Revere Public School Hosts Community Forum Webinar

In the wake of an alleged sexual assault outside of school and subsequent student protest where 10 percent of the Revere High School student body walked out and staged a protest at City Hall, Revere Public School officials held an emergency community forum webinar Monday night to address some concerns and answer questions.

Again, like the statement sent home to parents, RHS Principal Dr. John Perella did not go into too much detail of the incident but assured the public that it was reported to the proper authorities and protocol was followed once allegations came to light. However, as rumors and some misinformation of the incident began to spread on social media it caused an unfortunate firestorm of backlash and criticism of school staff and administrators–painting a picture that they were not doing enough to address the issue.

“Unfortunately in the vacuum of not knowing what happens or what is happening causes increased anxiety and fear for what is taking place,” said Dr. Perella. “I can share with you as a parent who has kids in school right now I know how that must feel. As I had mentioned earlier, the confidentiality component (in this case) is really challenging. Specific to the accusation we did communicate, as best as we could. I can say that this is a challenging time for our school and there are lots of issues and concerns in our community and in our country. So there are a lot of things that are taking place. Our number one priority is to do as we are doing tonight, to communicate with all of you to share as much information as we’re able to but also to listen to questions. I can acknowledge that we need to do a better job of communicating quickly with as much information as we’re able to.”

RHS Social Worker Magaret Sullivan said that prior to the alleged incident a lot of students were already dealing with a lot of social emotional stressors in their life that can be easily triggered by an alleged sexual assault. However, in the recent incident Sullivan echoed Dr. Perella’s comments that all protocols that exist that deal with a very serious issue like sexual assault were followed.

“In the last two years we’ve moved into a pandemic and that has exacerbated stressors for students,” she said. “Students are now back in school and being asked to be in a normal regular school day. So that’s been quite a challenge. They have heightened anxiety about the uncertainty that’s going on in our society and in their world, as well as the adjustment of being back in school and all the other stressors that are going on. So when these issues come up for students in terms of sexual assault it’s brought to us, the social workers, or if it’s brought to an administrator or teacher and the social workers are brought in to be a support throughout the whole process.”

Perella said there are also situations in which the administrative team and the school counseling team, particularly the school social workers, work in collaboration and in tandem.

“The school social workers are in the role of supporting the students and are often doing outreach to the individual families about the needs of students in these situations,” he said. “Whereas the administrator that works with that students at different grade levels is the one that often takes the lead in the investigative piece and connect some of the different guidelines that are set by the state by the federal government in terms of how different scenarios are investigated, how they’re connected with different outside agencies–whether that’s Revere Police, the department of children’s families, or the other agencies that the school has an ongoing relationships with. The Assistant Principal for the class in a school is very often, when situations like this arise, working very closely with a school social worker for that student, and we are communicating with that person to make sure that the student has support in these situations and kind of make sure that our responses are appropriate to our role and that the school is address the needs of students when different situations arise.”

Going back to a point that Dr. Perella made earlier in the webinar, Revere Superintendent Dr. Dianne Kelly said administrators are now ‘decision makers’ when it comes to situations like sexual assault whether on or off school property.

“We immediately involve the authorities because they are the experts who know how to work with any sexual assault victim,” said Dr. Kelly. “One thing I’ll say is the Revere Police has a great group of officers who specialize in this area. And even though they are not school resource officers, they’ve been hugely helpful. When a student discloses that they’ve been sexually assaulted, they come in and they know how to do forensic investigations and really work with the students to make sure they’re safe and protected–especially if it’s a student who’s under 18.”

In the end Dr. Perella said, “We have to find a way to thread the need to support confidentiality and the sensitivity on many of the topics we’re talking about, as well as continuously share and engage the community so they know what’s happening in the school. And that’s a real challenge for all schools and one of the things that we are dedicating ourselves to right now and throughout the rest of the school year and moving forward is to further engage with all of you and to continue to have these conversations and address specific concerns that are in the community.”