Boarding School Abuse

Private School Abuse presents a wide-range of criminal and improper activities frequently perpetrated on students by school faculty members, administrators or employees involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault may be a one-time, non-consensual attack or it can involve several assaults within an ongoing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate relationship with a student, created by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or employee and whether leading to physical agreed sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.

Student on student sexual assault is an additional form of abuse, that might be made worse by the school’s failure to offer a safe environment that enabled the attack to occur. Within the school community are students of varying ages, maturity and experiences. Younger students may be exposed to the predatory behavior of older, more mature students. Their behavior, coupled with peer-pressure exerted to both the predator and the targeted victim, might lead to varying forms of abuse including sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all alleged Boarding School Assault matters, a school administration’s failure to completely, adequately report the crime to police and other authorities, or its additional negligence to investigate, address and deal fully with the matter increases the effects on the victim, the school community and potentially others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the press highlight these failures, including times where the perpetrator quietly departs the school only to assume employment elsewhere in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Most private schools pride themselves on their small, personal communities inside a well-defined and safe campus. In this environment, faculty, administrators and staff are frequently much nearer and familiar with students than would be expected in a non-boarding school situation. This may provide both opportunity and cover to the possible abuser and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker may be a personable and popular person, generally considered to be a positive addition to the school community. A targeted student might feel flattered that a well-liked superior in the school community is expressing special attention in him or her. Because of this popularity and integration into the school community, attack accusations against these predators are often met with doubt, non-belief, and resistance from the community. Frequesntly, abusers have boundary and morality issues which turn into oddly friendly relationships with students that are beyond what are commonly anticipated. This creates a predatory path and opportunity for the attack.

Most abusers, to differing amounts, use predatory methods that are generally known as “grooming,” or targeting a possible abuse victim. Following is a compilation of grooming behaviors used by predators who are in a position of authority in relation to the subordinate student.

Grooming
Grooming is a main part of a predator’s method. In a boarding school setting, a predator often works closely with small amounts of students, knowing each student’s needs and weaknesses. Once a victim is identified and selected, these vulnerabilities – like loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, might be systematically leveraged in the following manners:

Trust

A predator might first work to gain the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to discern as private school communities are often tight-knit and personal interaction 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 may begin to rely more and more on the predator for whatever need it is that the predator is leveraging and fulfilling. The student may 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, including valuable, presents like the guarantee of higher grades, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance step is mainly where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

Isolation

As the grooming continues, the predator may work to isolate the potential victim. At school, this might mean after-hour get togethers, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one sports practice sessions, or other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will begin to de-sensitize the possible victim from reacting negatively to touching, caressing and other behaviors which lead to sexual interaction. This might begin with breaking the physical-touch barrier, or communicating, with suggestive language to gauge the victim’s reaction to the progression. This could increase until the relationship transforms to one of a physical, sexual nature.
Maintenance
As the sexual relationship is established, the predator may work to maintain control over the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will likely try to manipulate the victim by introducing feelings of guilt, or possibly threats, or use the opposite strategy of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. Regardless, the predator will keep trying to exploit the victim by whatever means available to keep the immoral physical relationship.

deerfield academy abuse on Abuse Survivors

While the grooming increases as intended by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will probably respond affirmatively to the actions. The predator, from these well-thought-out and executed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-work and reduce the moral confines of the targeted student. Since the abuse survivor participated in the re-calibration, he often experiences deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming himself for the incident and hesitant to report it.

Furthermore, after the abuse has been reported, victims of boarding school abuse are frequently subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, such as being bullied, alienation from their peers, or revenge from administrators. Especially at private schools, where academics are rigorous, competition can be intense and social circles small, victims of abuse could be quickly isolated and socially abused. Exposed to those reactions, many private school abuse survivors who have revealed the abuse leave school. Others, fighting with the prospect of the isolation and social persecution, report the abuse decades later. In either situation, the impact can be severe and life-altering.

Some abuse survivors deal with from long-term effects of the abuse including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. Individual therapy and support groups may assist survivors get past these effects.

Legally, a survivor of boarding school abuse may win financial compensation from the abuser and more commonly, from the school for its negligence to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or negligence in its process of reviewing and responding to the victim’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 ready to speak with you. It is important for a victim to realize that experiencing assault is not your fault. The lawyers at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those responsible for the assault to justice.