Boarding School Abuse

Boarding School Abuse presents a range of criminal and improper activities frequently committed on students by school faculty members, administrators or employees involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The attack may be a one-time, non-consensual encounter or it may include numerous assaults during an continuing interaction. For example, an continuing intimate encounter with a student, created by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or staff and whether leading to physical agreed sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.

Student-on-student sexual assault is another form of abuse, that might be made worse by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that enabled the assault to happen. Within the school population are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Younger students might be subjected to the predatory actions of older, more experienced students. Their behavior, coupled with peer-pressure applied to both the predator and the targeted victim, can lead to varying forms of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all reported Boarding School Abuse situations, a school administration’s failure to entirely, immediately report the crime to law enforcement and other authorities, or its additional negligence to research, address and deal fully with the situation increases the effects on the victim, the school community and possibly others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media exemplify these failures, including matters where the perpetrator quietly leaves the campus only to assume employment elsewhere in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many private schools pride themselves on their tiny, 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 would be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This can create both opportunity and cover for the possible attacker and for the predatory behavior.

In some matters, the attacker could be a likeable and popular individual, generally thought to be a positive addition to the school community. A targeted victim may feel flattered that a well-liked superior in the school community has expressed special interest in him or her. Because of this popularity and involvement into the school community, attack accusations against these abusers are frequently met with distrust, disbelief, and resistance by the community. Frequesntly, abusers have boundary and judgment issues which manifest themselves in unusually friendly relationships with students that are past what are commonly anticipated. This creates a predatory pathway and opportunity for the attack.

All abusers, to differing amounts, employ predatory actions that are generally known as “grooming,” or targeting a possible abuse victim. Below is a list of grooming behaviors used 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 situation, a predator often works closely with small numbers of students, understanding each student’s needs and vulnerabilities. Once a target is located and selected, these vulnerabilities – such as loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, might be systematically exploited in the following manners:

Trust

A predator may 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 engagement is commonplace. Here, the attacker is usually part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellbeing and achievement at the school.
Reliance
As a predator establishes a trusting engagement with the potential student-victim, the student might start to count on more and more on the predator for any need it is that the predator is exploiting and fulfilling. The victim might spend more time with the predator, feeling increasingly comfortable with the relationship. In addition to attention and kindness, the potential victim might receive gifts from the predator, which may include valuable, gifts like the guarantee of high grades, or a university recommendation letter. The reliance step is usually where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

While the grooming progresses, the predator will work to isolate the potential victim. At school, this might mean after-hour get togethers, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one athletic training sessions, or other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will begin to de-sensitize the student from reacting negatively to touching, caressing and other behaviors that lead to sexual interaction. This may start with breaking the physical-touch barrier, or verbally, with suggestive messages to determine the victim’s response to the advancement. This might increase until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
As the sexual relationship is created, the predator will work to keep control over the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will likely seek to manipulate the victim by introducing emotions of shame, or even threats, or employ the opposite tactic of continuing to have the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator may keep trying to exploit the victim by whatever means necessary to maintain the inappropriate physical relationship.

Impacts on Abuse Victims

While the grooming increases as intended by the predator, the victim, being made to feel special, will probably respond positively to the actions. The predator, through these well-thought-out and executed grooming behaviors and activities, tries to re-work and remove the moral confines of the targeted student. Since the victim participated in the re-calibration, she often has deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming herself for the incident and hesitant to report it.

Furthermore, after the abuse has been reported, victims of boarding school abuse are frequently exposed to discreet social pressure and intimidation, like bullying, isolation from their peers, or retaliation from administrators. Particularly at boarding schools, where academics are stringent, competition can be intense and social circles small, victims of abuse may be quickly isolated and socially persecuted. Exposed to those reactions, many boarding school abuse survivors who have reported the abuse leave school. Others, fighting with the prospect of the isolation and social persecution, report the abuse a while later. In either case, the legacy can be significant and lasting.

Some abuse survivors deal with from long-term effects of the abuse that include depression, anxiety, ptsd, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, restless sleeping and eating patterns, and trouble creating and keeping healthy relationships. Individual therapy and support groups can help survivors overcome these effects.

Legally, a survivor of boarding school abuse may receive financial compensation from the abuser and more frequently, 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 review your story and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are prepared to talk with you. It is important for a survivor to remember that experiencing assault is not your fault. The attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the abuse to justice.