I’ll have to disagree. Those are just the ones you’ve heard about now. Sadly I’m quite certain that your town (wherever it is) has plenty of risk of sex offenses against children because they all do. Better to realize and attempt to educate than to be lulled into a false sense of security that other schools are safe. They aren’t. Nor are other churches. Nor youth sports. Nor drama, art, or any other youth activities. The crimes are isolated but they occur in every single town. Most kids will be safe but all should know the risk
There are HUGE differences between the Catholic Church scandals and these boarding school stories. The Catholic Church is a monolithic hierarchical organization where key policies (eg an all male celibate priesthood) derive from the very top. Boarding schools are totally independent organizations that can and do set their own rules. There are schools that have gone after these issues aggressively and proactively for years. A few are just awaking now to the seriousness of these abuses.
Read the report. The abusers went from Choate to private day schools, colleges and public schools – only occasionally to other boarding schools. This not a boarding school only problem. Boarding schools will just have to work extra hard to set appropriate rules and policies, and to show that they will do their due diligence in every circumstance.
Well said, @ApreVerite
@prepschoolhopes The BG did do an investigation, this is almost a year old.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/06/private-schools-painful-secrets/
Video segment from PBS News Hour with Spotlight reporter from Boston Globe and an attorney specializing in sexual abuse cases:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/prep-school-choate-owns-decades-abuse-allegations/
Those of you with kids at Choate or who will be attending next year: I understand your desire to reconcile this. I really do. I would be looking at the bright side too if my child was newly accepted there. These kids have earned their spots and it stinks that they have to have the experience tarnished by this scandal.
But…
Let’s get a couple of things straight.
In no way should any school be “commended” for how they handled this. These rapists went on to teach and lead at multiple schools, putting kids at risk. Choate had an obligation to report these predatory crimes to law enforcement and to ensure the faculty were prevented from working with minors in the future (within the bounds of the law).
To condone this behavior is abhorrent to me. I would be crushed if I learned about this lengthy history of abuse at Andover. (And yes I am aware that there was a predator working in the health center for years there).
I am planning to call admissions and ask exactly how they handle this issue.
I have boys. Athletic, large for their age boys. I’m not worried about them as much as I am about all of the students.
I think it’s important to recognize the continued value of the school while still holding them accountable for negligence in handling this matter. Imagine that was your daughter in the pool in Costa Rica! Just not ok.
Additionally, I think we need to be more realistic about boarding schools vs day schools. These faculty live IN the dorms with our kids and are in positions of power and influence. Of COURSE it is easier for them to prey on kids. In public schools, similar things can and do happen, but the interaction between adults and kids at boarding schools is much more frequent and intimate.
Do folks really believe “it happens everywhere”??
I think the more we, as parents, are aware of the risks and the unique situations kids at boarding schools are placed in, the better position we are in to advocate for them.
@Janwel AMEN! Unreal!
Sexual abuse and scandals isn’t limited to prep schools and catholic churches. Wherever you have kids, you’ll find pedophiles. You can’t avoid it by avoiding prep schools and church. Case in point, the world of elite gymnastics and the USAG, where the doctor molested many elite athletes over a period of time. It’s everywhere.
@bc12345 @Janwel Sorry, I took out my post. Go ahead. @bc12345 I read your post in haste and you did have some good advice.
I don’t have kids at Choate (or any other boarding school) but I did read the report, and the majority of incidents highlighted occurred over 30 years ago, and some over 50 years ago. Still wrong, but not the wrongdoing of the current administration. There is only a handful of events of varying seriousness since 2010, which probably equals the same percentage in your town’s local school, or is close to it. Choate’s investigator was thorough, which was good, as it allows readers to judge for themselves the severity of the incidents and the responses thereto. While all of the alleged contact was wrong and improper under Connecticut state law regarding teacher-student contact, IMO the offenses vary greatly in moral depravity. Some are rape; some are prohibited but consensual sexual contact between those over the age of consent.
Don’t confuse commending a corrective and honest response with condoning the original sin that’s being corrected. We WANT to commend institutions for doing the right thing. No institution likes admitting it has dark chapters.
Some organizations evolve quickly and gracefully as times change, while others go kicking and screaming. What’s important is admitting your problem, correcting your problem, not letting it happen again. The thing to look for in any boarding school is whether its leadership team has a real, live system of actively examining itself and putting truth ahead of everything, even when it’s painful. It sounds like Choate made the call to come clean on its own dark chapter, to make amends, and to move forward a better, more self-aware institution. It’s undeniably a wonderful school and I DO commend it for the steps it’s taking during this crisis. Way to go Choate.
I would commend Boston Globe, who goes after these institutions relentlessly, forcing them to launch investigations of their own. If history has taught us anything, it’s that institutions should never try to hide these scandles hoping they would go away unnoticed. Well, they will always come back and bite you. It’s only a matter of time. They are better off escalating and making a big fuss for the first and every such incident. That’s the only way to “come clean” and minimize the chances of these things happening again.
@roycroftmom @ChoatieMom
From the NYT
“Investigators say that for decades, administrators at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut did not comply with a law requiring them to report sexual abuse of minors to state authorities.”
CHRISTOPHER CAPOZZIELLO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
@bc12345: not sure what you’re calling my attention to. I stand by every comment I’ve made on this topic and have nothing more to add. If my comment about commending the current Choate administration for its transparency is what’s giving you heartburn, I stand by that as well. @ThacherParent clarified the distinction between commending the current response and condoning the old behavior perfectly.
Way to go Choate.
Agreed. It is good that they are so upfront about what went wrong and are committed to fixing it going forward. As much as it is sad what likely happened in 1963, or even 1973 or 1983, there really isn’t much to do about it now other than to move forward. Choate seems ready to do so.
not so sure about that - they really had no choice but to begin to become somewhat transparent
NY Times also says the following -
the report was likely to create a safer environment for students. Nonetheless, he said, Choate does not deserve a “pat on the back.” “They did it was because they were forced to,”
Over the last 25 years the school has consulted outside lawyers on at least 20 occasions about accusations of sexual misconduct between teachers and students. But nothing is known about those cases, because Choate’s administration has so far declined to waive its attorney-client privilege.
“They did it was because they were forced to,” Mr. Mones said, noting that The Boston Globe ran a story about abuse at the school in October. “They saw the way the wind was blowing, and they knew they had to get out ahead of it.”
“This didn’t just happen because everyone got together and decided it was the right thing to do. This happened because of publicity,
The report was released days after the deadline for incoming students to sign contracts to attend Choate,
"Paul Mones, a lawyer who represents victims of sexual abuse, said the report was likely to create a safer environment for students. Nonetheless, he said, Choate does not deserve a “pat on the back.”
“They did it was because they were forced to,” Mr. Mones said, noting that The Boston Globe ran a story about abuse at the school in October. “They saw the way the wind was blowing, and they knew they had to get out ahead of it.”"
Source: NYT.
and the most nauseating sentence of all from the NYTimes
Teenage students, it found, often felt that “they could not identify an administrator whom they believed would be sympathetic.”
Way to go Choate??? I think not
A private school, like any organization, will try to keep potentially negative information from the public until the costs of making public disclosure are outweighed by the perceived risks of covering up and handling things “quietly.” There’s nothing particularly noble about these institutions called boarding schools; I think that as parents we tend to ascribe altruism and nobility to them because of our feelings for our kids.
I’m 100% certain that if the winds shift again, they’d go back to covering up and handling things “quietly” in a heartbeat. Nevertheless, I still think that the benefits of boarding school outweigh the detriments for the right kind of kid, but imo parents should never lose sight of the fact that these schools are businesses first and foremost and will always put their own interests before the kids’ interests whenever there is a conflict between the two.
Other schools did similar investigations and reports and many released their findings or took actions at different points in 2016, before Choate even initiated the hiring of the law firm that did the investigation. That’s why I was not shocked by Choate’s report of findings. (For those of you who might have been, have you not been aware of the ongoing investigations by the Boston Globe and the numerous schools themselves?) I’m remain pleased that transparency and change is FINALLY being implemented. I am not going to pat them on the back, however, for being late to the party.