The Landon School in Bethesda, Md. confirmed in a letter to parents, students and alumni the sexual abuse allegations against a former faculty member.
Mr. Ward Bates, who taught at Landon School from 1946-1962, "engaged in repeated direct sexual touching of students and/or leading students to do the same to him" with at least seven students," the letter states.
The school says Bates died in 2011.
You can read the full letter sent out to the Landon community by clicking here.
PREVIOUS STORY FROM DEC. 2017:
In a letter addressed to the “Landon Community,” the all boys school wrote that it has heard from two Landon alumni who reported decades old stories of sexual abuse by the same former faculty member. The letter is signed by the all boys private school's headmaster Jim Neill and Board of Trustees Chair Scott Harris.
The school says the teacher, who is now dead, has not worked at Landon for more than 50 years. That would mean the sexual abuse happened before 1967. School spokesperson Meredith Josef said the school was not releasing additional details about the accused, including what he taught or how long he worked at Landon, to protect the alleged victims who want to remain anonymous.
The school says it has apologized to the students and hired an outside firm to investigate if other students were victims of sexual abuse, or if there was a coverup.
The letter asks any other former students who have been sexually abused to contact the school's outside investigators, T&M Protection Services. Landon wrote the company is “an independent, professional firm with deep experience in scrutinizing such matters, has been retained to serve as a third-party investigator for the school.”
Landon says anyone with similar concerns or information is encouraged to contact Laura Kirschstein at T&M by email at landonschool@tmprotection.com or by phone at 646-445-7505.
Landon says it has not notified police because the accused teacher is dead and any laws requiring school administrators to report abuse were passed decades after teacher left the school.
The school says it is continuing to evaluate what happened and will follow up with the school community when it knows more.
Landon Letter to the Community by Anonymous DxtKT4 on Scribd
