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More Schools Notify Parents, Staff, Alumni of Connection to St. George's Investigation

By John Bender & Elisabeth Harrison
Rhode Island Public Radio
January 9, 2016

http://ripr.org/post/more-schools-notify-parents-staff-alumni-connection-st-georges-investigation

Several schools have now notified students, alumni that people implicated in the St. George's scandal were also on their faculties.

Two more private schools have reached out to alumni and parents in connection with allegations of sexual abuse at St. George’s School. The schools notified current and former families that a former employee, the Rev. Dr. Howard White, has been accused of sexual misconduct at St. George’s.

White, an Episcopal priest, was dismissed from St. George’s in 1974, after the school says he admitted to sexual misconduct with male students. The abuse was apparently never reported, and White went on to serve as academic dean and chaplain at Chatham Hall, an all-girls Episcopal boarding school in Virginia.

Another private school, Asheville Country Day in North Carolina, would later hire White as assistant headmaster. The school is known today as the Carolina Day School.

Current Headmaster Kirk Duncan said he is not aware of any sexual abuse allegations related to White’s tenure.

“At this point, we have not heard from our community that there were any kinds of concerns while he was here,” said Duncan.

Both the Carolina Day School and Chatham Hall have communicated with students, parents and alumni about the reports of sexual abuse involving White.

"We have no reason to suspect Dr. White of misconduct during his time at Chatham Hall," current school Head Suzanne Walker Buck wrote in a letter to the school community.

"As a school that values the well-being and healthy experience of every student, we would encourage anyone with information about potential impropriety to contact Rector Suzanne Walker Buck directly," the letter said.

A Rhode Island State Police investigation into White’s time at St. George’s is ongoing. His pastoral duties at a parish in Pennsylvania have been restricted pending the results of a church disciplinary process.

Another former St. George's teacher named in the abuse scandal, Franklin Coleman, also went on to work in other schools. At least one of those schools, Tampa Prep School, has reached out to students and former students about the allegations of abuse.

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