State-Sponsored Tattletales Massachusetts creates a system of decentralized surveillance in public schools

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City Journal

A phenomenon is sweeping many Massachusetts public schools: the “bias incident report.” The inner-ring Boston suburb of Newton (home of Jake Auchincloss, the congressman for the Fourth District) hosts an online portal where a person can report any cases of “hate speech, bias, or discrimination.” Another wealthy suburban district, Acton-Boxborough, lays out a protocol for the reporting and investigation of “all incidents of bias, including prejudice, bigotry, microaggressions and cultural appropriation.” Belmont, Lexington, and Wellesley are among other elite suburbs with these kinds of protocols, though their emergence is not confined to wealthy districts: Boston Public Schools has its own “equity” reporting form.

Creating a system of decentralized educational surveillance, these bias-incident protocols essentially deputize all members of a school community with the responsibility of monitoring behavior and speech. Anyone aware of an alleged “bias incident” may report it. The target or perpetrator of this alleged bias could be a student, staff member, or faculty. Everything from off-color language to physical violence to, as Boston Public Schools puts it, “imitating someone’s cultural norm” could count as an incident. Most of these protocols allow for anonymous reporting. Once a report gets filed, an investigation would begin, which could lead to disciplinary consequences for the alleged perpetrator, as well as possible school-wide initiatives.

Popularized among American colleges and universities, bias-incident protocols have begun to proliferate in Massachusetts public schools, much more so than in neighboring states. Some measures predate 2020, but they have dramatically expanded over the past two years. Public policy may help explain why.