For decades, some of Connecticut’s most prestigious boarding and prep schools employed faculty members who sexually abused students — and in many cases, protected those abusers rather than protect the children in their care. When students reported what was happening, or when administrators saw the warning signs themselves, many schools chose silence over safety. Teachers were allowed to resign quietly. Some received recommendation letters and moved on to abuse children at other schools. Almost none were reported to police or the Department of Children and Families, despite Connecticut law requiring teachers to be mandatory reporters since 1967.
These were not isolated incidents. Independent investigations at school after school have uncovered the same pattern: institutional knowledge, institutional silence, and institutional failure. The schools that promised to protect children in their residential care instead protected their reputations.
If you were sexually abused at a Connecticut boarding school, you may have legal options — even if the abuse happened decades ago. Connecticut law gives survivors who were minors at the time of the abuse until age 48. If your abuser was convicted of first-degree or aggravated first-degree sexual assault, there is no time limit at all. For a full breakdown of filing deadlines, see our CT Statute of Limitations Guide for Sexual Abuse Survivors.
Attorney Tom McNamara has spent his career holding powerful institutions accountable for protecting abusers. He won the only clergy sexual abuse case tried to a jury verdict against the Archdiocese of Hartford — a $1.66 million recovery upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court. He has litigated against Yale University over a professor who exploited a child in a mentorship program, and against a school district for a guidance counselor’s failure to report abuse. The legal theories behind boarding school cases — institutional negligence, negligent supervision, failure to report, failure to protect — are the same ones Attorney McNamara has been winning on for years.
The Pattern: How Connecticut Boarding Schools Failed Their Students
Across Connecticut’s boarding school landscape, independent investigations have documented a strikingly consistent pattern of institutional failure:
“Passing the Trash.” When a teacher was caught or suspected of sexual misconduct, many schools allowed the teacher to resign quietly rather than face an investigation. In some cases, schools provided recommendation letters that helped abusive teachers find jobs at other schools — where they abused again. This practice has been documented at Choate Rosemary Hall, Indian Mountain School, Pomfret School, and across the broader New England boarding school network.
Failure to Report. Connecticut has required teachers to be mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse since 1967. Despite this, school after school failed to report known abuse to the Department of Children and Families (formerly DCYS) or to law enforcement. Choate Rosemary Hall acknowledged it made no reports to DCF regarding adult sexual misconduct before 2010 — despite abuse spanning from 1963 through 2010. Indian Mountain School’s failure to report was documented in a state police investigation that described a “massive cover-up” by school officials.
Internal Investigations That Went Nowhere. When schools did investigate, they often opted for quiet internal resolutions rather than criminal referrals. Teachers were counseled, reassigned, or given the chance to leave on their own terms. The focus was on managing the situation, not protecting students.
Decades of Institutional Knowledge Without Action. In case after case, investigation reports have revealed that administrators, headmasters, trustees, and other faculty members knew or should have known that abuse was occurring — and failed to act. At one school, the headmaster and assistant headmaster found a missing student in a teacher’s apartment late at night — the teacher answered the door in his underwear — and the teacher was never removed from the classroom.
These failures are not just morally wrong. They are legally actionable. Boarding schools accept residential custody of children. They stand in the place of parents. They owe the highest duty of care — and when they breach that duty through negligence or recklessness, they can be held accountable in court.
Why Boarding School Cases Are Legally Strong
Boarding school abuse cases carry several legal advantages that make them among the strongest institutional abuse claims available:
Heightened Duty of Care. Unlike day schools, boarding schools assume residential custody of their students. Students live on campus, sleep in school-controlled dormitories, and are supervised by school employees around the clock. This creates a fiduciary relationship — the school stands in loco parentis (in place of the parents) — and heightens the school’s legal obligation to protect students from foreseeable harm.
Documented Institutional Knowledge. Independent investigations at multiple Connecticut schools have produced reports confirming that administrators knew about abuse and failed to act. These reports, conducted by outside law firms with access to school archives and personnel files, provide powerful evidence of institutional negligence and recklessness.
Mandatory Reporting Violations. Every documented failure to report suspected abuse to DCF is a violation of Connecticut law that strengthens a negligence or recklessness claim against the school.
“Passing the Trash” as Evidence of Reckless Disregard. When a school not only fails to report an abusive teacher but helps that teacher find employment at another school, it demonstrates reckless disregard for the safety of children — both at the original school and at the next one.
Deep Institutional Resources. Connecticut’s elite boarding schools are among the wealthiest educational institutions in the country. The combined endowments of schools with documented abuse histories exceed $1 billion. These institutions have the resources to compensate survivors and the institutional incentive to resolve claims rather than face public trials.
Survivors can sue both the individual abuser and the institution. In most cases, the institutional claim — against the school that knew and failed to act — is the stronger claim, because the school had a duty to protect and have the resources to pay.
Connecticut Schools With Documented Abuse
The following Connecticut boarding and prep schools have faced documented allegations of sexual abuse by faculty or staff. Each entry reflects publicly reported facts drawn from independent investigations, court filings, and news reporting.
Choate Rosemary Hall — Wallingford
In April 2017, Choate Rosemary Hall released the results of an independent investigation led by former federal prosecutor Nancy Kestenbaum of Covington & Burling. The report identified at least 12 former faculty members who had engaged in substantiated instances of sexual misconduct with students between 1963 and 2010. Twenty-four former students reported abuse ranging from inappropriate contact to rape.
The investigation found that Choate did not make a single report to the Department of Children and Families regarding sexual misconduct before 2010 — despite mandatory reporting laws in effect since 1967. In at least one case, a teacher accused of assaulting a student during a school trip was allowed to resign and went on to work at several other Connecticut schools over the following 18 years, none of which were notified.
A follow-up investigation by Day Pitney LLP in October 2018 identified three additional perpetrators not named in the original report, along with new allegations against individuals already identified. In 2022, the school fired an employee after an investigation found credible evidence of sexual misconduct with former students.
Choate Rosemary Hall has an endowment of approximately $400 million.
For a detailed account of the Choate investigation and your legal options, see our dedicated Choate Rosemary Hall Sexual Abuse page.
Hotchkiss School — Lakeville
In August 2018, an independent investigation by the law firm Locke Lord identified seven former faculty members who had sexually abused students at the Hotchkiss School. The documented abuse spanned over six decades, from 1950 through 2012, with the majority of substantiated reports clustered in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. At least 18 students were identified as victims. A supplemental report in August 2020 named an additional faculty member.
The named abusers included teachers, the school’s medical director, a director of athletics, and a music faculty member — some of whom were employed at the school for decades. The investigation found that Hotchkiss missed multiple opportunities to protect students, noting that reports made by survivors, other students, and faculty at or near the time of the abuse should have prompted action. Instead, the school handled complaints internally, sometimes referring them only to outside legal counsel rather than to law enforcement.
In March 2019, U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden denied the Hotchkiss School’s motion to dismiss a sexual abuse lawsuit, ruling that the case could proceed to trial on counts including breach of fiduciary duty, recklessness, and negligence. The court rejected the school’s argument that it bore no responsibility for protecting students from a faculty member’s abuse. In November 2023, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of additional survivors, alleging a pattern of negligence that allowed abuse to continue for decades. Litigation remains active.
The Hotchkiss School has an endowment of approximately $560 million.
For more on the Hotchkiss investigation and legal options for survivors, see our dedicated Hotchkiss School Sexual Abuse page.
Indian Mountain School — Lakeville
Indian Mountain School, a K–9th grade boarding school in Lakeville, has been the subject of multiple federal lawsuits alleging systematic sexual abuse of students by faculty members during the 1970s and 1980s.
The primary abuser identified in court filings is a former English teacher who taught at the school from approximately 1973 until he was quietly allowed to resign in 1985. According to sworn testimony and federal complaints, he groomed boys through a “photo club” that met in a padlocked basement to which he had the only key. He provided students with alcohol, cigarettes, and illegal drugs, and took nude photographs that were used as blackmail to maintain their silence. In sworn testimony during prior litigation, the teacher admitted to sexually abusing multiple children.
Court filings also name the school’s former headmaster, who is accused of making sexualized comments about boys’ bodies and engaging in inappropriate physical contact with students. A former French teacher is separately accused of sexual assault.
A 1992 state police investigation documented widespread knowledge of the abuse among school administrators, faculty, board members, and even the school nurse — yet not a single staff member ever reported the abuse to authorities. The police report described a “massive cover-up” by school officials. When the headmaster and assistant headmaster once found a missing boy in the teacher’s apartment late at night — the teacher answered the door in his underwear — he was still not removed from the classroom.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed since the 1990s by former students. At least eight have been settled for confidential amounts. Litigation remains ongoing.
Pomfret School — Pomfret
In September 2016, Pomfret School disclosed the findings of an independent investigation that concluded four teachers “more likely than not” engaged in sexual misconduct with students. The misconduct spanned from the early 1970s through after 2000. The investigation also identified nine additional “credible reports” of conduct ranging from boundary violations to sexual misconduct, but the school said there was insufficient information to make formal findings on those reports.
The school refused to release the names of any of the teachers involved. Some of the accused teachers received positive recommendations when they left the school, and some were still working with students at other institutions at the time the investigation was disclosed.
Pomfret also illustrates the “passing the trash” network that connects New England boarding schools. The school received a staff member from another New England boarding school with favorable references, despite that individual’s documented abuse history at the prior school.
Kent School — Kent
In 2017, a former student filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a Kent School teacher during the 1987–1988 school year. The complaint describes abuse that occurred at multiple locations on and off campus, and alleges that at least one other teacher knew about the abuse but failed to report it.
Westover School — Middlebury
In January 2020, a former student filed a federal lawsuit against Westover School, an all-girls boarding school in Middlebury. The complaint alleges that a teacher and squash coach sexually abused the plaintiff beginning when she was 15 years old, during her years at the school from 2003 to 2007. The lawsuit accuses the school of knowing that the teacher preyed on minor female students and failing to report him to authorities, suspend or fire him, or warn students and families.
The teacher was fired in 2008 when allegations were finally reported to authorities. He subsequently faced criminal charges. The school is the sole defendant in the civil case.
Taft School — Watertown
During the wave of New England boarding school investigations prompted by a 2016 Boston Globe Spotlight investigation, Taft School was among the Connecticut schools where staff were placed on administrative leave in connection with abuse allegations. Like Pomfret, Taft received a staff member from another New England boarding school with highly favorable references — despite that individual’s known abuse history at the prior school. A former Taft teacher was also separately convicted on federal child pornography charges. The movement of abusive teachers between schools is a recurring theme across Connecticut’s boarding school network.
Other Connecticut Schools With Documented Allegations
The schools listed above are not the only Connecticut institutions to face abuse allegations. The following schools have also been the subject of investigations, lawsuits, or publicly reported allegations of sexual misconduct by faculty or staff:
Rumsey Hall School (Washington) — A federal lawsuit was filed against a former Dean of Students alleging sexual abuse of a student.
Devereux Glenholme School (Washington) — A boarding school for students with special needs that has faced multiple allegations of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
Loomis Chaffee School (Windsor), Canterbury School, Avon Old Farms School (Avon), Salisbury School, Miss Porter’s School (Farmington), Cheshire Academy, and Marvelwood School (Kent) have each been associated with abuse-related investigations or allegations at various points in their histories.
If your school is not listed here, that does not mean you do not have a case. Many instances of boarding school abuse have never been publicly reported. If you were abused at any educational institution in Connecticut, we encourage you to contact us for a free, confidential case evaluation.
Your Legal Rights as a Survivor
Connecticut law provides extended filing deadlines for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, recognizing that many survivors need years or even decades before they are ready to come forward.
If you were under 18 and the abuse occurred before October 1, 2019, you have until age 48 to file a civil lawsuit. If you were under 21 at the time of abuse and the abuse occurred on or after October 1, 2019, you have until age 51. These deadlines are set by Connecticut General Statutes §52-577d. For most boarding school survivors, the earlier rule applies — the key question is whether you have reached age 48.
If your abuser was convicted of first-degree or aggravated first-degree sexual assault, there is no time limit to file a civil lawsuit, under §52-577e.
You do not need a police report to file a civil lawsuit. Civil cases are entirely separate from criminal proceedings. Most sexual abuse lawsuits involve abuse that was never reported to police — and you can still pursue your case.
You do not need physical evidence. Your testimony is evidence. Institutional records, personnel files, investigation reports, pattern evidence from other survivors, and therapy records can all support your case. Your lawyer’s job is to investigate and build the evidence — you do not need to walk in with proof.
Your name does not have to be public. Survivors of sexual abuse can file lawsuits using pseudonyms (such as Jane Doe or John Doe), and most cases are resolved through settlements without a trial. For more on how your privacy is protected, see our page on Privacy in CT Abuse Lawsuits.
For a complete breakdown of Connecticut’s filing deadlines and how they apply to your specific situation, see our CT Statute of Limitations Guide for Sexual Abuse Survivors.
Time matters. For most cases, survivors born in 1978 or earlier are at or past the age-48 filing deadline for pre-2019 abuse right now. Every month that passes, viable cases expire permanently. If you are unsure whether you still have time, call us — we can tell you in five minutes, for free.
Why Attorney Tom McNamara
Tom McNamara has built his career on one principle: powerful institutions that cover up abuse must be held accountable in court. His track record demonstrates exactly why boarding school survivors should trust him with their cases:
The only attorney to try a clergy abuse case to a jury verdict against the Archdiocese of Hartford. When the Archdiocese refused to take responsibility for the sexual abuse of a child, Attorney McNamara took the case to trial — and won. The jury returned a $1 million verdict with a finding of reckless misconduct, and the total recovery reached $1.66 million including punitive damages, costs, and appellate interest. The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the result. The significance for boarding school survivors: defendants know Attorney McNamara will go to trial if they do not offer fair compensation.
Proven experience litigating against elite educational institutions. Attorney McNamara handled a case against Yale University involving a professor who sexually abused a 10-year-old child in a mentorship program — an elite institution and a trusted authority figure exploiting a child, the same power dynamic at the heart of every boarding school case. He also litigated a mandatory reporting failure case against a school district where a guidance counselor failed to report a student’s disclosure of sexual abuse. These are the same legal theories — institutional negligence, negligent supervision, fiduciary duty, failure to report, failure to protect — that apply in every boarding school case listed on this page.
50+ sexual abuse survivors represented. Attorney McNamara has represented more than 50 survivors of sexual abuse across churches, schools, and other institutions in Connecticut, with recoveries including results of $3.35 million, $3 million, $2.4 million, and $2 million. He has litigated against all three Connecticut Catholic dioceses.
Working alongside national firms. Some sexual abuse cases involve national firms which are consulted for representation by survivors of sexual abuse that occurred in Connecticut. A number of these firms enlist Attorney Tom McNamara to file the case in a Connecticut court where he brings knowledge and experience of Connecticut jurisprudence and trauma-informed trial experience.
Free, Confidential Consultation
If you were sexually abused at a Connecticut boarding school, the attorney who took the Hartford Archdiocese to trial and won is ready to listen.
You may have been carrying this for decades. That is okay. There is no judgment here — only a conversation about your rights and your options, on your terms.
Your consultation is completely free and confidential. You will speak directly with Attorney Tom McNamara. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Call (203) 782-9241 or use the contact form on this page.
Not sure if you still have time? Call us. We can tell you in five minutes, at no cost and no obligation.
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