McCallie Letter 092718

Dear McCallie Community,
Since our founding, McCallie has been a school that places honor, truth and duty at the heart of our mission.
Within that context, we are writing today to update you on the allegations of sexual misconduct in McCallie’s
past and to explain the school’s plan moving forward.
In April, we notified you that the administration had received allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred
at McCallie during the 1990s. We also informed you that McCallie had retained Suzanne Bogdan of Fisher
& Phillips, LLP to represent the school and to conduct a thorough review of the allegations and any other
inappropriate employee/student relationships at McCallie over the decades. We reached out to over 11,000
members of our extended community and encouraged anyone who had experienced sexual misconduct
at McCallie, or who had information about inappropriate behavior, to contact Ms. Bogdan. We asked Ms.
Bogdan to follow the reports she received wherever they led, placing no limitations on the time or scope of her
investigation.
To every person who responded to our request for information, we offer our thanks for your courage and
candor. While the information provided was painful to share and to hear, it was essential to attempt to support
victims and to move forward as a better community.
Summary of the Investigation
Fisher & Phillips presented the findings of its investigation to the Board of Trustees on September 7, 2018. The
investigation found that there have been no allegations of sexual misconduct involving any current employee of
McCallie. Moreover, there have been no allegations of sexual misconduct involving anyone employed by McCallie
since 2000.
However, the allegations of sexual misconduct did expand beyond the initial two allegations that prompted the
investigation. Of the calls Ms. Bogdan received, fourteen former McCallie students reported being the victims
of sexual misconduct at McCallie between the late 1960s and 2000. These callers identified five different
perpetrators who were formerly employed by McCallie; four are now deceased. With respect to the fifth
individual, our investigation leads us to believe he is no longer working in a school. With respect to all allegations
of sexual misconduct at McCallie, we have fulfilled our reporting obligations to the appropriate authorities.
The investigation revealed that none of the victims reported an incident of sexual misconduct to the school
around the time it occurred. In addition, there is no indication that any member of the administration or faculty
was aware of sexual misconduct at the time it was occurring and chose to remain silent.
Outside of this investigation, there was one additional, previously known instance when a student reported
sexual misconduct to the school in the early 1990s. The school took swift action to notify the appropriate
authorities and to terminate the employee.
The Board and administration have decided to withhold the offenders’ names and dates of incidents from
this letter for a variety of reasons, including to protect the privacy of the victims. Some of those who shared
information during the investigation asked for assurance that we would protect their anonymity. We are
concerned that identifying the four deceased perpetrators or describing even seemingly minor details of an
incident may inadvertently result in the disclosure of a victim’s identity. We ask for your understanding and
support in respecting their privacy.
McCallie School | 500 Dodds Avenue | Chattanooga, TN 37404

For the Victims of Sexual Misconduct at McCallie
McCallie deeply regrets that any student experienced sexual misconduct by a school employee. On behalf of
McCallie, we apologize to you. You did not receive the protection you deserved. We also apologize to anyone
else who was abused by a school employee and has chosen to remain silent at this time. If you decide in the
future that coming forward might help you, our door remains open. The school has offered to pay for counseling
for any victim of sexual misconduct at McCallie who requests it and to reimburse any victim for past counseling
he has already received. Beyond that, we continue to engage and work with each victim to the extent he desires
with the goal of providing the support that will help him recover.
McCallie Today
The safety of the boys in our care remains McCallie’s highest priority, and we believe the discussions prompted
by this investigation and what we have learned over the last few months will make the McCallie community
stronger. A culture of safety begins with a school’s policies, procedures, and practices, and these are some of the
measures that exist today to safeguard our students:
• In 2016, the school engaged a nationally recognized consultant to conduct a complete safety audit of the
school, including a review of policies, practices, and physical plant.
• Background checks and thorough reference checks are conducted on all new hires.
• Each year, all employees review the school’s policies prohibiting sexual misconduct, harassment, and
abuse. These policies can be found in our employee and student handbooks.
• Annual employee training includes detailed information about the state’s mandatory reporting
requirements, how to fulfill them, and the need to report even when doubt exists. The mandatory reporting
requirements and reporting hotline number are posted at locations across campus.
• Dorm heads and faculty advisors discuss McCallie’s policies and reporting requirements with all students.
Discussions include how to recognize appropriate/inappropriate boundaries with adults and what
to do if a student has any concerns.
• Areas of campus where misconduct, sexual or otherwise, is most likely to occur were identified in the
safety audit, and steps have been taken to better secure and monitor those areas.
• The school expanded its counseling staff to include four certified counselors and two chaplains, equipping
our counselors to offer better support to more boys.
Our Work Continues
We believe these cumulative efforts have been successful in providing an effective barrier against sexual
misconduct. Even so, we are committed to approaching student protection from a mindset of continuous
improvement. This year, we are adopting these additional measures to further strengthen our culture of safety:
• Our employees recently participated in specialized training from national experts on how to maintain
appropriate student/adult boundaries and how to recognize and report early when such boundaries are crossed.
• In consultation with national experts, all policies against sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse are
being reviewed and updated.
• We are identifying all current practices in which employees meet one-on-one or in small groups with
students, with the goal of tracking these interactions more closely and making them more open and visible.
• We are reimagining our entire advisory program to guide students in all areas of their lives on what it
means to be a man. This includes increased focus on safety, health, and wellness.

The national conversation about sexual abuse that has been taking place has prompted deep reflection on
campus about keeping children and adolescents safe. McCallie is not alone in this work. A joint taskforce of
the National Association of Independent Schools and The Association of Boarding Schools recently issued a
report detailing best practices schools can follow, many of which McCallie has already implemented. Our Board
and administration will continue to take guidance from the NAIS/TABS report, outside experts, and other
independent schools in considering what more we can do to safeguard our students.
Our Promise
In closing, we want to reiterate our admiration and gratitude to those who contributed to the investigation that
began in April. We are indebted to you. We also are grateful for the ongoing support of our students and their
parents, our alumni, and our dedicated employees during this difficult process. Our promise to the entire McCallie
community is that we will learn from our history, do what we can to support the victims, and work to provide the
safest, most secure environment possible on the Ridge.
Sincerely,
A. Lee Burns III ’87 J. Hal Daughdrill III ’73

Headmaster Chairman, Board of Trustees

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Dear McCallie Community,

Summary of the Investigation

McCallie School | 500 Dodds Avenue | Chattanooga, TN 37404

Our Work Continues

McCallie School | 500 Dodds Avenue | Chattanooga, TN 37404

A. Lee Burns III ’87 J. Hal Daughdrill III ’73

McCallie School | 500 Dodds Avenue | Chattanooga, TN 37404

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