St. Paul's School

A report released by the state attorney general's office found that a New Hampshire prep school rocked by sexual abuse claims is providing support to students but that its policies around investigating a crime and assisting a victim can be improved.

The report by a third party is the second on St. Paul's School following accusations of abuse by 20 former faculty members over several decades.

Rather than bringing the charges over the abuse, the attorney general's office entered an agreement with the school to put it under government oversight.

  St. Paul’s School in Concord will remove the names of two former rectors – Bill Oates and Bill Matthews – from buildings on the school’s campus.

The decision came after conversations within the school's community, about whether former school leaders involved with mishandling reports of sexual abuse should continue to be honored. 

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has released the first report required under the terms of its settlement with  St. Paul's School.  The Concord prep school reached an agreement with prosecutors last year stemming from decades-long allegations of sexual misconduct on campus.  

The report is the first St. Paul's will be subject to for five years under the settlement agreement. The report covers the first six months of 2019.

On Saturday, survivors of sexual abuse at St. Paul's School gathered for the first time on campus for an apology that some called a first step and others a missed opportunity.

Alumni of St. Paul's School in Concord are hosting a service on Saturday to reckon with the legacy of sexual abuse on campus.

Revelations about decades of abuse at St. Paul's have prompted multiple lawsuits and investigations, but until this weekend, no campus event has formally acknowledged and welcomed survivors.

On Saturday, a group called "Alumni Doorways" is hosting a service of "lament and apology" at the chapel, open to trustees and alumni.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has picked Keene State College's director of campus safety to oversee St. Paul's school's compliance with the settlement it reached with the state over its handling of sexual misconduct by faculty and students. 

Jeffrey T. Maher holds a law degree, and spent 20 years working for the Nashua Police Department, retiring as a Captain.

Deputy Attorney General Jane Young says starting Feb. 9, Maher will be at St. Paul's School, and reporting back to prosecutors for at least three years and possibly as long as five.

Former St. Paul's School student Owen Labrie was in court Wednesday asking for a new trial more than three years after he was convicted of sexual assaulting an under-aged student.

The jury found Labrie guilty on a charge of using a computer to lure the victim. During the trial, email and Facebook messages between Labrie and then fellow student Chessy Prout were used as evidence.

A former St. Paul's School student accused of lying under oath during a grand jury investigation into sexual misconduct at the school was in court Monday.

Stephanie O'Connell of Chicago pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses.

The charges stem from emails and phone contact she's accused of having with former St Paul's teacher David Pook during the state's investigation into the school.

Investigators claimed O'Connell had a sexual relationship with Pook, who was her teacher at St. Paul's.

O'Connell will serve no jail time as long as she pays a fine and does 500 hours of community service within five years.

New charges were filed Monday in connection with the state's probe into reported misconduct at St. Paul's School.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office is alleging 28-year-old Stephanie O'Connell made false statements to the grand jury tasked with investigating the elite Concord boarding school.

Prosecutors claim O'Connell, of Chicago, lied about her contact with David O. Pook - a former St. Paul's teacher who pled guilty in August to interfering with the investigation.

A new report details allegations of sexual misconduct by ten former members of St. Paul's School faculty, including David Pook, a former teacher who pled guilty to witness tampering in a case related to his alleged relationship with a student.

A former St. Paul's School teacher accused of interfering with an investigation into the school pled guilty in Merrimack Superior Court today. David Pook was sentenced to spend four months in jail.

St. Paul's School in Concord has hired its first female head of school. 

Kathleen Carroll Giles has been appointed by the school's board to be its new rector.

Michael Hirschfeld, the former leader, announced this year he was retiring early, after multiple sexual abuse lawsuits were filed against the school.

Giles currently serves as head of Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts and will start at St. Paul's next July. 

St. Paul’s School in Concord has hired one of its former math teachers to serve as interim rector for 2018-19 school year.

Amy C. Richards has been hired to replace current rector Michael Hirschfeld, who retired a year earlier than originally planned. Hirschfeld told the St. Paul's community in May that he was leaving early because it had been "an usually painful time for the entire School community and also for my family."

St. Paul’s School in Concord is extending its resources for sexual abuse victims to alumni of its prestigious summer program. NHPR's Lauren Chooljian reports.

St. Paul’s School in Concord has agreed to settle with a former student who was sexually abused in the 1970s, though it continues to face lawsuits from other alumni.

The settlement, which remains confidential, was finalized in May and was shared with NHPR by the victim, William Foley, who said he was sexually abused by two teachers while attending St. Paul’s School in the early 1970s. In a statement, the school said it was “pleased" to reach a resolution with Foley and apologized for the abuse he suffered.

  St. Paul's School in Concord said Wednesday it plans to create an independent therapy fund for alumni who were sexually abused by faculty. The school’s announcement comes just hours after NHPR reported St. Paul’s is an outlier among boarding schools that have grappled with similar issues.

The head of St. Paul's School in Concord has announced that he will resign next month - a year earlier than planned.

Rector Michael Hirschfeld was going to step down at the end of next school year, in June 2019.

A former St. Paul’s student has filed a federal lawsuit against her alma mater, alleging the Concord private school did not protect her from sexual assault and harassment from male students in 2013-2014.

The former student, who enrolled at St. Paul’s in 2012, is not named in the lawsuit, instead referred to as Jane Doe.

We look at a lawsuit brought by two alumni against St. Paul’s School, saying the school failed to protect them from sexual abuse by faculty members in the 1960s and 70s. Their lawsuit calls the Concord prep school a “haven for sexual predators” that has failed to protect children for decades.  We also examine a recent agreement between the private school and the Concord Police Department about reporting sexual assault.

Two alumni are suing St. Paul’s School for not protecting them from sexual abuse by faculty members in the 1960s and 70s, and their lawsuit calls the Concord prep school a “haven for sexual predators” that has failed to protect children for decades.  

St. Paul’s School is now required to report any allegations of sexual assault to the Concord Police Department, according to an updated agreement between the college prep school and local police.

  The head of a New Hampshire prep school's board of trustees says a teacher who was let go in 2008 for "repeated boundary crossings" involving students should have been dismissed earlier and shouldn't have been given a favorable recommendation.

A letter from Archibald Cox to the St. Paul's School community said Thursday that David Pook's departure was "overdue and badly handled."

The 47-year-old Pook was charged last week with witness tampering and conspiring to commit perjury following a grand jury investigation into misconduct allegations at St. Paul's.

St. Paul’s School in Concord is apologizing for misleading another prep school about a former faculty member during a reference check in 2009. The teacher had been fired  from St. Paul's six months prior for violating rules governing boundaries between students and faculty.