The following is the full text of the statement issued today by the survivor group to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal about independent initiatives:
The survivors of sexual abuse at the Horace Mann School welcome any and all initiatives that individuals are willing to undertake on our behalf. We ask that people who want to support us consult with us first, since we can help guide these initiatives to make sure they best support our needs. We note that no individual act can substitute for action by the school itself. We continue to ask that the Horace Mann School administration and Board of Trustees honor our request for an apology, compensation and an independent investigation.
I am a parent of a survivor of sexual abuse and I want to go on record as saying we parents are also survivors. The abuse that was going on in the supposedly safe environment of a former world class school in which the abuse was known to the then administration – changed our lives and our children’s lives forever. That fact is beyond sadness.
Should you, the current administration, create an organization in which to place available school funds and make them inaccessible to the students who suffered pain and humiliation and who continue all these years later to suffer pain and humiliation, know this parent will fight with all means.