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Miss Hall’s School releases extensive sexual misconduct report saying school leaders ‘failed’ to keep students safe
Matthew Rutledge, a former teacher and coach, was connected with five first-hand accounts of sexual misconduct from the 1990s to 2010, according to Aleta Law’s report.
Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield released a 60-page report Tuesday detailing sexual misconduct against students by former employees from the 1940s through the 2010s, based on an independent investigation by a law firm.
Matthew Rutledge, formerly a longtime teacher and coach at the small, all-girls high school, was connected to five first-hand accounts of sexual misconduct from the 1990s to 2010, and multiple third party reports of grooming and boundary crossing, according to Aleta Law’s report.
“The investigation revealed horrible truths about a community we hold dear and has brought about personal and institutional reckoning,” Head of School Julia Heaton wrote in a community letter Tuesday.
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The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office announced in a press release Tuesday it will review the law firm’s report.
In October 2024, the DA’s office said it would not prosecute Rutledge, as the alleged victims were over the age of consent. The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.
Former students come forward in 2024, Miss Hall’s School launches investigation
An attorney representing a Miss Hall’s alumna sent a letter to Heaton in March 2024, saying that Rutledge had inappropriate sexual contact with her while she was a student and after she graduated.
Melissa Fares, who graduated from Miss Hall’s in 2010, said in a post to the school’s Facebook alumnae group that she had reported the allegations, The Berkshire Eagle reported.
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Heaton said she placed Rutledge, who was 62 at the time, on administrative leave; he resigned soon after.
By early May, four more former students had notified school leadership and authorities about alleged abuse.
The school launched an investigation headed by Aleta Law, a firm that specializes in sexual misconduct, into all allegations of student abuse during the school’s 127-year history.
The law firm conducted 146 interviews, spanning students, parents, alumnae, 55 current and former faculty and staff members, four Heads of School, and seven current and former Trustees, according to the school’s Board of Trustees. It also obtained and reviewed personnel and school records to evaluate the school’s response to the reported conduct.
‘You either loved him or you hated him‘
Rutledge was a “polarizing” figure during his time at the school — 1991 to 2024 — with some people saying “you either loved him or you hated him,” the report said.
He held many roles at the boarding school, including history teacher, coach, resident, advisor, and department chair, according to the report.
The teacher also fostered relationships with other leadership figures, like longtime administrator Jenny Chandler and former Head of Schools Jeannie Norris — which allowed his behavior to go “unchecked,” some alumni said in the report.
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Rutledge was determined to have engaged in sexual misconduct including “grooming behavior, sexual advances, sexual touching, and forcible oral and vaginal intercourse,” according to the report.
Rutledge was not interviewed as part of the investigation as his attorney did not respond to Aleta’s interview attempts, the law firm wrote.
Report: Rutledge engaged in ‘egregious patterns of grooming and sexual misconduct’
The report detailed five firsthand accounts of Rutledge’s misconduct, “revealing egregious patterns of grooming and sexual misconduct,” the report said.
One student said Rutledge allegedly engaged in sexual contact and intercourse with her multiple times during her junior and senior year, including “at his house when she was babysitting his children, in his classroom, and in other rooms/locations on campus,” according to the report.
Another student said that, on graduation day, Rutledge “pulled” her away into his classroom and gave her a letter and gift, hugged her for a long time, gave her a “goodbye kiss,” and told her that he “loved” her.
The same student stated that Rutledge engaged in “forceful” and “animalistic” vaginal and oral sexual intercourse with her in different places, including Rutledge’s on-campus home.
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Another student told investigators she did not report Rutledge’s behavior to any school employee because Rutledge “threatened [her] often that he would kill himself,” the report states.
A different student said Rutledge made her believe that she would be kicked out of school and not get into college if she reported his conduct, the report said.
Nora Rose Adukonis, Rutledge’s attorney, declined to comment.
Students were instructed ‘not to gossip,’ report says
According to the report, a “considerable portion” of the information provided during investigation occurred while Norris was Head of School and Chandler was an administrator.
Miss Hall’s severely disciplined a senior student in the 1990s for telling peers at a senior meeting that Rutledge was “having sex” with international students.
The senior was suspended for the remainder of the school year, prohibited from attending graduation, and required to write an “apology” letter to Rutledge for the comment, the report said.
An all-school meeting was called where students were told “not to gossip” about the situation or there would be “disciplinary action,” the report states.
In another instance, a recent graduate’s parents wrote a letter to Norris saying Rutledge engaged in “unmistakably inappropriate” behavior when he “attempted to kiss and professed his love” for the graduate, according to the report.
Norris consulted an attorney, then she and Chandler instructed Rutledge to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior with students and alumni, which they said was a “pattern” for him, according to the report.
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Norris was advised by her counsel not to submit to an interview with the investigators, but provided information through her counsel, the report said. Chandler declined to participate in an interview with the investigators.
Miss Hall’s ‘failed to adequately respond’ to reports of Rutledge’s misconduct
A summarized report published by the school says that Norris and Chandler “failed to adequately respond and properly investigate after seeking advice from the School’s former legal counsel.”
The report also states that the school did not adequately investigate third party reports that Heaton received regarding Rutledge’s past sexual misconduct, including an occasion where Rutledge’s behavior was shared with Board President Nancy Ault.
Aleta determined that the school took prompt, reasonable action to safeguard students in March 2024 after receiving Fares’s report regarding Rutledge.
The firm also found Miss Hall’s School to be “sincere in its commitment to learning the truth and to confronting the gravity of what happened,” the report says.
Report: 7 other past employees engaged in sexual misconduct toward students
The law firm’s investigation determined that seven additional past employees were found to have engaged in sexual misconduct toward then-students, according to the report.
The other accused employees were not named per Aleta’s criteria to determine whether to publicly name accused employees, the report stated. The only employee that met the criteria to be named was Rutledge.
One employee was a faculty member at Miss Hall’s in the 1990s under former Head of School Trudy Hall’s leadership, and was terminated for sexual misconduct.
Another employee, who was a teacher at Miss Hall’s in the 2000s and is currently employed at another school, was accused of exhibiting “grooming behavior” and “inappropriate physical contact,” like rubbing one student’s shoulders and touching another student’s upper leg.
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An alumna told investigators that she woke up “naked and alone” in a third employee’s bed after a night of drinking alcohol in his house with no recollection of the previous night. The employee was a college adviser in the 1980s who is now deceased, according to the report.
None of the reports of sexual misconduct or boundary-crossing behavior involved current Miss Hall’s employees, the report said.
Former students respond to report
Shortly after Fares’s March 2024 complaint prompted Rutledge’s resignation, Hillary Simon came forward with similar allegations against the former teacher in April.
Simon told The Berkshire Eagle that the report was difficult to read, but validated her and others’ experiences.
“The fact that the survivors’ accounts were substantiated … In these types of stories it’s rare for survivors to get that kind of validation, and a sense of justice,” she told the Eagle.
“My immediate reaction is, about damn time, honestly,“ Fares told The Boston Globe regarding the report. ”I feel really proud, but I also can’t stop grieving … the report validates the horror we, by some miracle, all survived.”
In a community letter posted Tuesday, the school’s Board of Trustees apologized to the victims and stressed their “steadfast” support for them.
“MHS has resolved legal claims by several of the Survivors of Matt Rutledge’s abuse and will continue to work toward resolving all the remaining claims,” the Board of Trustees wrote.
Simon told the Eagle that current leadership at the school has shown “true compassion” for survivors.
Miss Hall’s grads now aim to tweak Mass. age of consent law
Simon, who graduated from the school in 2005 and is now an attorney, told The Boston Globe she will continue advocating to change Massachusetts’ age of consent law as it relates to adults in positions of power, like teachers and coaches.
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Both Simon and Fares testified in favor of the proposal, which keeps the age of consent at 16 but clarifies that students cannot give consent when the adult is in a position of power, in June.
Fares sued the school in Berkshire Superior Court, where the case is still pending. Simon settled her lawsuit against the school earlier this year, the Globe reported.
“This story is only being told because the survivors and their courage brought the truth to light,” Simon told the Globe. “It’s given me a sense of peace that I never thought that I would have.”
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