Danvers, MA – March 5, 2026
Craig J. Anderson, an independent investigator, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that race may have been used as a factor in admissions policies and limited-slot opportunities at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School (ENSATS) in Danvers, Massachusetts. The complaint relies on documentary records compiled through public records and official materials, to be submitted under OCR’s intake procedures. Anderson is requesting OCR require race-neutral admissions and selection standards, Title VI training, and monitoring if the agency finds race or color was used as a factor.
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Massachusetts regulations now require lottery-based admissions for oversubscribed vocational programs for students entering Fall 2026. This complaint concerns ENSATS’ admissions-policy revisions and implementation (including any pre-lottery criteria) and an alleged race-based eligibility criterion in a limited-slot opportunity.
Anderson stated “If access to a public opportunity can hinge on race, that deserves scrutiny. I’m asking OCR to investigate and ensure the process is race-neutral and transparent.”
Key findings include:
- ENSATS participated in a limited-slot program listing “person of color” as an eligibility/qualifying criterion.
- Official planning, meeting, and School Committee materials reference “targeted recruitment” and “goal” of increasing the “percentage of students of color”, raising concern that admissions criteria or decision rules may be linked to race-based outcomes.
- Documents describe a “disproportionality analysis” process that looks at enrollment rates for “Students of Color” and “protected groups”, including a PowerBI dashboard of such data from the Massachusetts Office of College, Career, and Technical Education.
- Title VI prohibits race or color discrimination in federally funded education programs.
Anderson independently assembled and verified materials from ENSATS and its School Committee, as well as materials from partner organizations that ENSATS referenced or participated in, through investigation and a public records request.
