St. George's School sex-abuse victims close to seeing compensation

By Karen Lee Ziner
Providence Journal
September 10, 2016

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160910/st-georges-school-sex-abuse-victims-close-to-seeing-compensation

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — An arbitration process with 30 victims in the St. George's School sex-abuse scandal "will be wrapping up in the next few days," and they will probably receive their undisclosed compensation "within the month," according to Carmen L. Durso, one of their attorneys.

Meanwhile, five of the 31 other victims identified in an independent investigator's report — released Sept. 1 — are talking with lawyers Durso and Eric MacLeish about possibly filing claims, MacLeish said.

Also, a nascent group of survivors and advocates are planning on pushing for comprehensive reforms, so that the future does not repeat the past, the lawyers say.

"We are not going to let this whole incident pass without advocating for real reforms in the future," said MacLeish.

The 196-page report by Martin F. Murphy of the Boston law firm Foley Hoag describes a "profoundly disturbing" litany of sexual abuse at the elite Episcopal boarding school in Middletown, primarily in the 1970s and '80s. While many of the elite school's students "found exactly the kind of experience they expected" there, it was "a private hell" for at least 61 students and "certainly more than that," Murphy wrote.

Faculty and staff sexually abused at least 51 students, and students sexually abused at least another 10 of their fellow students, according to the investigation, which began in late January. St. George's and the survivors' group SGS for Healing selected Murphy after SGS for Healing questioned the objectivity of an earlier report the school had commissioned. St. George's paid for Murphy's investigation.

The victims who settled "range from people who attended the school from 1970, up through people who were at St. George's in 2005," MacLeish said in a phone interview Thursday. "Both men and women, all sexually assaulted, from all over the country, and one from a foreign country" told their stories to investigators and arbitrators in person.

Durso said Friday that the 31 others "are trying to absorb everything that's happened" and digest Murphy's report. That includes understanding "that people who brought claims have gotten through the process safely."

Some may decide that telling their story to investigators was all that was necessary. Others will have to decide whether to seek compensation.

Durso added that the lessons of the St. George's story include "the need for changes in the laws relating to sexual abuse in four areas:" mandatory reporting, the statute of limitations regarding sex crimes and the statute of limitations regarding civil remedies — because criminal "charges cannot be retroactive." Also, so-called "pass the trash laws" would require that schools "give honest references to future employers."

The second lesson to draw from the St. George's story "is that private schools are not subject to Title IX, which establishes a comprehensive system of educating administrators, teachers and kids about their respective obligations regarding sexual abuse and discrimination, and provides a system and a place to go with complaints about violations," Durso said.

"Either the private schools need to adopt a national code which is comparable to Title IX," he added, "or the states need to adopt a model law which will impose those requirements for all schools."