Private School Abuse

Private School Abuse denotes a range of criminal and improper acts often 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 attack or it might include numerous assaults during an continuing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate encounter with a student, created by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or staff and whether heading to physical agreed sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.

Student on student sexual assault is another type of abuse, that may be made worse by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that enabled the attack to happen. Within the school community are students of different ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students may be subjected to the predatory behavior of older, more mature students. Their intent, coupled with peer-pressure applied on both the predator and the targeted victim, could lead to varying types of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.

In all alleged Boarding School Abuse situations, a school administration’s megligence to fully, adequately report the crime to police and other authorities, or its additional negligence to investigate, address and deal completely with the matter increases the effects on the abuse survivor, the school population and possibly others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media highlight these failures, including times where the perpetrator quietly departs the school merely to assume employment somewhere else in a school environment.

Predatory Behavior
Many boarding schools pride themselves on their tiny, personal communities within a well-defined and secure 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 for the would-be abuser and for the predatory behavior.

In some situations, the attacker might be a likeable and popular individual, generally thought to be a positive addition to the school community. A targeted victim might feel flattered that a popular superior in the school community has expressed special interest in him or her. Because of this popularity and involvement into the school community, abuse allegations against these predators are often met with distrust, disbelief, and resistance by the community. Often, abusers have boundary and morality problems 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.

Most abusers, to varying amounts, employ predatory actions that are generally known as “grooming,” or targeting a possible abuse victim. Below is a compilation of grooming methods exhibited by predators that 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 usually works closely with small amounts of students, realizing each student’s needs and weaknesses. Once a victim is located and selected, these vulnerabilities – like loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, might be systematically exploited in the following manners:

Trust

A predator will initially work to get the student’s trust. This step is the most difficult to discern as boarding school communities are often tight-knit and personal engagement is commonplace. Here, the predator is usually part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellbeing and success at the school.
Reliance
As a predator creates a trusting relationship with the potential student-victim, the student might start to count on more and more on the predator for whatever 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 affection, the potential victim might receive gifts from the predator, which may include valuable, gifts such as the guarantee of high marks, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance stage is usually where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.

abused at boarding school

As the grooming continues, the predator might work to isolate the potential victim. At school, this might mean late meetings, tutoring sessions, encounters in the dorm , one-on-one sports practice sessions, or various other such circumstances.
Sexualization
The predator will start to desensitize the student from reacting negatively to contact, caressing and other behaviors that lead to sexual interaction. This might start with breaching the physical-touch barrier, or verbally, with suggestive messages to gauge the victim’s reaction to the advancement. This might escalate 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 over the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will likely seek to manipulate the student by introducing feelings of guilt, or possibly threats, or employ the opposite tactic of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. In any event, the predator will keep trying to exploit the victim by whatever means available to keep the inappropriate physical relationship.

Impacts on Abuse Survivors

When the grooming increases as intended by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will likely respond affirmatively to the behaviors. The predator, through these well planned and performed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and reduce the moral confines of the victim. Because the victim participated in this re-calibration, she frequently has deep feelings of shame, initially blaming himself for the incident and likely not to report it.

Additionally, after the abuse has been revealed, victims of private school abuse are often subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, like being bullied, isolation from their peers, or retaliation from administrators. Especially at private schools, where education is stringent, competition can be fierce and social circles small, victims of abuse could be quickly isolated and socially abused. Exposed to such reactions, many boarding school abuse victims who have reported the abuse leave school. Others, fighting with the prospect of such isolation and social persecution, report the abuse years later. In either situation, the legacy can be significant and lasting.

Some abuse victims deal with from long-term effects of the abuse including depression, anxiety, ptsd, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. Individualized therapy and support groups could help victims get past these effects.

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