Sexual abuse was covered up for decades at a Riverdale prep school where the children of the city’s monyed elite are educated. Click below to find out more.
The New York Times Magazine story, to be published Sunday, outlines multiple incidents of molestation by at least three teachers and coaches at the Horace Mann School between 1978 and 1994 and describes the school’s discreet response, which did not involve telling cops or parents.
One student, who was abused for years, eventually killed himself. So did one of the teachers quietly forced to resign after complaints from the boys.
Some ex-students traced lifelong problems with booze and failed relationships to their abuse at the Bronx school. “I have been running from this thing most of my life,†one said.
Two predators were ousted, but one especially brilliant music teacher survived rape accusations and remained on staff for years, choosing a new “anointed†favorite boy every year, the story says.
The teachers who vanished without explanation went to other schools — where they had access to other kids — because of the $37,275-a-year private school’s emphasis on discretion, the story says.
The shocking exposé is written by 1982 Horace Mann alumnus Amos Kamil. It was posted online Wednesday.
There were no allegations of recent abuse at Horace Mann, whose many illustrious alumni include former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger.
Dozens of former students flooded the paper’s website with comments suggesting there were several more predators at the prep school over the years.
