Decades of sexual abuse at elite Connecticut school documented in report

[rooster59]

Decades of sexual abuse at elite Connecticut school documented in report

By Barbara Goldberg

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Students at Choate Rosemary Hall, an elite boarding school in Connecticut, were sexually abused by at least 12 faculty members in incidents that date back to the 1960s, according to a report commissioned by the school and released on Friday.

 

When the school, which includes President John F. Kennedy among its graduates, learned of sexual misconduct involving its faculty, it handled the improprieties internally and quietly rather than reporting them to police, the report said.

 

"We profoundly apologise," Choate said in a statement acknowledging the findings. "The conduct of these adults violated the foundation of our community: the sacred trust between students and the adults charged with their care."

 

The school said it released the report to fulfil its "pledge to be at the forefront of the highest standard of care in preventing and addressing adult sexual misconduct."

 

Choate is the latest in a string of private schools, including St. George's School in Rhode Island and New York City's Horace Mann and Poly Prep schools, that have faced accusations that faculty members have abused students.

 

In one of the incidents at Choate reported in 1999, a Spanish language teacher at the prestigious school raped a 17-year-old female student in a swimming pool during an academic trip abroad, the report said.

 

The board of trustees hired an investigator from the law firm Covington & Burling LLP to carry out the inquiry after former students complained of sexual abuse they had suffered years ago. The latest incident investigated took place in 2010.

 

The Choate report found that the school knew that faculty members engaged in "intimate kissing" and "intimate touching" with male and female students, but reported none of the incidents to police. Teachers were allowed to resign, some with letters of recommendation, and some were allowed to keep their jobs with restrictions on student contact, the report said.

 

Even when a teacher was terminated or resigned because he or she had engaged in sexual misconduct with a student, the rest of the faculty was told little and sometimes nothing about the teacher's departure, the report said.

 

The Spanish teacher in the 1999 incident was fired but then worked at several other Connecticut schools.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-15

[klauskunkel]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"We profoundly apologise," Choate said in a statement acknowledging the findings. "The conduct of these adults violated the foundation of our community: the sacred trust between students and the adults charged with their care."

"However, we refrain from apologizing for our own conduct." 

[boomerangutang]

                  There are such glaring double standards in schools and in religious institutions and government.  The US now has a president who is a self-admitted pussy grabber and makes no apologies for it.  What sort of example does that send to the rest of the country.  The people who voted for Trump, most of whom are Bible Thumpers and gun-huggers, are also (at least) partially responsible for contributing to demise of moral standards in the US.

 

               Let me guess, the people who administer that private school (and others like it) would describe themselves as good Christians.  Yet they shield and cover-up for sexually deviant behavior.

 

                I went to an all-boys Catholic boarding school for one year.  No one tried to abuse me.  I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.   On further thought, I suffered a bit from lesser abuse.  The headmaster (Brother Brown) didn't like my surly attitude and gave me a stern assignment to write the word "niggardly" in five hundred different sentences.   I did it.  He frowned when I handed him the papers.

[hansnl]

42 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

                  There are such glaring double standards in schools and in religious institutions and government.  The US now has a president who is a self-admitted pussy grabber and makes no apologies for it.  What sort of example does that send to the rest of the country.  The people who voted for Trump, most of whom are Bible Thumpers and gun-huggers, are also (at least) partially responsible for contributing to demise of moral standards in the US.

 

               Let me guess, the people who administer that private school (and others like it) would describe themselves as good Christians.  Yet they shield and cover-up for sexually deviant behavior.

 

                I went to an all-boys Catholic boarding school for one year.  No one tried to abuse me.  I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.   On further thought, I suffered a bit from lesser abuse.  The headmaster (Brother Brown) didn't like my surly attitude and gave me a stern assignment to write the word "niggardly" in five hundred different sentences.   I did it.  He frowned when I handed him the papers.

Are you real?

[boomerangutang]

Just now, hansnl said:

Are you real?

No, I'm a cardboard cut-out.  Why do you ask?

[blazes]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

.

 

                I went to an all-boys Catholic boarding school for one year.  No one tried to abuse me.  I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.   On further thought, I suffered a bit from lesser abuse.  The headmaster (Brother Brown) didn't like my surly attitude and gave me a stern assignment to write the word "niggardly" in five hundred different sentences.   I did it.  He frowned when I handed him the papers.

 

Well, Bro Brown certainly succeeded in getting you to write the "n" word. 

[Bill Miller]

I am very sad to hear about this. I attended South Kent School, and Choate was one of our honorable athletic competitors, and we had dances with the young ladies of Rosemary Hall.
This was in the days before their merger so yes, I am a bit old.
Not something you heard very often in the sixties and early seventies. I wish I could say "Because it did not occur", but more likely because, per this report, it was suppressed.
I am happy to say that, as far as I know, this was not the case at my alma mater.

 

[katana]

Quite common. Same kind of thing went on in English boarding schools too eg Caldicott School in Buckinghamshire etc.

[mrwebb8825]

On 4/15/2017 at 9:39 AM, boomerangutang said:

There are such glaring double standards in schools and in religious institutions and government.  The US now has a president who is a self-admitted pussy grabber and makes no apologies for it.  What sort of example does that send to the rest of the country.  The people who voted for Trump, most of whom are Bible Thumpers and gun-huggers, are also (at least) partially responsible for contributing to demise of moral standards in the US.

There are times when people make me wonder about them. Don't take this the wrong way but I'm truly curious; Do you have a life sized poster of President Trump on your wall at home?

I swear, the article could have been about a bag of newborn puppies found on the side of the road abandoned and you'd find some way to make it Trump's fault. :)

Guess it makes me glad that I went to public schools all my life. I was only ever at risk of getting my ass kicked by "jocks" for being a hippie.

The article clearly states that this has been happening at this particular school since the 1960's. If you're going to blame the decline of moral standards of America on someone, then pin it on Kennedy for starting the welfare system in the states instead of finding ways to put people to work.

Don't you think that by telling people it's ok NOT to work, that the government will take care of you, was not really a good move?

"Man" in the metaphysical sense, has been abusing his fellow man for 1,000's of years. America is probably 1 of the most intolerant countries in the world when it comes to abusing young people.