain in 2021.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/JEk3QNpqddKv14er2s9qIj6VXY0=/960x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/IOTV7IP67T3QFMJE5FFD7NU2XI.jpg)
Mission Hill Faculty data contained solely a handful of incident stories about A.J.’s sexualized conduct, the investigation discovered, whereas inside paperwork, e-mails, notes, and summaries confirmed allegations of sexual misconduct with greater than 30 incidents involving at the least 11 completely different college students.
The college’s dealing with of A.J.’s sexual conduct “exemplify the strain between the Mission Hill Faculty’s public dedication to serving younger college students of coloration and its underlying obligation as a public faculty to guard the well-being of all its college students,” investigators mentioned.
Investigators discovered 102 documented incidents of sexually inappropriate behaviors by college students from September 2013 to February 2021. Of these, solely 45 have been recorded on official incident stories.
In one other occasion of sexual misconduct involving college students, Gavins “vigorously defended” an accused pupil, arguing to a dad or mum that the scholar “couldn’t have meant to sexually assault” somebody as a result of “analysis reveals” that youngsters “can’t have sexual intent,” the report says.
The college additionally did not correctly present special-education providers as a consequence of its philosophy that “every youngster is particular and learns at their very own tempo,” investigators discovered. “This led to failures to diagnose severe studying challenges, equivalent to dyslexia, and to ignore illiteracy in older college students.”
The investigation discovered that the varsity directors’ constant inaction led to persistent bullying, notably towards gender-nonconforming college students. The college’s apply of placing the sufferer and aggressor collectively afterwards to speak ran counter to BPS insurance policies and led to a tradition wherein bullying was normalized, condoned, and unaddressed, the report mentioned.
The college’s cultural issues have endured even since Gavins’s departure, investigators discovered.
“The present instructional local weather of Mission Hill Faculty displays the identical tensions and deleterious cultural values that outlined [Gavins’s] tenure,” the report says, “and allowed troubling patterns of unsafe sexual habits, bullying, and bodily violence to proceed unabated.”
The Nice Divide is an investigative staff that explores instructional inequality in Boston and statewide. Signal as much as obtain our publication, and ship concepts and tricks to thegreatdivide@globe.com.
Naomi Martin will be reached at naomi.martin@globe.com.
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Boston, MA
On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe
![On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe On the front lines of Boston’s Sept. 1 weekend moving chaos – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/RXdiHjvsR-YRssuoWYXfrycNpP4=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/QDP4KTWTRDX27EGFYFUJGKISTI.jpg)
Fisher and Braun are two students moving this weekend, a notorious one in Boston when 70 percent of the city’s leases start on the same day. Trying to move in a cramped city at the same time as thousands of others is exasperating. Even those who aren’t moving feel stressed by the congested traffic and piles of junk on sidewalks.
Adding to the moving confusion is Allston Christmas, an unofficial Boston holiday during which Allston/Brighton students leave their unwanted goods out for people to take. The holiday has grown over the years, expanding well past Allston, and sidewalk piles pop in areas like Fenway, Mission Hill, East Boston, and other neighborhoods with high populations of students.
The holiday has a chaotic yet jovial atmosphere, with students walking the streets hoping to find free home goods or furniture treasure amid piles of junk. Though the city warns against picking up stuff from the street for multiple sanitation reasons, including the spread of bed bugs and the sidewalk piles being ideal for rats.
Other renters prefer listing their odds and ends on Facebook Marketplace.
Northeastern graduate Becca Miller carried her mattress down from her home to the SUV of a buyer she connected with through the online platform. The mattress was one of 13 items Miller sold on the app over the past three days.
Selling the items online was stressful. Miller estimated she talked to around 70 people, many of whom ghosted her or didn’t offer the right deal, before finding buyers for her belongings. She said the process was like having a full-time job.
She was trying to get the belongings sold by her move-out date. Her roommates were already gone, having left the country to study abroad in Indonesia. Miller is scheduled to meet them there in a month for a post-grad opportunity.
![Moving vans along Aberdeen Street took up parking spaces as students across Boston were moving in and out of apartments to get ready for the fall semester.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/23ID3Y77RRIMZFMZPODP34I6ZE.jpg?auth=2b62577605504cf5eee3aafdb651a7f3e43aa5c6e01e37fda3723e7174a4610e&width=1440)
Despite the stress, Miller liked the process of buying and selling used goods. Most of the items in Miller’s apartment were second hand because she and her roommates were environmental studies majors.
“Buying new stuff, I have a block around it,” she said.
For Ian Furst, 28, a project manager of a local biotechnology company, moving from the Fenway area was a family affair. His fiancée’s family; his parents, Andy, 60, and Samantha, 54; and his brother Nate, 27, came to help the couple move out.
Furst lived on the sixth floor of his building, something that wasn’t a huge problem until the elevator broke down. It hasn’t been fixed for 15 months, so his family helped him carry boxes, bags, crates, and bulky items down the stairs.
“We love the neighborhood, Fenway is very much our home, but Jamaica Plain was calling,” he said.
Samantha said that last weekend, when they got a head start on moving, her two sons did 110 flights of stairs each. This weekend, she said, it’s somewhere around 50.
“This sucks,” Nate laughed as he lugged three tote bags of stuff into their minivan before going back up to do it again.
![Forsyth Street in Boston near Northeastern University was a busy scene as students were moving in for the fall semester.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/NGD3STWZONKKVOOAVYVYVB376Y.jpg?auth=914f8f87a2ac4af6be384f3a95854141bb0c54d2928c46e1a5b4a84d2e7c11d8&width=1440)
Furst lived in Brighton in 2019. He bounced around apartments in the area before finding the Fenway spot that he’s currently leaving. His parents live in North Reading, but during their college and young adult years, they also rented apartments in and around Allston and Fenway. They were all familiar with the standstill traffic and double-parked streets that fill up this time every year.
“It’s an adventure,” said Andy, of the busy weekend.
Furst was grateful he had some help on that adventure.
“It takes an army to move out of an apartment on a Sept. 1 timeline,” he said.
Izzy Bryars can be reached at izzy.bryars@globe.com. Follow her @izzybryars.
Boston, MA
Next Weather: WBZ morning forecast for August 31
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Boston, MA
Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)
![Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10) Detroit Tigers rally in Casey Mize’s return, but fall to Boston Red Sox, 7-5 (10)](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/31/PDTF/75021224007-usa-20240830-szo-aa-1-0026-jpg.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4938,2778,x0,y257&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal favorite for 2024 American League Cy Young
“Days of Roar” podcast on Aug. 26, 2024, evaluating Tarik Skubal’s AL Cy Young campaign with Nick Pollack of PitcherList, who explains nasty changeup.
The Detroit Tigers refused to quit.
Still, they were overpowered by big swings from the Boston Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning.
The Tigers lost, 7-5, to the Red Sox on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. A three-run home run in the eighth inning from slugger Kerry Carpenter snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak, but the Tigers — despite forcing extra innings — were unable to complete the comeback.
In the 10th, right-hander reliever Shelby Miller allowed a two-run home run to Ceddanne Rafaela on a two-strike elevated fastball. The next batter, Jarren Duran, hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton, crushing a first-pitch sinker.
Right-hander starter Casey Mize gave up four runs across six innings in his return from the injured list. He hadn’t pitched for the Tigers since June 30 because of a left hamstring strain.
“A little sluggish, a little slow,” said Mize, who completed four rehab starts with Triple-A Toledo. “I think I finished better than I started, but certainly not good enough. I need to be better. Obviously, not good enough.”
The Tigers (68-68) have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak. As a result, the Tigers have slipped to 5½ games out of the final spot in the American League wild-card race, with 26 games remaining in the 2024 season.
As Mize battled, the Tigers were shut out until the eighth inning, when Carpenter hit a three-run home run off Red Sox left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino.
The three runs in the eighth inning were sparked by Andy Ibáñez’s walk and Matt Vierling’s single. Carpenter hasn’t been successful against left-handed pitchers in limited opportunities, but he pushed Bernardino’s first-pitch sinker — located up-and-away — for an opposite-field homer to left field.
It was Carpenter’s first homer off a lefty pitcher in 2024.
“It’s a tough matchup,” Hinch said of Carpenter, who entered Friday’s game hitting .048 (1-for-21) in 24 plate appearances against lefties this season. “He did a good job of hanging in there and taking a good approach.”
After making it a one-run game, the Tigers opened the ninth with Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single off right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen. McKinstry immediately stole second to advance into scoring position. With one out, Jake Rogers smoked a first-pitch cutter at the top of the strike zone for a double to score McKinstry and tie the game at 4-4.
The Tigers had a chance to walk-off the Red Sox, but Riley Greene struck out swinging on Jansen’s cutter way above the strike zone to strand Rogers at third base.
In the top of the 10th, the go-ahead homer from Rafaela snapped Miller’s streak of nine relief appearances without a run. Miller threw three elevated fastballs in a row to Rafaela, who whiffed at the first two before driving the third one to left-center, into the second row of seats.
“I’ll stand by that decision all day,” said Rogers, who called the three fastballs in a row. “Obviously, it’s not the right call. We’d be in a different position if I made a different call. We went up, went up higher and went up even higher. I’m not mad at that one. It sucks to go down there, but it’s obviously the wrong pitch call. I need to be better about that. But it’s impressive, honestly, that he hit a ball like that.”
Greene, who served as the free runner in extra innings, scored in the bottom of the 10th inning on consecutive outs, making it 7-5, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.
[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]
Casey Mize returns
The Tigers fell behind in the first inning.
Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, allowed four runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. He has a 4.36 ERA in 17 starts.
“I thought Casey was good, in his own way,” Hinch said. “He was pretty efficient because they were swinging early. He’s going to be frustrated with the way it ended. From a volume standpoint, it was very positive. I thought he was good at times and also misfired at times.”
In the first, Mize surrendered a leadoff double to Duran on the first pitch of the game. Two batters later, Duran scored on a groundout for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.
The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, soon after another double from Duran. The Red Sox then made it 3-0 with Connor Wong’s double after Mize walked Tyler O’Neill on six pitches in the fourth inning.
He registered three of his four strikeouts in the sixth inning, but with two outs and two strikes, Wong pulled a down-and-away slider for a solo home run, the fourth and final run against Mize.
“I wanted that one to be off the plate,” Mize said. “It catches some plate, but it’s at the bottom rail of the zone. Not a horrible pitch, but in the context of 0-2 and two outs, probably needs to be better, for sure. It was a gut punch of a home run there.”
Mize generated nine whiffs on 40 swings — a 22.5% whiff rate — with four fastballs, one splitter, two sliders and two curveballs. There was a lot of hard contact on the 20 balls in play from the Red Sox.
His fastball averaged 93.9 mph, down 1.7 mph from his average fastball velocity in the 16 starts.
“The velocity has been in line with what the rehab outings have been,” Mize said. “Definitely a little bit down from pre-injury. My body feels great. I think it’s just a little bit of my brain catching up, realizing my legs are OK. It’s going to take a little bit of time to move the exact same way I was pre-injury, but physically, I feel great. I think we’ll get there.”
Before Carp’s homer
Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck carved up the Tigers for most of Friday’s game. He fired six scoreless innings on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts, using 95 pitches.
The Tigers didn’t get a hit against Houck until McKinstry’s leadoff single in the fifth inning.
McKinstry was later thrown out while trying to advance from first to third on Parker Meadows’ single, ending the inning. Hinch wanted to challenge, but umpire Chris Guccione determined Hinch didn’t decide to challenge within his allotted 15 seconds.
“Yeah, we ran out of time,” Hinch said. “The information afterwards, it’s probably a coin flip that it even gets overturned. That’s why he pointed to his watch.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
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