St. Paul's School: Claims of sexual misconduct against ex-staff members substantiated

By Kc Downey
WMUR
May 22, 2017

http://www.wmur.com/article/sex-misconduct-claims-substantiated-against-ex-st-pauls-school-staffers-investigators-say/9905425

CONCORD, N.H. —

Independent investigators substantiated claims of sexual misconduct against more than a dozen St. Paul’s School faculty members and staff over a 40-year period, the school announced Monday.

The report, by the Casner & Edwards law firm, covered abuse and misconduct claims from 1948 to 1988.

Investigators said they fully substantiated claims against 13 former faculty members.

Unsubstantiated claims were made against 11 current and former faculty members. Investigators said they did not receive enough victim or witness accounts or find any documentation to support those allegations.

Investigators said another 10 former faculty members fall into a different category because they did not meet as many of the criteria as the substantiated cases.

“We offer our most sincere apology to survivors for the wrongs that were done to them at St. Paul’s School. The failures uncovered in this report have hurt every member of our school community, none more so than the survivors of these abuses. It is with deep gratitude that we recognize the candor and courage of the survivors and witnesses who shared their experiences with (Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott) Harshbarger and his team,” the Rev. Michael G. Hirschfeld said in a letter to the school community.

In the letter, the school acknowledged that it failed to protect students from sexual abuse and failed to fully investigate allegations of sexual abuse in many cases.

As part of its investigation, the law firm revisited the school’s 2000 investigation into previous accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct. Investigators found the scope of the report’s investigation to be inadequate.

“There is no excuse for the failure to pursue allegations when they were initially made in 2000. That was an error in both priorities and basic judgment and it is important to correct those actions,” Hirschfeld said.

The school requested the investigation after it learned former teacher Howard White, who taught at the school from 1967-1971, was fired from St. George's School in Rhode Island in 1974 for admitted sexual misconduct.