An investigation into past sexual misconduct at McCallie School resulted in 14 former students reporting such incidents as occurring between the late 1960s and 2000, Headmaster A. Lee Burns III said.
He said the allegations were against five former employees - four of whom are now deceased. The fifth individual is believed to no longer be working at a school, it was stated.
None of the victims reported the incidents to the school at the time they occurred, the headmaster said. He said there was no indication that any member of the McCallie administration was aware of any of the alleged incidents and kept quiet about them.
Dr. Burns said there was one previously known incident in the early 1990s when a student reported sexual misconduct and the perpetrator was terminated and authorities notified.
He said there have been no allegations of sexual misconduct against any current McCallie employee.
The school hired an attorney to conduct a thorough investigation of possible past sexual misconduct at McCallie after a former coach earlier this year was accused of sexually abusing students.
Dr. Burns gave this report:
Dear McCallie Community,
Since our founding, McCallie has been a school that places honor, truth and duty at the heart of our mission. Within that context, we are writing today to update you on the allegations of sexual misconduct in McCallie’s past and to explain the school’s plan moving forward.
In April, we notified you that the administration had received allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred at McCallie during the 1990s. We also informed you that McCallie had retained Suzanne Bogdan of Fisher & Phillips, LLP to represent the school and to conduct a thorough review of the allegations and any other inappropriate employee/student relationships at McCallie over the decades. We reached out to over 11,000 members of our extended community and encouraged anyone who had experienced sexual misconduct at McCallie, or who had information about inappropriate behavior, to contact Ms. Bogdan. We asked Ms. Bogdan to follow the reports she received wherever they led, placing no limitations on the time or scope of her investigation.
To every person who responded to our request for information, we offer our thanks for your courage and candor. While the information provided was painful to share and to hear, it was essential to attempt to support victims and to move forward as a better community.
Summary of the Investigation
Fisher & Phillips presented the findings of its investigation to the Board of Trustees on September 7, 2018. The investigation found that there have been no allegations of sexual misconduct involving any current employee of McCallie. Moreover, there have been no allegations of sexual misconduct involving anyone employed by McCallie since 2000.
However, the allegations of sexual misconduct did expand beyond the initial two allegations that prompted the investigation. Of the calls Ms. Bogdan received, fourteen former McCallie students reported being the victims of sexual misconduct at McCallie between the late 1960s and 2000. These callers identified five different perpetrators who were formerly employed by McCallie; four are now deceased. With respect to the fifth individual, our investigation leads us to believe he is no longer working in a school. With respect to all allegations of sexual misconduct at McCallie, we have fulfilled our reporting obligations to the appropriate authorities.
The investigation revealed that none of the victims reported an incident of sexual misconduct to the school around the time it occurred. In addition, there is no indication that any member of the administration or faculty was aware of sexual misconduct at the time it was occurring and chose to remain silent.
Outside of this investigation, there was one additional, previously known instance when a student reported sexual misconduct to the school in the early 1990s. The school took swift action to notify the appropriate authorities and to terminate the employee.
The Board and administration have decided to withhold the offenders’ names and dates of incidents from this letter for a variety of reasons, including to protect the privacy of the victims. Some of those who shared information during the investigation asked for assurance that we would protect their anonymity. We are concerned that identifying the four deceased perpetrators or describing even seemingly minor details of an incident may inadvertently result in the disclosure of a victim’s identity. We ask for your understanding and support in respecting their privacy.
For the Victims of Sexual Misconduct at McCallie
McCallie deeply regrets that any student experienced sexual misconduct by a school employee. On behalf of McCallie, we apologize to you. You did not receive the protection you deserved. We also apologize to anyone else who was abused by a school employee and has chosen to remain silent at this time. If you decide in the future that coming forward might help you, our door remains open. The school has offered to pay for counseling for any victim of sexual misconduct at McCallie who requests it and to reimburse any victim for past counseling he has already received. Beyond that, we continue to engage and work with each victim to the extent he desires with the goal of providing the support that will help him recover.
McCallie Today
The safety of the boys in our care remains McCallie’s highest priority, and we believe the discussions prompted by this investigation and what we have learned over the last few months will make the McCallie community stronger. A culture of safety begins with a school’s policies, procedures, and practices, and these are some of the measures that exist today to safeguard our students:
- In 2016, the school engaged a nationally recognized consultant to conduct a complete safety audit of the school, including a review of policies, practices, and physical plant.
- Background checks and thorough reference checks are conducted on all new hires.
- Each year, all employees review the school’s policies prohibiting sexual misconduct, harassment, and abuse. These policies can be found in our employee and student handbooks.
- Annual employee training includes detailed information about the state’s mandatory reporting requirements, how to fulfill them, and the need to report even when doubt exists. The mandatory reporting requirements and reporting hotline number are posted at locations across campus.
- Dorm heads and faculty advisors discuss McCallie’s policies and reporting requirements with all students. Discussions include how to recognize appropriate/inappropriate boundaries with adults and what to do if a student has any concerns.
- Areas of campus where misconduct, sexual or otherwise, is most likely to occur were identified in the safety audit, and steps have been taken to better secure and monitor those areas.
- The school expanded its counseling staff to include four certified counselors and two chaplains, equipping our counselors to offer better support to more boys.
Our Work Continues
We believe these cumulative efforts have been successful in providing an effective barrier against sexual misconduct. Even so, we are committed to approaching student protection from a mindset of continuous improvement. This year, we are adopting these additional measures to further strengthen our culture of safety:
- Our employees recently participated in specialized training from national experts on how to maintain appropriate student/adult boundaries and how to recognize and report early when such boundaries are crossed.
- In consultation with national experts, all policies against sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse are being reviewed and updated.
- We are identifying all current practices in which employees meet one-on-one or in small groups with students, with the goal of tracking these interactions more closely and making them more open and visible.
- We are reimagining our entire advisory program to guide students in all areas of their lives on what it means to be a man. This includes increased focus on safety, health, and wellness.
The national conversation about sexual abuse that has been taking place has prompted deep reflection on campus about keeping children and adolescents safe. McCallie is not alone in this work. A joint taskforce of the National Association of Independent Schools and The Association of Boarding Schools recently issued a report detailing best practices schools can follow, many of which McCallie has already implemented. Our Board and administration will continue to take guidance from the NAIS/TABS report, outside experts, and other independent schools in considering what more we can do to safeguard our students.
Our Promise
In closing, we want to reiterate our admiration and gratitude to those who contributed to the investigation that began in April. We are indebted to you. We also are grateful for the ongoing support of our students and their parents, our alumni, and our dedicated employees during this difficult process. Our promise to the entire McCallie community is that we will learn from our history, do what we can to support the victims, and work to provide the safest, most secure environment possible on the Ridge.