Bullying, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in Boston Public Schools
At a glance
- What: Docket No. 0407, an order for a hearing on Boston Public Schools (BPS) policies, procedures, training, staffing, data systems and accountability for preventing and responding to bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual misconduct, including student-to-student and adult-to-student incidents. Sponsored by Councilor Mejia, who chairs the Education Committee; referred to the committee on February 25, 2026.
- Where it stands: First hearing held October 20, 2026; on October 21 Mejia reported on it to the full Council and confirmed the docket stays in committee (about 3 hours 14 minutes). No vote; the docket stays in committee. Mejia said she will hold a second hearing, start working sessions toward a work plan, and wants a crisis action team and an independent oversight body.
- What's next: A second hearing and working sessions (dates not announced); BPS follow-ups on tutoring for one family and sharing its bullying plan circular; the BPS code of conduct is being revised in its three-year cycle.
Why it is before the Council
- Councilors Murphy and Flynn said a December 2023 Council request for data on sexual misconduct and bullying cases was denied, and that roughly 2,000 reports over about six years became public only after a reporter obtained them from Suffolk Superior Court.
- Mejia cited a school climate survey in which about 18% of students said it was quite or extremely difficult to get help from an adult if bullied, and recalled her June 2022 hearing on the same topic.
- Parents testified to cases they say were mishandled (including alleged staff misconduct, assaults on school buses, and an injured nonverbal student), to retaliation through child welfare (51A) reports and trespass notices, and to a child out of school.
Main concerns raised
- Transparency: release of de-identified incident data, public documentation of investigations and outcomes, and annual public reporting.
- Reporting and response: state law calls for immediate staff reporting and prompt investigation of bullying; speakers said that is not happening in many cases, that bus supervision and trained bus monitors are lacking, and that surveillance footage is deleted before it can be reviewed.
- Retaliation: fear of retaliation (by peers and through 51A reports against advocating parents) deters reporting.
- Staffing and funding: cuts to paraprofessionals, bus monitors and cafeteria staff; one school psychologist for every 686 students versus a recommended 1 to 500 (as cited); a bullying prevention grant that fell sharply after FY25; one counselor for a whole grade at some schools.
- Prevention: restorative justice practices, social-emotional learning, peer leaders, and expanding prevention to athletics and locker rooms.
- Equity: racial disparities in discipline (131 students disciplined for sexual assault between 2013 and 2022, per a news investigation cited by Kim Clay), protection for students with disabilities (IEP team response to bullying), multilingual reporting.
- Student voice: anonymous reporting, a hotline with text and web options, and more publicity for the existing BPS hotline.
BPS response
- Corey McCarthy, Chief of Student Support, described the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan (Superintendent Circular SSS-18): immediate staff reporting, family notice within 24 hours and outcome notice within five school days, trained bullying specialists, a restorative justice practices team and a safe and welcoming schools team, now in year three of a five-to-seven-year rollout.
- Another BPS speaker described concurrent Title IX, code of conduct and Boston Police processes, apologized to families, and said BPS is limited by law in what it can share about individual cases.
- McCarthy proposed expanding prevention beyond classrooms, a 60-day family assurance protocol after substantiated bullying, more student voice and measures of accountability, and offered to join a task force.
- BPS did not directly answer questions about 51A retaliation and gave a non-committal answer on an independent oversight committee.
Proposals on the table
- Task force of residents, parents, teachers and students (Flynn).
- Independent oversight committee not handpicked by BPS (Mejia); crisis action team and working sessions.
- A 90-day coordinated implementation plan with staffing, costs and milestones, and annual public reporting (Tatiana Sophia Gault).
- Measurable standards for prevention and accountability (Kim Clay); an ordinance on school police data (see Police involvement in Boston Public Schools); a city policy based on the federal Dear Colleague Letter on bullying of students with disabilities.
Official minutes record
From the official minutes of the October 21, 2026 City Council meeting, which are the authority on motions and votes; the captions are less exact on tallies.
- Docket No. 0407, the order for a hearing to review prevention and response to bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual misconduct in Boston Public Schools, remains in the Committee on Education. No vote.
Sources
- 2026-10-21 - City Council (captioned recording)
- Minutes, October 21, 2026: https://boston.legistar1.com/boston/meetings/2026/10/14268_M_City_Council_26-10-21_Meeting_Minutes.pdf
- 2026-10-20 - Education Committee
Discussion time
About 177 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-21 - City Council | 8 |
| 2026-10-20 - Education Committee | 169 |
Log
- 2026-10-21 - City Council - Education chair Mejia reported on the October 20 hearing to the full Council and said the docket stays in committee; she outlined proposals for an independent oversight framework, investigation timelines, a de-identified public dashboard and a staffing review, with working sessions to continue. Official minutes: No. 0407 remains in the Education Committee.
- 2026-10-20 - 2026-10-20 - Education Committee - First hearing on Docket No. 0407: councilor openings, a parent and advocate panel, a BPS administration panel, a youth panel and public testimony; BPS apologized and described its plan; no vote, docket kept in committee, second hearing planned.