BishopAccountability.org

Our Immediate Requests of St George’s School

Change.org
December 20, 2015

https://www.change.org/p/st-george-s-school-our-immediate-requests-of-st-george-s-school


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We, the undersigned, insist that St. George’s School take clear and powerful restorative action to assist the many alumni from the school who were sexually assaulted as students at St. George’s. 

Dozens of alumni have come forward since The Boston Globe ran its story, Former student forces R.I. prep school to confront its past, on December 15th, and yet many do not feel safe in recounting their experiences as part of the School’s “independent investigation” or appealing to the victims’ assistance fund set up by the school. This is because the investigation is being undertaken by a law firm that represents the School. The fund is administered by that same firm. And, as a condition for reimbursement from the fund, alumni are required to agree not to tell anyone that St. George’s is paying for their therapy. At the same time, the School gives no assurance that it will uphold the confidentiality of alumni seeking reimbursement.

Many alumni who were abused at SGS by Gibbs and other former employees have contacted us since the Boston Globe story appeared on the front page of Boston Globe on December 15. They have also contacted our lawyers. Almost all of these alumni need clinical help and there are several alumni that are suffering from PTSD, depression or other mental illness and who have expressed thoughts of suicide. SGS has refused to engage in discussions with us on the need to appoint an independent clinician who can provide crisis management counseling, case management and referrals for alumni who require immediate care.

St. George’s “independent” investigation and victims’ assistance fund are inconsistent with the approach taken by virtually all other independent schools in similar situations. When faced with credible allegations of sexual abuse, the majority of those schools have retained independent clinicians to coordinate mental health assistance for alumni and have hired investigators with no prior relationship with the school.

Many alumni who did tell their story to St. George’s prior to December 15th feel devastated and betrayed now that they realize the investigator they had been assured was “independent” is actually the law partner of St. George’s own legal counsel.

People who have experienced sexual assault by someone they know and in an environment that is supposed to protect them are keenly sensitive to betrayal—anything that resembles betrayal or contains the possibility for betrayal.

The way St. George’s has set up its investigation of sexual assaults at the school and its victims' fund replicates dynamics of betrayal that will be extremely difficult for victims of sexual assault to handle. This is unnecessarily harmful to people who have already been harmed, and we the undersigned insist that the following immediate changes be made:

  1. The victims' fund should be administered by a clinician, an expert in sexual assault and PTSD, not a lawyer. Such a person would have professional qualifications and experience to ascertain which incident(s) from the past are harming a person and then figure out how to help him or her heal. A qualified expert in charge of this fund could determine who has a legitimate claim to reimbursement from St. George’s for therapy or other mental health assistance, and then support those who do by helping them find the best resources in their hometown.
     
  2. An investigation into past assaults at St. George’s must be independently conducted, without control or review by the School’s lawyers. This investigation should include a thorough assessment of the School’s actions and inactions that could have prevented abuse, that ignored abuse, and that facilitated abuse. The failure of St. George’s to report abuse to Rhode Island Child Protection, as legally required, is one such inaction that must be examined.
     
  3. St. George’s must disclose to its alumni important facts discovered through that independent investigation, including the scope of credible abuse charges and the remedies (if any) taken against abusers. An important first step would be to disclose the number of alumni who have come forward concerning abuse by sports trainer, Al Gibbs, and how many have come forward concerning other alleged perpetrators.
     
  4. St. George’s must immediately retain an independent clinician who can provide crisis counseling, case management and referrals for alumni abused by Gibbs or other former employees of SGS. 

Many of these cases of abuse reach back over thirty years, but some are more recent. St. George’s must take responsibility for all the harms caused by its neglect, and immediately help those who continue to suffer from those crimes. Neither of these things can be accomplished without a clinician-directed assistance fund; an objective, independent, and thorough investigation; and full disclosure to alumni about the School’s findings.

Anne Scott, Class of ‘80

Katie Wales, Class of ‘80

Joan ‘Bege’ Reynolds, Class of ‘79

 




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