Boston Students Calling For Resignations After "Cult" Group Operated In BPS

Boston — Several Boston Public Schools students are demanding accountability, after an unlicensed therapy group operated in the school system for more than a decade.

Students called the group therapy sessions held by Youth on Board emotionally abusive and a "cult."

Khymani James, a senior at Boston Latin, resigned from the Boston Student Advisory Council in March to protest the group's continued presence at the schools.

"Kids were coerced into going into a white woman's basement, and sharing deeply traumatic experiences," he said of the group therapy sessions.

James is calling for Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to resign. He and other students also called for accountability for Jenny Sazama, who led the group sessions, at a press conference in Roxbury on Tuesday. Sazama had not returned requests for comment by publication time.

"Children were abused, these are children we're talking about," he said.

Cassellius released a statement saying she was sad and angry about the what happened, but did not comment on the calls for her to resign.