Durham Academy investigates teacher’s ‘inappropriate relationship’ in the 1990s
A prominent Durham private school announced Friday that it had apologized to an alumna for an “inappropriate relationship” initiated by a teacher in the early 1990s.
“We are sharing this information with you now as part of our commitment to candor with our community, and to acknowledge the harm experienced by a valued member of the DA community,” says a Friday afternoon email sent to the Durham Academy community and signed by Head of School Michael Ulku Steiner and Board of Trustees Chair Melissa Pfeil.
Durham Academy currently serves more than 1,200 students from pre-kindergarden through high school.
The Durham Academy alumna was 16 and the teacher was 27, the email states. The alumna first contacted the school in May 2023 and the school immediately notified local law enforcement and conducted an investigation. The email doesn’t name the teacher or former student out of respect for the former student’s privacy, the email says.
The investigation found the report “credible. ” It also found that school officials, back in the 1990s, sanctioned the teacher, didn’t renew his contract and declined to provide a reference for future employment. At that time, the school was aware of “inappropriate attention” but did not learn the “full scope of the conduct” until the recent investigation, spokesperson Leslie King wrote in an email Saturday to The News & Observer.
“With the benefit of today’s lens, more robust child protection policies, and our heightened understanding of grooming and professional boundaries, however, our response today would be different,” the Friday email states.
The investigation, which included interviews with former staff and students, also “sought to understand” whether other students had similar experiences with the teacher, King said.
The letter to the school community asks people with additional information to contact outside investigator and consultant Leslie Gomez with the law firm Cozen O’Connor, King said.
Durham Academy apologizes to alumna, others
Before the 2023 report, school officials had already taken actions to bolster policies to protect students from abuse, school officials said.
In 2019, the school did an assessment of its policies to protect students from abuse, and the current program includes independent background and reference checks of employees, along with steps to inform staff about the schools’ abuse prevention policy and students about healthy boundaries, says the email to the school community.
The school has apologized to the alumna and to others who were affected and considers the situation “resolved,” the email says.
“Durham Academy is grateful to the alumna for sharing her experience, and to her classmates and former employees who participated in the investigation, for their insights and support for both the alumna and the school,” King wrote in the email.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
