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For three years, the Boston Public Schools fought in court to keep records of student-on-student sexual misconduct out of public view. When a freelance reporter finally obtained them, the documents revealed more than 2,000 cases over a six-year period—a volume of complaints the district had never publicly disclosed.
The records, spanning the 2018-19 and 2023-24 school years, were released following a public records lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court. The reporter, Colman M. Herman, requested records related to student misconduct under the Massachusetts Public Records Law. The district initially produced heavily redacted spreadsheets, arguing that federal and state student privacy laws required the redactions. A judge later denied the district’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the redactions had rendered the documents “virtually devoid of accessible information”.
The final release contained 2,015 reports of student-on-student sexual misconduct. The reports include graphic, verbatim descriptions of incidents involving K-12 students, occurring on school property, on buses, and in some cases, off campus.
What the Records Document
The cases described in the records range in severity and age. They include:
- Elementary school incidents: One report describes three first-grade students found naked in a bathroom, with an investigation determining that “two male students may have penetrated the female student”.
- Middle school coercion: An 11-year-old girl reported that a classmate touched her inappropriately throughout sixth grade, including an incident in which he pushed her head into his lap and forced oral sex.
- Bus and school property incidents: Records indicate misconduct occurred in schools and on school buses, including requests for oral sex between students.
- Same-sex and reverse-gender dynamics: The records also include incidents involving same-sex misconduct and female students coercing male students.
The reporter noted that the actual number of incidents is likely higher. In-person classes were suspended for about a year during the COVID-19 pandemic, and incidents of sexual misconduct are widely understood to be underreported.
The Parent Testimony
At a City Council Education Committee hearing on Tuesday, parents described a pattern of inadequate response from the district—and, in some cases, retaliation when they sought answers.
Monica Murchison told the committee that her child was raped by a BPS staff member during school hours. She said the incident was reported, but the protocol she expected—police being called, a 51A child abuse report being filed, and her being contacted as the parent—did not happen. She said she continued sending her child to school every day until the child had a meltdown. When she eventually learned what had occurred and sought more information, she said the district trespassed her from the school and filed 51A reports against her. She ultimately pulled her daughter out of the school system and left her catering job to homeschool her.
Tia Washington told the committee that her 8-year-old daughter had been physically assaulted and bullied on numerous occasions, and that there was sexual misconduct on her bus two years in a row. “This has a long-lasting impact on the children and the parents,” she said. “We’re not the anomaly. Those of us who are talking today, we are not the exception to the rule. This is happening. It’s very pervasive and concerning”.
Councilor Julia Mejia, who chaired the hearing, cited a survey showing that 18% of student respondents said it was “quite or extremely difficult” to get help from an adult if they were bullied during the past school year.
The District’s Response
BPS administrators testified that they were angered to hear about the ways the district had failed the parents who spoke.
“I also want to personally just say that I’m sorry for their experiences and what they went through because just hearing the testimony just made my blood boil to know that we fell short in some of these situations, and our policies and procedures weren’t effective there,” said Sam DePina, senior deputy superintendent of operations. He said the district is in the process of updating its code of conduct and that its response to reports has “gotten stronger” over the past couple of years.
Councilor Erin Murphy said the district cannot continue to invoke student privacy as a shield against accountability. “BPS cannot keep hiding behind student privacy to avoid accountability,” she said.
The Questions That Remain
The records release and the hearing have surfaced several unresolved questions:
- Why did it take a three-year court battle for the public to learn the scale of student-on-student sexual misconduct in Boston schools?
- What happened to the 2,015 reports after they were filed? The records include one- or two-word descriptions of discipline imposed, but the full outcomes of investigations are not publicly known.
- How many cases were never reported because students or parents feared retaliation, or because the district’s reporting mechanisms were not accessible?
- What changes are being made to ensure that parents who report misconduct are not met with resistance or retaliation?
The district has committed to updating its code of conduct and improving reporting mechanisms. The City Council has called for a public release of the records and a community-led task force to address the issue.
The data does not resolve these questions. It only makes clear that the system designed to protect students failed to do so in thousands of documented cases—and that the public is still waiting for a full accounting of what happened and what has changed.
Closing Question: When a school system fights to keep records of student safety violations out of public view, what does that mean for the families who reported them—and for the trust that is required for schools to function?
Sources
Boston Herald, “Councilors, parents blast hidden sex reports at Boston Public Schools: ‘Swept under the rug’” (October 21, 2026)
CourtListener, “Colman M. Herman v. City of Boston, Boston Public Schools and Mary Skipper” (February 11, 2025)
The People’s Weekly — urban intelligence with a holistic social approach.
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