"School says ex-headmaster, student had inappropriate relationship" by Travis Andersen | Globe Staff, January 04, 2013
A former headmaster of a North Andover college preparatory school reportedly had an inappropriate relationship with a student during his tenure and also received threats from escorts he hired, the school acknowledged Thursday.
In an e-mail to alumni and parents, officials at the Brooks School said that Lawrence W. Becker, the headmaster from 1986 to 2008, had engaged in a questionable relationship with a student during an unspecified time while he ran the school.
“In our judgment, his conduct in this relationship was objectionable, manipulative, and an abuse of his position,” the current head of school John R. Packard and William N. Booth, president of the school’s board of trustees, wrote in the e-mail.
Karen Schwartzman, a public relations consultant retained by the school, would not discuss the relationship and said Packard and Booth were not available to comment. She would not disclose the gender of the student or the student’s age at the time, or say precisely when the relationship took place.
Becker, 71, could not be reached for comment.
His lawyer, Joseph B. Green of Boston, said in an e-mail that he did not know what happened between Becker and the student or how the matter was handled.
Schwartzman said the case was recently resolved to the satisfaction of the student, who graduated from Brooks, but she would not provide details.
She said records indicate that the president of the board of trustees at the time of the incident, media mogul and former Republican US presidential candidate Steve Forbes, “took steps to address” the issue when he learned of it. She would not elaborate.
Forbes, a Brooks alumnus who served as the school’s board president from 1987 to 1997, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment on Thursday. A Forbes Media spokeswoman could not be reached.
Founded in 1926, the Brooks School has a $59.2 million endowment and charges a boarding tuition of $49,365 and a day tuition of $37,180, according to its website. The high school educates students from across the United States and dozens of foreign countries....
--more--"
Related: Brooks School head failed to report headmaster allegations
