Investigation reveals sexual misconduct by 3 former Gwinnett private school staff

The school provided the letter Thursday to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Channel 2 Action News reported on the letter Wednesday.

After receiving a report of sexual misconduct from a former faculty member in March 2023, the school informed community members and commissioned T&M USA, a security and investigations company, to investigate ‘review past instances of sexually inappropriate behavior by staff and interview those who have come forward. first-hand experiences.

The company has not received any additional information regarding the first reported former employee. However, T&M USA shared information about three former employees, all men, accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior.

An employee was found to have “engaged in acts of sexual misconduct with three female students” in the late 1970s and 1980s. The students were in grades 10 through 12.

The company said that in the early 1980s, a second employee “engaged in separate instances of sexual misconduct with a faculty member and three female students in grades 8 through 11.”

T&M USA discovered a third employee engaged in sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old student in the 2000s. After leaving school, the man sent sexual messages online to another student. She reported the messages to the school, “but the school failed to provide her with appropriate support,” according to Harsh and Long’s letter.

The school did not name the former employees or anyone interviewed by T&M “because doing so would endanger the privacy of former students, some of whom wish to remain anonymous,” Harsh and Long say in their letter.

Greater Atlanta Christian is a 12th grade preschool located on Indian Trail Road in Norcross serving more than 1,800 students. The school opened in 1968.

Greater Atlanta Christian said it reported information about the former employees to Child Protective Services. In situations where one of these men works with children, the school has also contacted his current employer. He also offered to fund therapy for former students injured at the school.

Greater Atlanta Christian declined to provide details about the jobs the accused employees held or the years they worked at the school. He also declined to provide information about possible legal action related to the investigation’s findings.

Georgia law allows victims of child sexual abuse to file a lawsuit up to the age of 23. The AJC has contacted the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office to see if they are investigating any information in the T&M USA report and is awaiting a response.

“This investigation has helped us better understand our past, take responsibility, support those who have been wronged, and, from this hard-learned lesson, do what we can to make our school safer. We can promise you that we will never be complacent when it comes to ensuring students feel safe at our school,” Harsh and Long said.

They also encouraged anyone with information about employee misconduct to come forward.

The school’s letter from last year announcing the investigation lists steps it claims to take to protect its students, including background checks on employees and volunteers; guidance to employees on adult-student boundaries, recognition of child abuse, and mandatory reporting obligations; and screening all campus visitors by checking driver’s licenses against the National Sex Offender Registry.