Accused Prep School Assaulter was 1991 Teacher of the Year

EXETER, NH - A former high school teacher for almost 20 years that was arrested on sexual assault charges yesterday was also a teach of the year in Illinois, according to a report on on Palatine IL Patch.

Arthur Peekel, 74, was arrested on May 13, 2016, on two counts of sexual assault.

Peekel was part of an investigation into sexual assault and improper behavior at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter after a student who attended the prep school in the 1970s recently reported allegations of abuse to police. At the time, Peekel worked as the school's admissions officer.

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• Police Investigating Sexual Misconduct Allegations at Phillips Exeter Academy

Details of the former student's accusations came to light in a Boston Globe investigative report. The student, now a college professor in Greensboro, NC, told the paper that Peekel allegedly fondled him during an overnight on-campus visit in the fall of 1973 when he was only a 14-year-old prospective student.

Peekel denied the allegations when school officials confronted him at the time, the Globe reported. He took a leave of absence that same year before resigning from Exeter in 1974 to care for his sick mother in Illinois, the report added.

From 1986 until he retired in 2004, Peekel was a social studies teacher at Rolling Meadows High School. He was named Teacher of Year by the Illinois Board of Education for the 1991-92 school year.

Read the full report by Joe Vince of Palatine IL Patch at this link.