Ex-students allege abuse at elite school

Former students at the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York told The New York Times Magazine they had been sexually abused at the school.

The magazine, in a story posted online Wednesday, said the school did not inform police or parents of the sexual abuse by at least three teachers, all of whom are now dead, from the 1970s through 1994.

The article, written by 1982 Horace Mann alumnus Amos Kamil, said two of the teachers had been ousted quietly and moved on to other schools.

The magazine said a former trustee at the school told Kamil: “No one will talk to you. They are all lawyering up.”

Thomas Kelly, the school’s current headmaster, sent parents a letter Wednesday telling them the story was being published.

“These allegations are highly disturbing and absolutely abhorrent,” the letter stated. “We can assure you that none of the individuals mentioned in the article is currently employed by the school nor have they been for a number of years.”

One former student said Mark Wright, who had been an art teacher and football coach at the school, had asked him to sit for a portrait.

“I remember exactly what he said: that he needed to see the connection between my legs,” the former student said. “The next thing I knew, he had my penis in his hand. I was so scared. He was a pretty intimidating guy. He began performing fellatio and masturbating.”

One alumnus started a Web site last year about former music teacher Johannes Somary, who he said abused him in 1973. Two decades later, in 1993, the family of then-student Ben Balter said Somary had assaulted him on a trip to Europe.

Balter committed suicide in 2009. His mother said a lawyer affiliated with the school had told her unless she had evidence on tape, she could do nothing.

“It was Ben’s word against Somary’s,” she said she was told.

Stanley Kops, a former history teacher who also coached the swim team, resigned in 1983 following a student’s allegation the teacher had touched him on a camping trip. Kops committed suicide the next year. (UPI)



<관련 한글 기사>


사립학교 자살사건, 알고보니 교사 ‘성폭행 때문’

뉴욕의 유명 사립학교 호레이스 맨 학교 졸업생들이 거의 20년 년 전 재학 당시 교사들에 의해 성폭행을 당한 사실이 밝혀져 화제가 되고 있다.

뉴욕 타임즈 매거진에 따르면 성폭행 사건에 연루된 세 명의 교사 중 두 명은 조용히 이직됐다.

당시 학교 관리자는 법적 조치를 취하겠다고 말하자 학생들에게 누구도 편을 들어주지 않을 것이라고 경고하면서 “교사들은 모두 변호인을 고용할 것”이라고 협박한 것으로 알려졌다.

뉴욕 타임즈 매거진에 실린 이번 기사는 1982년 졸업생 아모스 카밀(Amos Kamil)이 쓴 것이다.

호레이스 맨 학교의 현 교장은 기사가 게재되기 앞서 학부모들에게 서한을 보냈다. “매우 충격적이고 혐오스러운 사실입니다. 현재는 해당 교사들이 저희 학교에서 근무하고 있지 않습니다.”

졸업생 벤 발터(Ben Balter)의 가족은 그가 유럽 여행 당시 음악 선생님에게 성폭행 당했다고 말했다.

그는 2009년 자신의 목숨을 끊었다.

발터의 어머니는 법적 조치를 취하고자 했으나 학교측 변호사는 “영상 증거가 없다면 고소할 수 없다”고 말했다.

(코리아헤럴드)