Here's a curious thing ...
Google "abuse" on
http://www.hyde.edu and you get one hit.
Is that one hit a discussion of the school's policies for handling allegations of abuse (sexual, physical, emotional)?
No.
The one hit is a discussion of "alleged sexual abuse" at _another_ prep school:
"Date: January 13, 2006
Subject: Private Schools and Public Purpose
An article about St. Paul's School (SPS) in Concord, NH, in the January 2006 issue of Vanity Fair has sparked some spirited discussions among folks in the independent school world. "A Private School Affair," by SPS alum Alex Shoumatoff, delves into the multi-faceted air of scandal, peppered with hazing incidents as well as financial and alleged sexual abuse, which has clung to one of America's most prestigious boarding schools in recent years ..."
OK ... so does this discussion "spark" a "spirited discussion" of similar issues of scandal, hazing, and abuse (sexual and otherwise) at The Hyde School through the years?
No.
It "sparks" a "spirited discussion" of Hyde's entry into the charter school business in New York. "The time has come for us to apply some deliberate and careful scrutiny to the altar we have constructed in the name of diversity. ... Despite our modest means, we have been able to found two public schools, assist in the operation of several others, and we have received tentative approval to open a charter school in Harlem next year. The charter school movement might just be a new frontier for some of America's most established private schools."
Hmmmm ... if St. Paul's School is apologizing for years of faculty abuse of students, and Hyde School isn't even investigating, let alone apologizing, then why exactly is it that we ought to enthusiastically endorse this charter school movement?
Here is the Boston Globe article about the incidents that touched off the Vanity Fair article:
"Prep school apologizes for faculty abuse of students
December 9, 2005
CONCORD, N.H. --Prestigious St. Paul's School has apologized for faculty abuse of students years ago and asked any victims who have not come forward to do so now.
"To the alumni who came forward, and to any others who may have been harmed, I want to apologize on behalf of the school," interim Rector William Matthews wrote in the school newsletter and a guest newspaper column this week.
Matthews also reached out to other victims.
"These stories, as difficult as they are to tell and to hear, are necessary steps in order to help individual and institutional healing, and further to help ensure what happened does not happen again," Matthews wrote Thursday in the Concord Monitor.
The article appeared a few days after early copies of an article in Vanity Fair's January edition began circulating. The article, by St. Paul's graduate Alex Shoumatoff, says a woman attending her 25th reunion in 2000 told classmates that a popular faculty member tried to sexually assault her when she was a senior. She said she fled.
Her experience, which she said she had never talked about before, prompted discussions that brought more alleged assaults and attempted assaults to light, Vanity Fair said.
The classmates, some alleged victims, some not, launched an e-mail campaign interviewing other alumni. They went to the administration that fall with allegations of abuse ranging from unwanted advances to sexual assault by 29 teachers during a half-century extending into the early 1990s, Shoumatoff wrote. A delegation presented the findings, which included firsthand, signed allegations, to then-Rector Craig Anderson and the trustees.
"They said, `This is ancient history. It could never happen now,'" Ursula Holloman, '75, told the magazine.
Holloman, a screenwriter in Los Angeles, said the administration showed interest in only one man, a retired teacher who was then still active in school affairs.
"The dead and long-departed teachers they didn't care about. They never asked for the list," Holloman said.
Anderson, since retired, denied the account.
"I never said the incidents were ancient history," he said. "I said, `We want to do everything our power to ensure that this never happens again."
Matthews did not immediately return a phone call and e-mail seeking an interview Friday afternoon. In his column, which did not characterize the abuse as sexual, he also said the 2000 report from graduates was treated "with the utmost seriousness."
St. Paul's "pursued its own investigation, notified the appropriate authorities and proceeded to address people and policy matters that have made St. Paul's a better place," he said.
A call to the Attorney General's office Friday afternoon was referred to the police. Police, coping with a snowstorm, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Matthews said the school took action against two school employees or former employees.
"No faculty members of concern have been part of the faculty for some time, either having died before the disclosures or been immediately barred from the campus afterward, in the case of two people," he wrote.
"I want to assure everyone that St. Paul's School is a very safe place for adolescents," he added.
Vanity Fair said the school instituted a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse in the early 1990s.
Founded in 1856, the school has about 515 students in grades 9-12. Its graduates include Sen. John Kerry, last year's Democratic presidential nominee, and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Two years ago, The Wall Street Journal disclosed that Anderson, an Episcopal bishop, had salary and benefits totaling $524,000 a year, which shocked many parents and graduates.
The disclosure prompted an Internal Revenue Service review, which continues, and a decision by the charitable division of the New Hampshire Attorney General's office to review the school's finances until 2008. Anderson and the vice rector also took 10 percent pay cuts.
An executive-search firm is helping the school find a permanent rector for next fall. Vanity Fair said a job description circulated this fall calls for someone to lead "with absolute integrity, humility and transparency" and to "counter the effects of negative publicity and restore the school's external reputation."
