Boarding School Abuse

Private School Abuse denotes a series of illegal and lurid acts frequently committed on students by school faculty members, administrators or staff involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault can be a one-time, non-consensual abuse or it might involve numerous assaults within an continuing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate encounter with a student, spawned by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or staff and whether leading to physical consensual sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.

Student on student sexual assault is an additional form of abuse, which might be made worse by the school’s failure to provide a safe environment that enabled the assault to occur. Within the school community are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students might be subjected to the predatory actions of older, more mature students. This behavior, along with peer-pressure applied to both the predator and the targeted victim, might lead to different types of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all reported Boarding School Abuse matters, a school administration’s failure to completely, immediately report the assault to police and other authorities, or its additional negligence to investigate, address and deal completely with the matter amplifies the effects on the victim, the school population and possibly others. Recent Boarding School Abuse cases reported in the press highlight these failures, including matters when the attacker quietly departs the school merely to assume working elsewhere in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many private schools pride themselves on their small, personal communities within a well-defined and secure campus. In that environment, faculty, administrators and staff are frequently much nearer and familiar with students than might be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can provide both opportunity and cover for the possible attacker and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker could be a likeable and popular person, generally thought to be a enhancement to the school community. A targeted student could feel flattered that a popular superior in the school community is expressing special attention in him or her. Because of this popularity and integration in the school community, abuse allegations against these attackers are often met with doubt, disbelief, and resistance from the community. Frequesntly, abusers have boundary and judgment issues which manifest themselves in unusually friendly relationships with students that are beyond what are normally anticipated. This creates a predatory pathway and opportunity for the abuse.

All abusers, to varying degrees, use predatory actions that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Below is a list of grooming methods exhibited by predators that are in a position of authority in relation to the subordinate student.

Grooming
Grooming is a significant part of a predator’s method. In a boarding school setting, a predator usually works closely with small amounts of students, knowing each student’s needs and vulnerabilities. Once a victim is identified and chosen, these vulnerabilities – like being lonely, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, can be systematically leveraged in the following ways:

Trust

A predator could first work to gain the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to see as private school communities are usually tight-knit and personal interaction is commonplace. Here, the predator is usually part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellness and achievement at the school.
Reliance
As a predator establishes a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student will start to count on more and more on the predator for any need it is that the predator is exploiting and fulfilling. The student might spend more time with the predator, feeling more and more comfortable with the relationship. In addition to attention and kindness, the potential victim might receive gifts from the predator, including valuable, gifts such as the promise of high marks, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance stage is usually when the predatory behavior is distinguishable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

As the grooming continues, the predator will try to isolate the potential victim. At school, this could mean after-hour meetings, tutoring sessions, meetings in the dorm , one-on-one sports training sessions, or other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will begin to de-sensitize the student from reacting negatively to touching, caressing and other actions that lead to sexual interaction. This may start with breaching the physical-touch barrier, or verbally, with suggestive language to gauge the victim’s response to the progression. This could increase until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
Once the sexual relationship is established, the predator may work to keep control of the victim and the continuing abuse. The predator will probably seek to manipulate the victim by introducing feelings of shame, or possibly threats, or use the opposite tactic of continuing to have the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator might continue to exploit the victim with means necessary to maintain the inappropriate physical relationship.

Legacy on Abuse Survivors

When the grooming increases as intended by the predator, the victim, being made to feel special, will likely respond affirmatively to the behaviors. The predator, from these well-thought-out and executed grooming behaviors and activities, tries to re-calibrate and reduce the moral boundaries of the victim. Since the victim participated in the re-calibration, he frequently has deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming himself for the incident and likely not to report it.

Additionally, beyond the abuse has been revealed, survivors of boarding school abuse are often subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, like bullying, alienation from their peers, or retaliation from staff. Particularly at private schools, where academics are stringent, competition can be intense and social circles small, survivors of abuse might be readily isolated and socially abused. Exposed to such reactions, many private school abuse victims that have reported the abuse leave school. Others, faced with the prospect of the isolation and social persecution, report the abuse decades later. In either situation, the legacy can be significant and lasting.

Some abuse victims suffer from long-term effects of the abuse that include depression, anxiety, ptsd, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings, substance abuse, restless sleeping and eating patterns, and trouble creating and maintaining healthy relationships. Individualized therapy and support groups may assist survivors overcome these effects.

Legally, a victim of boarding school abuse could recover financial compensation from the abuser and more commonly, from the school for its failure to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or deficiencies in its process of reviewing and responding to the survivor’s report of the abuse. If you are a survivor of boarding school abuse and would like to confidentially share your story and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are prepared to talk with you. It’s important for a victim to realize that experiencing assault is not your fault. The attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those responsible for the abuse to justice.