By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Parents continue to be less than satisfied with the School Department’s response to the social media scandal that surfaced at the high school in mid-October.
Based on comments at last night’s School Committee meeting, parents want the School Committee to fully address the issue publicly and provide a plan for keeping students safe in school.
In October, parents were made aware that a male student, a WMHS junior, was alleged to have taken and posted hundreds of sexually explicit and inappropriate photos of female students on the social media site “Discord” along with sexually threatening comments.
After an investigation, the Wakefield Police Department and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office announced on Dec. 3 that no criminal charges would be filed, stating that the actions of the male student “did not meet the standards of violation of criminal law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and none of the photos posted to Discord included sexually explicit material.”
Although student privacy has been cited by school officials with respect to any disciplinary action taken by the high school toward the male student, he has reportedly not returned to school.
However, when informed by the school in mid-November that he would be returning to school on Monday, Nov. 22, parents mobilized and hundreds protested, holding signs outside the high school on several mornings leading up to Nov. 22.
Parents’ outrage boiled over at the Nov. 23 School Committee meeting, where two parents read statements. One of those statements was written and signed by 14 of the female students who described how they felt victimized by the male student’s actions and online postings, as well as by subsequent comments of school officials.
According to the girls’ statement, they were told by school officials that “we needed to be more aware of our surroundings.” They say they were also told by school officials “to make amends with the [male] student” who took and posted the images online.
Parental frustration surfaced again at last night’s School Committee meeting as two more spoke on behalf of families that still want answers and better communication around the school’s handling of the matter.
Holly Forti of Hillcrest Road was the first parent to speak.
“I am before the School Committee to express the continued frustration of many parents and community members about the ongoing failure of leadership from the school administration,” Forti said.
She called it “unfathomable” that parents once again had to implore the School Committee “to look into and address the issues that are ongoing at Wakefield Memorial High School.”
Forti noted that parents had requested that the matter be put on the School Committee’s agenda, but observed that it did not appear to be on last night’s meeting agenda.
“We want answers,” she said. “We want to know the plan that is in place to protect our children, who we entrust the Wakefield Public Schools to keep safe.”
Forti said that parents wanted to hear the School Committee speak publicly about how they plan to protect the safety of children.
“This School Committee works for the people of Wakefield, not the school administration,” she said. She asked that the School Committee provide some assurance to parents regarding the issues at the high school.
“This has gone on long enough,” she concluded.
Another parent, Robert Imbriano of Salem Street, also spoke last night and asked that the School Committee publicly address the ongoing issues at the high school.
He noted that while the news cameras may be gone, “The parents are still here and we are still demanding answers. We are troubled by the lack of communication from the school administration,” he said, and asked that the School Committee step up and provide answers regarding what is being done to ensure the safety of students.
Imbriano talked about the impact that the situation has had on the victims, including the uncertainty of whether they will have to share the same classrooms and hallways with the student who posted the photos of them. He said that some of the girls have had trouble sleeping and others have fallen behind in their studies due to the emotional toll they have experienced.
Despite the fact that no criminal charges will be filed against the male student, Imbriano said that his actions were “extremely inappropriate, dangerous and will have long-lasting effects on the victims.”
School Committee Chair Suzy Veilleux said that “We all continue to struggle” with what happened at the high school. However, she that the School Committee was limited in its jurisdiction as well as by rules governing student privacy.
Veilleux said that School Committee members had met with an attorney, Michael Joyce, last week and were told that they have “no right to know what’s happening with students.”
“We can’t get into the specifics of what happened,” she added. “We are doing our best and our best doesn’t seem like enough.”
Since policy is one area over which the School Committee does have jurisdiction, Veilleux turned to Kevin Piskadlo, chairman of the Policy Subcommittee, to talk about what was being done at the policy level.
Piskadlo said that the subcommittee had met with a representative of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) to do a review of Wakefield Public School policies, specifically those that address bullying, harassment, cell phone use and social media.
He said that MASC was also pulling together social media policies from other school districts for the policy subcommittee to examine.
Piskadlo also reminded School Committee members of a program that MASC offers, whereby they will do a comprehensive audit of all of the district’s policies and make recommendations. The audit is done over o three-year period at a cost of $3,500.
Veilleux said that she planned to sign a contract with MASC today to initiate that audit, provided there were no objections.
School Committee member Ami Wall asked what was being done to improve communications.
Superintendent Doug Lyons said that the School Department was in the process of retaining John Guilfoil Public Relations, a firm that handles PR for a lot of area police and fire departments as well as other municipal entities.
Lyons acknowledged the need for improvement in the area of communications.
“We need to be better,” he said. “We need to be better for our students and we need to be better for families as well.”
