BCS Teacher Sexual Alligations
The Record ran it yesterday and has been quite good at following the story, but from what I can tell, The Gazette has been unwilling to touch it:
Sherbrooke Record (Quebec)
June 22, 2007 Friday
Final Edition
HEADLINE: Second BCS lawsuit; Dates from 1966
BYLINE: Sarah Rogers, The Record
DATELINE: SHERBROOKE
SHERBROOKE - For the second time in less than a year, Bishop's College School in Lennoxville is facing a lawsuit against the conduct of a former staff member. An alumnus has made allegations of sexual assault dating back to 1966. The plaintiff recently filed a $1 million claim in Montreal against the former employee and BCS.
"The school takes this stuff very seriously," said BCS chairman David Stenason. "Our main priority is the well-being of our students, staff and alumni."
A 53-year-old Montreal man alleges the perpetrator was a dormitory monitor who worked in the students' residence in the 1960s. Christian Cloche is a French citizen who worked as an assistant in the 1966-'67 school year. The Journal de Montreal reported yesterday that the plaintiff claimed Cloche would visit him in his dormitory bedroom, remove his pants and demand he participate in masturbation.
It wasn't until 2004 that the plaintiff revealed this information to a therapist whom he still sees regularly, the Montreal newspaper reported.
Stenason said that Cloche now lives in Geneva, Switzerland. He could not be reached by The Record.
The lawsuit that has been filed contains allegations that have not been proven in a court of law.
"This person only worked at the school for a year," Stenason told The Record.
Bishop's College School was an all-boys school until 1972 when the facility merged with the neighbouring girls' school, King's Hall Compton.
Stenason said that BCS will not post another public statement on its website for the school community, as it did in October 2006, as he said these new allegations aren't as far-reaching as the request for court authorization for a class action suit that was filed last fall.
That lawsuit was begun by a former student against the now deceased Reverend Harold Theodore Gibson Forster, a BCS staffer between 1958 and 1965. The plaintiff and 10 other students claimed they were sexually assaulted by the school's reverend.
That case has yet to be heard in court; Stenason gathered that preliminaries in the case would be heard later this year or in early 2008.
In the meantime, Stenason is confident in the school's current code of conduct, which he calls "very strict." Additionally, there is a full-time psychological counsellor at BCS available to students.
Lawyer James Woods, who is overseeing the most recent file in Montreal, did not return The Record's call before press time.
Bishop's College School is a boarding and day school for grades seven through 12, founded in 1836.
posted by John Allore @ 6/24/2007 08:38:00 AM
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