SAR is more than a
school - we are a community. We pride ourselves on the combination of
excellence in education, love of Israel and commitment to mitzvot which
have been transmitted to generations of students. We strive to
instill in our students the midah of kol yisrael arevim ze laze, and take seriously this commitment to watch out for each other.
It is our
commitment to these principles that makes this letter so difficult.
There has been significant media attention recently highlighting sexual
abuse at private schools. Much of the abuse that has been brought to the
forefront by the press took place many years ago and has only been
uncovered recently. Sadly, it has come to our attention
that SAR students may have been subject to sexual abuse at the hands of a
former teacher/administrator in the 1970s.
A
recent email from a former student reported abuse that was perpetrated
by Stanley Rosenfeld, a former SAR Academy teacher and administrator.
Rosenfeld was the Assistant Principal for General Studies at SAR Academy
in the 1970s. In 2001, many years after Rosenfeld left SAR Academy, he
pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree child molestation with
no known connection to SAR.
As
painful as this is for our school community, the pain for any of the
victims of abuse is far greater. We are committed to being supportive to
any victims of abuse, to understanding the abuse they suffered and the
harm it has caused them, and to learning from our past experiences and
using them to inform our present practices to protect our community.
In
order to ensure that we can properly understand the scope of abuse and
support the victims of abuse, SAR has hired T&M Protection Resources
to conduct an external investigation of claims of sexual abuse. T&M
is an investigative firm, comprised of former prosecutors with
extensive experience investigating allegations of sexual misconduct. In
order for T&M to conduct this investigation, we are encouraging all
members of our community to please report any information regarding
abuse that may have been perpetrated by Stanley Rosenfeld. Reports may
be made directly to either of us or to T&M. Contact information is
listed below.
SAR is committed
to our students- past and present. Beyond the reported incident, we
encourage anyone who has information regarding any abuse, past or
current, to report to either of us or to T&M through the contact
channels listed below.
We
expect that the investigation by T&M will take at least several
months and we want you to know that while the privacy of survivors is
central to this process, we do intend to communicate our findings at the
conclusion of the investigation.
We
are fully committed to the safety of our students and to continuing to
implement best practices in these areas. As our students, parents and
staff are aware, in recent years, SAR has implemented policies and
training regarding sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Our commitment to
our current students and the protections we have implemented does not
minimize the commitment to understanding and addressing a painful past.
We thank you for your assistance in this effort and in being responsible for the well-being of all of those in our community.
Rabbi Binyamin Krauss
Principal, SAR Academy
Rabbi Tully Harcsztark
Principal, SAR High School
Contact information:
T&M Protection Resources
email: SAR@tmprotection.com
phone:(646) 445-7705
Rabbi Binyamin Krauss
email: kraussb@saracademy.org
phone: (718)-548-1717 ext. 1207
Rabbi Tully Harcsztark
email: harcsn@sarhighschool.org
phone: (718)-548-2727 ext. 1501
No comments:
Post a Comment