"’90 sex abuse suit at Beverly school kept secret; Case at Landmark settled and sealed" by Walter V. Robinson and Katherine Landergan | Globe Correspondents, February 27, 2013
For two decades, Curtis H. Bryant has been a respected figure in the town of Rowley: director of the Youth Baseball and Softball League, parent leader in a high school student enrichment program, treasurer of the Democratic Town Committee, and a Planning Board member.
Yet according to court documents unsealed last week, Bryant is also an accused child molester. He was charged in a 1990 lawsuit with repeated and forcible sexual abuse of a teenage boy for three years at the Landmark School in Beverly, where Bryant was a science teacher. The private boarding school quietly pushed Bryant out in 1991, then settled the suit for an undisclosed sum.
For 23 years, Bryant’s secret was safe, thanks to a state Appeals Court judge who in 1990 approved a motion by Bryant’s lawyers and the school to impound lawsuit documents. That erased any hint of the suit from public records.
Bryant declined comment for this article.
The decision to keep the allegations under wraps has now come back to haunt Landmark. Since the school first acknowledged last July that it had received sexual abuse allegations involving another former staff member, two other former students have told the school that Bryant also molested them.
Last week, the state Supreme Judicial Court denied a final attempt by lawyers for Bryant, the school, and the victim to keep records impounded, five months after the Globe filed a motion seeking their release. A Superior Court judge and single justices of the Appeals Court and the SJC all ruled that the school’s handling of the Bryant case was a matter of public concern.
Had it been Maureen Neville’s decision, Bryant’s alleged abuse would have become public in 1989. That year, Neville, accompanied by a teacher, alerted Robert J. Broudo, then head of the high school, about Bryant’s sexual abuse of her friend, the alleged victim, and her suspicion that Bryant was molesting other boys. Neville, a former Landmark student who was 19 at the time, said Broudo told her he could not do anything unless her friend came forward.
“It was my responsibility to notify him,’’ said Neville, 43, who left Landmark after her junior year. “It was his responsibility to do something about it, for making sure Curtis Bryant would have no access to children. And he did nothing. Bob Broudo just wanted the issue to go away.’’
In response to questions from the Globe, the school said Tuesday that Broudo, who has been headmaster of the entire school since 1990, did report Neville’s allegation to state child welfare officials in 1989, but that they were unable to do anything without the victim’s cooperation. The school said Broudo did not contact law enforcement officials.
In its statement, the school said Broudo later told Neville about the steps he had taken and urged her to persuade her friend to come forward. Neville denied Tuesday that Broudo had ever contacted her.
In Tuesday’s statement, the school acknowledged that it should have done more.
“In retrospect, we believe a better course . . . may have been to conduct outreach to our community then, as we are doing now,’’ according to the statement from the school’s spokesman, Peter J. Mancusi.
“We are equally committed to making sure we address the harms caused in Landmark’s past and learn from those events as we move forward,’’ the statement concluded.
The school’s spokesman said Broudo, who has been at Landmark since it opened in 1971, would not talk to a Globe reporter....
Through a spokesman, Bryant, who is 57, declined to be interviewed, though in court filings, both in 1990 and in recent months, his lawyers argued that disclosure of the lawsuit would be devastating for his family and destroy his reputation.
In a 1990 motion to keep the lawsuit sealed, Bryant’s lawyer said his client “says he is innocent; that the plaintiff has a motive to lie and fabricate. The evidence will prove him right. When it does, who does Mr. Bryant see to restore his reputation?”
I don't know, maybe....
--more--"
Related: Look What I Found in the Globe's Beverly Handbag
What else was in there:
"As attitudes change, more report sexual abuse at schools" by Peter Schworm | Globe Staff, February 14, 2013
Last summer, a graduate of the Landmark School in Beverly demanded that the school investigate past abuse allegations, asking a counselor at the school, “Do you want to be Paterno?”
In January, the Brooks School in North Andover disclosed that the former headmaster had an improper relationship with a student.
See: Brooks School Sex Abuse Scandal
Two weeks ago, Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts announced that a former faculty member had admitted to sexual contact with a student in the 1980s and urged any other victims to come forward.
No!?! That is the school for the elite that is just down the road.
The series of startling revelations, which has embroiled the schools in controversy and put them under unfamiliar scrutiny, exposes the hidden neglect of past decades and the cost of placing reputation and prestige over the well-being of children, abuse specialists say.
But the recent reports also reflect a growing awareness of child sexual abuse, particularly in the aftermath of the high-profile scandal at Penn State University, and the fading stigma surrounding sexual crimes.
“More allegations are coming to light in every setting, and survivors are drawing inspiration and courage from them,” said Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, a leading children’s advocacy group. “Society is beginning to understand these cases are happening with far-too-frequent regularity.”
Related:
"anxiety seems to be on the rise even as the rate of child sexual abuse is falling"
Anyone sensing a connection between the two and the disconnection of the media's coverage?
As is often the case, the media is highlighting something that isn't as much of a problem as they make it out to be (not to say it is not an important issue, because it is); however, it the salacious sensationalism of such cases does draw your attention.
***************************
In addition to the high-profile allegations at three prep schools in Massachusetts, abuse claims have emerged at two well-known independent schools in New York. Last year, allegations came to light at Horace Mann School.
Related: Prep-School Predators
Also see: Horace Mann School gets Taylor Swift gift
In December, a venerable private school in Brooklyn, Poly Prep Country Day School, settled a lawsuit contending that the school had for years ignored reports of abuse at the hands of a winning football coach....
Another football coach? Between this and the concussions maybe it is time to ban football.
See: Suit Settled Over Claims of Sex Abuse at Poly Prep
Never saw a word it in my Globe.
--more--"
Also see: Pennsylvania’s governor reopens the wounds of the Sandusky case
Never saw this in my printed paper because I went back and checked:
"DA says State Police will aid in abuse inquiry" by Travis Andersen | Globe Staff, January 30, 2013
The top prosecutor for Franklin and Hampshire counties said Tuesday that reports that a retired mathematics teacher at Deerfield Academy, an exclusive prep school in Western Massachusetts, had sexual contact with a student in the 1980s are “deeply disturbing.”
“Deerfield Academy appears to be taking an important first step to independently investigate inappropriate contacts between a former teacher, Peter Hindle, and a student,” said a statement issued by Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.
Sullivan said State Police detectives attached to his office can assist any former students who would like to report misconduct by Hindle.
On Monday, Deerfield said that Hindle admitted to having “sexual contact” with a student.
Hindle, 78, of Dartmouth, said Monday that in his view, “it’s all how something is interpreted,” when asked if he had made an admission.
Ian C. Hammon, 41, an alumnus of Deerfield, told the Globe Tuesday that Hindle had massaged his legs in his dorm room in 1988. Hindle did not return a call seeking comment on the statement by Hammon.
--more--"
