PITTSFIELD (MA)
WCVB - ABC 5 [Boston MA]
May 20, 2026
By Karen Anderson
Matthew Rutledge, a former teacher at the school, has been charged with rape
Two survivors who attended Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield are pushing to close a loophole in Massachusetts that they say allows predators to target young people.
Melissa Fares and Hilary Simon attended the school as teenagers, though Simon was there five years ahead of Fares.
“I arrived at that school, I was full of hope,” Simon said in an interview with 5 Investigates’ Karen Anderson.
Both girls quickly got the attention of a teacher named Matthew Rutledge, which included gifts, pet names and compliments.
“It’s powerful for a 14-year-old girl. It shapes your identity at that age when someone like that starts honing it and paying attention to you,” Simon said.
But the women say Rutledge started touching them. At first, on the back or upper thigh, and then finding ways to spend time alone in the classroom or on the school van.
Fares said, “He asked me to come to his classroom, and he told me to get under his classroom table, lock the door, pull down the shade and orally raped me under his table.”
The abuse escalated and continued for both women, who are now adults.
Watch below: Survivors say Massachusetts law lets teachers exploit teen students
In 2024, Fares reported the abuse to Pittsfield police and asked them to pursue rape charges against Rutledge.
However, soon after, the Berkshire County District Attorney told Fares they couldn’t move forward with her case because she was 16 years old at the time, above the age of consent in Massachusetts.
“It’s really deeply invalidating and painful…it deepens the trauma,” Fares said.
Fares had heard rumors about Simon and her experience at the school, so she gave her a call.
Simon said the phone call changed her life.
“When Melissa called me, it was the first time that I realized maybe this wasn’t my choice, and maybe it wasn’t my fault,” Simon said.
The two teamed up to find justice. They’ve testified in support of a bill that would bring Massachusetts in line with 40 other states to make it a crime for a teacher to have sex with a student.
At the same time, they continued to ask the district attorney to pursue their case because their interactions with Rutledge were not consensual.
In March, a grand jury indicted Rutledge on three counts of rape.
He pleaded not guilty in court in front of Fares and Simon.
They’re asking state lawmakers to make it clear that a teenage student cannot consent to sex with a teacher.
Earlier this month, they knocked on doors across the State House seeking support.
“A 16-year-old can’t vote. They can’t buy cigarettes. They can’t buy alcohol, but yet they can consent to sex with a teacher. It doesn’t make any sense,” Simon said.
Simon and Fares are asking lawmakers to act quickly.
“What’s more urgent than protecting kids?” Fares asked.
The legislative session ends in July, and the bill, along with other measures to protect children from educator sexual abuse, currently sits with the House and Senate committees on Ways and Means.
“The next generation needs the protection we never got. Massachusetts must do better,” Fares said.
Advocates are asking voters to reach out to their lawmakers in support of House Bill 4538, which combined the age of consent reform with other measures to protect children from educator sexual abuse.
Senate Bill 1163 works on its own, along with other bills in the Senate, to protect children from educator sexual misconduct.