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Beverly Schools update handbooks to add language on profanity, expand discipline wording
Summary
Beverly Public Schools’ standing Curriculum, Instruction & Student Life committee advanced changes to the district elementary, middle- and high-school handbooks that add explicit language about obscene and defamatory speech, update discipline sections for restorative practice, and modernize references to digital devices and safety protocols.
Beverly Public Schools officials recommended and the Curriculum, Instruction & Student Life committee advanced handbook revisions on June 11 that add explicit language about obscenities and slurs, update discipline sections to reflect restorative practices, and modernize device and safety language.
The proposal inserts a new section defining profanity, obscene language and defamatory slurs and places that language in the discipline sections of the elementary, middle and high school handbooks. Assistant Superintendent Dorothy Flaherty said the change aims to “help deter some of the language that our schools are experiencing.”
Committee members and building leaders described several linked edits: removing out-of-date references (for example paper emergency cards), updating device and website language for 2025, replacing “single-stall bathroom” wording with “gender-neutral bathroom,” and aligning disciplinary guidance with the district’s restorative-practices work. Principals said the digital-device language was tightened to reflect last year’s cell-phone policy changes and to allow consistent enforcement.
School leaders also described safety and crisis protocol updates. Beverly Middle School Principal Mark Thomas said the district replaced ALICE terminology with a more descriptive “hold, secure, lockdown, evacuate and shelter” protocol — locally referred to in the meeting as the “I love you guys” protocol — which administrators said students found clearer.
The committee voted in favor of forwarding the handbook package to the full school committee for approval. Committee discussion emphasized that the handbook changes are districtwide recommendations that will be adopted digitally and can be updated in “real time” rather than waiting for annual reprints.
Officials said the updates are intended to support consistent school-level practices while preserving principals’ ability to adapt discipline approaches to a building’s student population. Flaherty and building principals said more communication to families will accompany the new handbooks in the fall.
