Milton Academy discloses sexual misconduct by former faculty members

MILTON, Mass. — A former faculty member at Milton Academy engaged in sexual misconduct with students for years before finally being fired in 1987, according to a letter sent out by the school Tuesday.

The revelation comes amid other admissions of sexual misconduct on campus and the school’s lack of action on them following an investigation conducted by the school over the past year.

The investigation, sparked by a 2016 news report on sexual misconduct in private schools, set out to determine if any “transgressions” had occurred in the school’s past.

“Several decades ago this institution failed to protect some of the young people in its care,” the letter states. “We want to acknowledge and deeply apologize for those failures.”

According to the letter, former faculty member Rey Buono “engaged in multiple incidents of sexual misconduct with students during his tenure at Milton.”

Buono was a member of the faculty from 1973 to 1987, the letter states.

The headmaster at the time, Jerry Pieh, is purported to have known about the misconduct in 1982, but failed to take action until Buono admitted in 1987 to sexually abusing a student. He was then fired.

The investigation also found three former male employees sexually abused young girls. According to the letter, the incidents happened on campus, but were not reported to the school’s administration.

“We are deeply saddened by the conclusions of this investigation,” the letter reads.

The school says it contracted T&M Protection Resources to conduct the investigation in May of 2016.

Part of the letter also offered the following information for any possible victims looking for assistance:

To help address the impact on the victims and those close to them, Milton is offering to pay for professional counseling services for anyone affected by these incidents. If you would like to speak about counseling support, you may contact Deborah O’Toole, Milton’s chief human resources officer, at deborah_otoole@milton.edu or 617-898-2286, or you may contact our independent consulting psychiatrist, Dr. Mike Jellinek, at mjellinek@partners.org, who will keep your name anonymous to the School.

You can read the full letter here.

Cox Media Group