RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer Posted Jan. 4, 2016
BOSTON — Past and present St. George’s School administrators have attempted “to silence victims” to “prevent a scandal” over accusations of systemic sexual abuse dating to the 1970s and 1980s, says an attorney for three St. George’s alumni who are pressing the issue.
Attorney Eric MacLeish spoke in advance of a news conference Tuesday at which he and three women who say they were sexually victimized in the 1970s by the school’s former athletic trainer Al Gibbs, are scheduled to release a rebuttal to a Dec. 23, 2015, report by St. George’s School.
That report by St. George’s headmaster Eric Peterson and Board of Trustees Chair Leslie Heaney, based on a 10-month investigation, identified 26 victims of abuse by several staff in the 1970s and 1980s. It included an apology that underscored the school’s “regret, sorrow and shame that students in our care were hurt.” It stated that the school has forwarded information about other alleged perpetrators, including three students, to state police.
MacLeish and alumna Anne Scott, who says she was raped by Gibbs, have called the school’s report “a sanitized version of the truth,” and are calling for an independent investigation. They have challenged the school’s use of an investigator who works for the same law firm that represents the school.
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