Concord Academy Requests, Accepts Resignation of Teacher After Admitting to Sexual Misconduct

CONCORD, MA — Concord Academy officials requested and accepted the resignation of a teacher after acknowledging sexual misconduct with a student over 30 years ago.

In a letter sent to the Concord Academy community published by The Boston Globe, Head of School Rick Hardy stated that a number of inappropriate relationships between adults and students were discovered after the school launched an independent investigations of sexual abuse. The investigation came in wake of a Boston Globe Spotlight report on sexual abuse at New England private schools.

"While we do not know and may never know the full extent of what occurred, we know for certain that multiple inappropriate relationships and other misconduct occurred, involving past faculty members," Hardy wrote. "Moreover, the relationships in at least some cases were widely known, or at least widely suspected, such that other adults in our community should have responded, and that plainly did not happen."

English teacher Parkman Howe sent a separate letter to the community admitting to kissing a student on two occasions over the course of an academic year over thirty years ago. Howe's letter indicates that he was asked to resign from his position and "completely remove himself from the CA community and its campus."

"I would like to use it (the opportunity to address the community) to apologize to both the former student and to the CA community," Howe wrote."I would also like to thank you all for your support and friendship, and to say that being part of the CA community for the past thirty-seven years has been a privilege and joy."

A spokeswoman for Concord Academy told The Boston Globe that Howe was the only remaining faculty member accused of inappropriate conduct who still worked at the school.

Read more from the Boston Globe here.