<p>I was referring the the “list” incident. Reading that story about Dr. Keller made my stomach turn. It’s rather shocking he wasn’t let go after the first or at least second incident.</p>
<p>Oh wow, I just read the letter from Andover regarding Dr. Keller and I am SHOCKED that he was only recently fired, yet his misconduct has spanned years! I had no idea about any of this. We had never looked much into Andover other than touring it last year, during which we immediately concluded it wasn’t the school for our daughter and never considered it again. Upon reading this explanation from the school regarding Dr. Keller (which they seem to find perfectly acceptable) I am literally feeling sick. IF I were a current Andover parent I would feel very angry and uneasy about all of this.</p>
<p>A quick note that I intended this thread to focus on the “list” incident (from last spring) and not the situation involving Dr. Keller.</p>
<p>10+ years to sack Keller?</p>
<p>This is relevant to the thread in my view.</p>
<p>@Weatherby: I just don’t want this thread to become a target for trolls (present company excluded) who have exactly 1 post to their screenname and it happens to be about some controversial incident/scandal at a specific school.</p>
<p>Sorry to bring up the Keller story, but it was in the spirit of bad behavior by anyone on campus and how a school handles it. It looks like Andover viewed each of the early incidents independently, they were several years apart and not related to child porn, and when they saw a clear pattern of behavior against their principles, they acted. Not sure I’d be “sick” about it as it does not appear that any children at Andover were harmed. Of course, there may be more to the story but, on the surface, with just the facts presented, I’d say Andover acted appropriately.</p>
<p>But I do agree that this story will probably take on a sad life of its own, so I’m sorry about muddying the discussion here.</p>
<p>Well, the whole story does make my stomach turn. And I do feel that this is a very relevant topic and closely linked to the idea of “school culture” and how swiftly a school reacts to inappropriate behavior by either students or staff. </p>
<p>There WERE children harmed in the making of thousands of videos of child pornography (of which Keller is alleged to have purchased hundreds for himself…some sent directly to campus). The fact that these child victims were not Andover students does not put me at ease in the least! These are extremely serious allegations and Keller could go to prison for a very long time. </p>
<p>Of course, none of this is Andover’s fault and I am not suggesting that the school knew about the child pornography; however, the school was alerted to several warning signs regarding this man over 12 years ago. So, that does beg the question: at what point should a school act? How many times should a school “view these incidents independently”?</p>
<p>Personally, I want the boarding school my child attends to have a zero tolerance policy regarding inappropriate sexual behavior by staff or faculty. I don’t know if they do, but I am going to inquire.</p>
<p>Now that I am a student at Andover (just finishing my second week) I think I can say a bit more about the atmosphere between students (girls especially) here. I think kids make friends much faster here than at non boarding schools, since we spend literally all day together you start making close friends within the first few weeks. Some of the dorms have a few close knit cliques forming, just because of proximity I think. Here everyone had to make completely new friends in a strange place and when that happens friendships become more intense, because these friends are basically a new family. It can probably feel very stressful to be surrounded by people you don’t know if you’ve had the same friends your whole life. This is what I think causes some very unusual actions by girls who are usually very nice people, even months after school had begun.</p>
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<p>I appreciate the optimism reflected in this young person’s view, but am concerned by his or her failure to recognize the seriousness of this kind of bullying. It is wonderful that this student has this kind of trust in his or her new community . . . but I hope that loyalty will not hinder that student’s ability to recognize (and potentially to report) conduct that threatens that community.</p>