Overview
During the audit period, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) did not receive any supported 51A or 51B reports from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) as required under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two agencies, effective September 15, 2020. These reports are intended to notify DESE of supported findings of abuse or neglect involving students in publicly funded schools, particularly when the alleged perpetrator may hold or have applied for a Massachusetts educator license. Instead, DESE accepted incomplete spreadsheets without requesting the necessary missing information to determine whether any licensed educator disciplinary actions or licensing investigations were warranted.
Although DESE ultimately received summary data from DCF after the audit period concluded, as further described below, the delay represents a significant departure from established reporting practices. Based on data DESE compiled for us upon our request, we determined that the agency would normally have received between 3 and 18 supported reports per month during the audit period.
A breakdown in communication between DESE and DCF began in February 2020 and continued undetected for 41 months, which included the entire audit period. It was not until July 2023, after the audit period ended, that DCF provided DESE with spreadsheets of data regarding allegations of child abuse and neglect, rather than providing actual 51A and 51B reports. These spreadsheets, which were intended to cover the period from February 2020 through April 2023, were severely limited in scope and missing critical information. Instead of providing full investigative reports, as required by the MOU in question, DCF shared spreadsheets containing only basic administrative data (e.g., the case identification number, the review/screening decision, the investigation decision, and the case worker’s name). The spreadsheets did not include essential information that would have been found in full 51A and 51B reports, including, but not limited to, the following:
- regarding the alleged perpetrators: the names of the alleged perpetrators, their professional role, their educator license status, any history of prior DCF involvement, and sufficient details about the nature of the allegations;
- regarding the involved child: the name, date of birth, age, and address of the child involved; and
- regarding the report: details about the reporter, a clear description of the reported concerns or the reason for the intake, summarized interviews, the names of any individuals contacted, and investigative actions taken.
These omissions rendered the data virtually useless for DESE’s purposes.
In response to our audit, DESE did contact DCF to seek additional details. However, as of the conclusion of our audit work, DESE confirmed that it had not initiated any investigations based on the information DCF provided. As a result, potentially serious and substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect, possibly involving licensed educators, remain unexamined and unaddressed.
Because DESE did not enforce the terms of the MOU effective September 15, 2020, establish reliable data-sharing practices, or follow up on incomplete information, it compromised its duty to investigate supported allegations of abuse or neglect involving licensed educators. As a result, DESE may have risked putting or keeping students in harmful educational settings.
Authoritative Guidance
According to the MOU between DESE and DCF, effective September 15, 2020,
PART A. Supported 51As and Bs in All Publicly Funded Schools and Programs
In support of the agencies’ mutual interest and authority, pursuant to [Section 51B(I) of Chapter 119 of the General Laws] and [Section 4.45 of Title 110 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations], DCF shall provide DESE all 51A and 51B reports supported during the previous month that included an allegation of abuse or neglect of a student enrolled in a publicly-funded school or program, regardless where such abuse or neglect occurred, by any individual (instructional or administrative) that DCF reasonably believes may be licensed by DESE. Such 51A and 51B reports shall be provided on a monthly basis by the last working day of the month after DCF’s determination of abuse or neglect.
DESE shall review these reports and conduct its own investigation to determine whether the individual holds a Massachusetts educator license or has applied for one, and what, if any, action should be taken against the individual’s educator license or application.
Reasons for Issue
DESE did not have a reliable process for tracking, receiving, and following up on reports of supported child abuse and neglect. Instead of using a centralized platform, DESE unofficially relied on receiving emails and ad hoc file transfers from DCF as part of its reporting process during the audit period. This means that there was no official reconciliation process in place to verify that DESE received, reviewed, or acted upon the information DCF sent. This lack of a documented tracking process contributed to the gaps in communication and oversight outlined in this finding.
Recommendations
- DESE should request and obtain from DCF the corresponding 51A and 51B reports associated with the spreadsheets DCF provided in July 2023. DESE should also conduct appropriate investigations into any supported findings of child abuse or neglect involving individuals who may hold or have applied for a Massachusetts educator license and take necessary action when appropriate.
- DESE should implement a centralized process for receiving, tracking, and managing all 51A and 51B reports from DCF. This process should record receipt dates, responsible reviewers, follow-up actions taken, and case statuses.
- DESE should develop and implement procedures to reconcile reports received from DCF with internal records in a timely manner. This would ensure that all required reports are received, reviewed, and appropriately acted upon.
- DESE should work with DCF to revise or reinforce the MOU that was effective starting on September 15, 2020 in order to establish clear expectations regarding the format and content of report transmissions. This should include a mechanism for escalating concerns when data is missing, delayed, or incomplete.
- DESE should implement a review process to ensure that all required information is included before accepting reports from DCF. Any incomplete reports should be promptly flagged and returned for revision.
Auditee’s Response
DESE’s educational vision includes that students attend safe and supportive schools that tend to their overall wellbeing. One important part of seeing to this vision is investigating supported reports of abuse and neglect brought against individuals who may hold or have applied for Massachusetts educators’ licenses. Reports from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to DESE’s Office of Professional Practices Investigations (OPPI) are one source of information regarding alleged educator misconduct, along with reports from schools, law enforcement, the media, and licensees and applicants themselves.
As the employer of record, public school districts take necessary action when allegations of abuse or neglect arise, including removing educators from classrooms. In addition to providing the required notice to DCF, school administrators conduct internal investigations which can lead to employment actions, including putting an employee on leave or discharge of an employee. Once the district takes employment action—or if an educator resigns under such circumstances—the administrator is required to notify DESE.1 As a result, most educator misconduct allegations that DESE receives come from public school districts. This notice can trigger an OPPI investigation, which may lead to action revoking or suspending a license.
Prior to February 2020 and for the past two years, since August 2023, DCF has been regularly providing monthly reports to DESE of abuse and neglect brought against individuals who may hold or have applied for Massachusetts educators’ licenses and DESE has been investigating such reports upon receipt. Since the period of the audit, DESE has implemented systems to ensure regular receipt and investigation of relevant 51A and 51B reports and has worked cooperatively with DCF to ensure consistent compliance with the terms of the MOU between the agencies. DESE has set up internal monthly alerts to confirm receipt of the prior month’s reports from DCF. If the reports are not received in a timely manner, DESE would reach out to DCF contacts. This has not proven necessary, as DCF has been consistently providing the reports.
OPPI staff also meet monthly specifically to review reports received from DCF. In addition, DESE has created two tracking systems. In the first, DESE compares a spreadsheet listing reports provided by DCF each month with the reports received. DESE has also created a second, more detailed system in which additional information is entered, including information regarding requests for fair hearings for DCF initial supported findings, the employment status of license holders, updates regarding the outcome of DCF investigations, and the status and final resolution of DESE investigations.
Until February 2020, DESE had regularly received paper copies of relevant supported 51A and 51B reports from DCF. Starting in March 2020, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, DESE no longer received these records.2 In July 2023, DCF resumed complying with the terms of the MOU, beginning with the 51A and 51B reports electronically for May and June of 2023. DCF has now provided DESE all of the supported findings of abuse or neglect of a Massachusetts public school student for the period from February 2020 through April 2023. Most of these reports did not involve licensed educators. In those cases, DESE created person of interest (POI) files that will trigger review should these individuals ever apply for an educator license. Thirty-five of the seventy-nine reports from that period involved licensed educators. Of these, DESE had already opened investigations into 13. DESE is reviewing the remaining reports and will take appropriate action.
DESE takes its role of promoting safe and supportive schools seriously, in collaboration with DCF, school districts, law enforcement and other stakeholders. DESE has swiftly undertaken all of the Auditor’s recommendations, reviewed the reports from February 2020 through April 2023, and strengthened internal systems to see that all reports were and continue to be reviewed in a timely manner.
[Footnotes:]
1. The regulations at [Section 7.15(8)(g) of Title 603 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations] require licensed administrators to report to the education Commissioner the dismissal, resignation, or non-renewal of employment of a licensee for reasons that implicate the grounds for limiting a license.
2. It is important to note the disruption in the normal function of state agencies at the beginning of 2020 with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the declaration of a nationwide emergency, and the shift to remote work.
Auditor’s Reply
We are pleased to see that DESE appears to have resumed the regular receipt of supported 51A and 51B reports from DCF and has begun to strengthen its internal systems to track and review these reports in a timely manner. We are also pleased to note that DESE has agreed to implement all of our recommendations. To ensure that these improvements are sustained over time and that the issues identified in this audit do not reoccur, it is critical that DESE institutionalize these changes by embedding them into written policies and procedures and by implementing ongoing oversight and accountability mechanisms.
In its response, DESE stated that 35 of the 79 supported 51B reports filed between February 2020 and April 2023 involved licensed educators, and that 13 of these cases had already resulted in investigations, presumably initiated through sources other than DCF, such as public school districts. However, DESE did not provide information on the status or outcomes of these 13 investigations. Furthermore, because this information was not provided to us during the audit, when we initially requested information such as this, we were unable to validate the claim that investigations were initiated for these cases during the course of our audit. We also note that, according to DESE, it did not investigate 22 of the cases from February 2020 through April 2023 that had supported 51B reports. Given the nature of these cases and the fact that these allegations were supported, it is essential that DESE promptly initiate investigations and take appropriate actions to safeguard students, thereby fulfilling its responsibilities under its MOU with DCF.
Based on its response, DESE has been taking measures to address our concerns regarding this matter. As part of our post-audit review process, we will follow up on this matter in approximately six months.
See Appendix B for more information on program improvements that DESE made and reported to us.
| Date published: | August 26, 2025 |
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