Sexual abuse in private schools is more prevalent than one would expect. At these private schools, kids are living away from home — often for the first time – and truly need the support of their teachers and faculty. As such, they are more vulnerable to sexual abuse. In these situations, where it is not an open school situation like in public schools where parents come and go to drop off their children and attend school functions, the sexual abuse often goes undetected.
Often the sexual misconduct is kept secret and once an allegation becomes known to the school administrators, the issue is dealt with internally and secretly — often not brought to the attention of parents — to ensure that the expensive private schools continue to receive the tuition revenue from the students’ wealthy parents.
Once the abuse is uncovered, it is often found that the administrators tolerated, ignored or covered up the incidences for many years.
At the elite Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school in Wallingford Connecticut, school administrators acknowledged decades of sexual abuse by at least 12 former faculty members dating back to the 1960s.
The same was true at the prestigious private school, Horace Mann in New York City where sexual abuse at the school was ignored throughout the 1970’s.
Sexual abuse in schools became widely publicized a few years ago during the unveiling of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. This scandal fortunately gave other victims of sexual abuse the courage to speak out.
Unfortunately, it is often years after such abuse, that victims come forward. By this time, they are often adults who have had to suffer in silence for many years. The sexual abuse has harmed these victims emotionally for many years and affected their relationships with people into their adulthood.
If you or a loved one has suffered sexual abuse at school, please contact us today.