Dear Landon Community,

One of the primary responsibilities of any school is to keep safe the students who are commended to its
care. There is no higher duty for an educator. Today we write to share the difficult news that we have
recently received reports from Landon's past about a former faculty member breaching that duty in a
profound way.

More specifically, we have heard from two Landon alumni who disclosed personal stories from many
decades ago of sexual abuse by the same former Landon faculty member. That teacher has not been at
Landon for more than fifty years and is no longer living. We have expressed on behalf of Landon deepest
remorse and sincerest apologies to the two alums, who wish to remain anonymous.

We are filled with great sadness and anger that any Landon student ever experienced such behavior from
someone given the sacred trust of caring for a boy's well-being. Let us be clear: such abhorrent conduct is
counter in every way to everything Landon stands for. We are and have always been a community and
school dedicated to ethical ways of being and to building boys into responsible and caring men.

Our fervent hope is that no other boys have suffered abuse of this nature while at Landon. But in light of
these reports, we have a responsibility to understand and respond to this situation thoroughly, thoughtfully,
and honestly. Should there be other instances or allegations of sexual misconduct that may have gone
unreported, we must provide a safe, discreet, and independent resource where those experiences can be
reported. We must further seek to understand whether information about such matters has previously come
to the attention of the school, and if so, when.

With all of this in mind, T&M Protection Services, an independent, professional firm with deep experience in
scrutinizing such matters, has been retained to serve as a third-party investigator for the school. 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 to report those concerns. We undertake all of
these efforts out of care for our alumni and the greater Landon community and from a deep-seated
commitment to our core values of honor and respect.

As part of this overall process, we are also conducting a comprehensive review of our policies and practices
in consultation with outside experts to be sure they are as solid as possible and fully consistent with best
practice. We will further evaluate programming designed to educate boys about this topic.

We think it is important to share some of the things we currently do to ensure the safety of our boys. Before
beginning their employment at Landon, new faculty and staff undergo comprehensive background
checks. These include a criminal background check, reference checks, as well as a review of other online
resources that provide the school with information about a candidate's history of teaching and engaging with
students, all conducted prior to a candidate being hired. We also conduct training regarding our mandated
reporter duties as educators, laws that require school employees to report to the appropriate authorities and
social services organizations any child abuse or endangerment about which we have knowledge or
reasonable suspicion. And we review with faculty and staff our policies and guidance regarding the
maintenance of appropriate boundaries with students, last year adding to these conversations a workshop
with an outside specialist in this area to promote continued awareness of this issue.

All of this we do and will continue to do not only in fulfillment of our professional and ethical responsibilities,
but also out of our commitment to ensuring that our teacher-coach-mentor model provides our boys with
positive and upright adult influences and relationships in their lives. Our goal is to provide a setting and
experience that helps boys develop into strong self-advocates who not only can keep themselves safe but
also can help others to do the same, and who are unafraid to communicate concerns about this topic. We
will continue to work to ensure that our school programs and policies do just that.

We have shared this information about our past with the faculty, staff, and the Board of Trustees. We will
speak with the boys by division about this letter in the coming days, reminding them about what constitutes
acceptable adult behaviors and on the importance of reporting concerns. We will do so in ways that are age-
appropriate, thoughtful, and reassuring without being unnecessarily specific or unsettling. These
conversations will be led by our school counselors (Dr. Andy Rhein and Justin Roman), our school nurse
(Julie Acebal), and other school leaders.

We appreciate that this is a difficult topic, for both adults and young people alike, to discuss and
understand. For any who may want helpful resources related to talking with your own children about this
topic, including what to do should they ever find themselves in a circumstance that feels troubling or
compromising, we recommend the following: Preventing and Identifying Child Sexual Abuse Tips from the
American Academy of Pediatrics and Stop It Now! Prevention Tools. And of course Dr. Rhein
(andrew_rhein@landon.net) and Mr. Roman (justin_roman@landon.net) are available to discuss these
matters and otherwise serve as helpful resources regarding this topic.

We are continuing to evaluate this matter to gain greater understanding, and will follow up with the Landon
community once we have completed this effort. All of us play a role in safeguarding our boys, and we are
grateful for your partnership as we work together to help them grow into the caring and whole men we know
they can be. We thank you for your ongoing support of our school, our faculty and staff, and our boys.

Sincerely,

Jim Neill Scott S. Harris '84

Headmaster Board of Trustees Chair

Landon School, 6101 Wilson Lane, Bethesda, MD 20817, 301-320-3200

Unsubscribe from this eNotice.