Friends School looks at ex-teacher misconduct claim

Friends School of Baltimore announced Thursday it is investigating a claim a teacher inappropriately touched a student in the 1970s.

A former student has said that while they were a high school student at Upper School at Friends, “a teacher touched them inappropriately,” according to an email sent to Friends alumni from head of school Matt Micciche. “The former student also indicated that, during the same period, there may have been incidents of sexual misconduct and improper relationships involving Friends School faculty,” the email reads.

Micciche took the claim to the school’s Board of Trustees, who authorized an investigation, the email said. He did not name the former student or the teacher, and school spokesman Theo George declined a request by The Baltimore Sun for any further information.

The teacher “left the school more than 40 years ago,” according to the email. Maryland Child Protective Services has been informed of the claim.

Friends School is one of the oldest private schools in Baltimore and is founded on Quaker values. It serves students in co-ed pre-K through 12th grade.

The announcement came less than two months after a middle school teacher from The Park School of Baltimore was found to have inappropriately touched and engaged in troubling behavior with students in the 1980s.

Both Park School and Friends School hired the New York-based T&M Protection Resources firm to investigate the allegations. In the Park School investigation, T&Mfound the former teacher to have engaged in a pattern of inappropriate touching with several middle school students and that the Park administrators were aware of the sexual misconduct and failed to curtail it.

The firm will help administer a hotline for other alumni to come forward with allegations.