Private School Investigating Ex-Head After Sex Assault Reports

An internal investigation revealed credible reports that Robert Ward sexually assaulted and made advances toward students from 1960 to 1965

A private boarding school in western Massachusetts is investigating possible misconduct by a former headmaster after a Connecticut boarding school said it uncovered credible sexual assault reports about him from the 1960s.

The Republican reports the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut said Tuesday an internal investigation revealed credible reports that Robert Ward sexually assaulted and made advances toward students from 1960 to 1965.

Ward served as Dean of Students at Amherst College from 1968 to 1973.

He was the head of Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts from 1972 to 1979. Ward died in 1986.

Williston officials say the school has retained an independent investigator and is asking alumni for testimony about possible misconduct.

The investigation comes after an unidentified Williston teacher resigned in 2015 after admitting to sexual misconduct.

"We, along with the entire Board of Trustees and the school community, apologize unreservedly to those affected. We know that no action that we take today will erase the deep pain caused, but we do hope that our commitment to confront all such behavior now and in the future may bring some healing," Loomis Chaffee leaders wrote in a letter to the community

The report also named two other ex-teachers as engaging in inappropriate beahivor or sexual abuse.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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