MIDDLEBORO — A state grant of $19,000 has funded the formation of a group “to make sure all students feel they’re safe,’’ according to Kevin Avitabile, director of student services for the Middleboro schools.

Middleboro was one of eight school districts in the state to receive Hate Crime Prevention grants to support or expand programs that help educators, staff, administrators and students reduce incidents of bias in schools, according to information provided by the state. 

The money was used to hire a consultant who helped organize a districtwide “common ground’’ group that meets regularly to recognize potentially sensitive word usage and difficult conversations around them and other sensitive issues, Avitabile said.

The subject of hate-related incidents has come up before in Middleboro, he said. In March 2022, the school community reacted with outrage after a swastika was spray-painted on a wall of Middleboro High School.

About a year later, Superintendent Carolyn Lyons spoke out at a School Committee meeting in February 2023 about what she described as an “uptick’’ in the use of racial slurs in the school community.

“There’s no place for words of hate in our school community,’’ Lyons said at a Feb. 2, 2023 School Committee meeting. “Not in our classrooms, not in our hallways, not on our school grounds, not on our playing fields, not in our theaters.’’

Not all hate speech is done with malice, Avitabile said. Some young people may hear certain words in school lyrics and use them casually, not realizing they can be hurtful to others.

This school year, the effort to discourage hate speech and celebrate unity will be extended to a program called LIT, which stands for love, inclusion and trust. Each school building will “celebrate everybody and all students.’’

Avitabile will seek an additional grant to further the effort. The ultimate goal, he said, is to “get kids to understand that we may come from different places, but we’re one community.’’