OUR WORK:
Accountability at the Abbey
On December 1, 2020, Ms. Jane Doe '14 filed a federal lawsuit in Providence, Rhode Island, alleging sexual abuse by a former faculty member at Portsmouth Abbey and an ensuing coverup scheme. Many alumni of the School have since testified to the sad truth: between 2012 and 2014, these goings-on were an "open secret" on the Abbey campus.
In an effort to obtain information and create transparency for the entire School community, a group of concerned alumni sent a letter to the Board of Regents on December 16. Bearing 82 signatures, this letter requested the creation of a subcommittee to investigate the events outlined in the lawsuit. At the conclusion of its investigation, this committee would make personnel and policy recommendations towards the prevention of such abuse in the future. To ensure accountability and impartiality, the letter also demanded that senior school leadership - which was presumably a principal party to the events in question - be placed on leave immediately. This letter has not been answered, and the School has vowed silence on the matter outside of a court of law.
Entirely unsatisfied with the School's recent statement to its alumni, parent, and benefactor community, our group has created this page to serve as a hub for unbiased news on the legal proceedings and as a platform for sharing our mission with the wider Abbey family. Simply stated: we aim to create a subcommittee that will conduct an independent investigation of the allegations contained in Jane Doe's lawsuit. For the duration of that committee's investigation, we seek the removal of current School leadership - Headmaster Dan McDonough, Associate Headmaster John Perreira, and Board of Regents Chair W. Christopher Behnke '81.
We have a responsibility to protect the children in the Abbey's care and to help the institution find visionary leadership capable of effective and ethical navigation of the obstacles presented to a 21st-century boarding school. To help us affect that change, or to ask any questions, please email us at concernedabbeyalums@gmail.com.
