KIPP NYC Investigating Sex Abuse Allegations

NEW YORK CITY — The charter school network KIPP NYC is investigating incidents of sexual abuse in its schools that occurred more than a decade ago, school leaders announced Wednesday. The two allegations of "possible sexual misconduct" reported to the school do not involve any current students or teachers, according to a letter the network's three top officials sent to parents Wednesday.

KIPP, which operates 11 schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, has hired the Manhattan law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate the reported incidents, the letter says. The group has also reported them to law enforcement officials.

"We are sharing this information with you because we know this is a topic rarely spoken about openly and our hearts go out to any member of the KIPP community who has experienced abuse in any context," says the letter from KIPP co-founder Dave Levin, Superintendent Jim Manly and board Chairman Rafael Mayer. "We want to encourage any KIPP team and family member to come forward if they have information, or seek support if they need it."

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The letter provides little information about the alleged abuse. It does not say where it occurred, how many perpetrators are involved or what position the perpetrator held at the time.

The letter asks anyone with information about the incidents to contact Debevoise & Plimpton partner Mary Beth Hogan, who has experience handling sex abuse investigations for educational institutions.

Sandra Galvin, a spokeswoman for Debevoise & Plimpton, told Patch the firm cannot comment further on the ongoing investigation.

"To allow the investigation to proceed independently and unimpeded and to protect the privacy of all involved, all the information that KIPP NYC will be sharing at this time is included in the letter we sent yesterday," Vicki Zubovic, a KIPP spokeswoman, told Patch in an email.

KIPP, an acronym for Knowledge Is Power Program, follows the course of several high-profile private schools in hiring outside lawyers to lead investigations of past sexual abuse, which sometimes produce public reports of the conduct, The New York Times reported.

KIPP NYC was founded in 1995, when the network opened its first middle school in the South Bronx. Its charter schools are publicly funded and independently operated. Some 90 percent of its more than 4,800 students in New York come from low-income families, its website says.

(Lead image by Chris Hondros/Newsmakers via Getty Images)