St. Andrew’s School fires dean of students in wake of scandal

Lawyer: Dismissal unfair in light of systemic problem.

BOCA RATON — St. Andrew’s School has fired its dean of students in the wake of disclosures of his involvement in two cases where the school failed to report concerns about possible sexual abuse of students to law enforcement.

Andy Mulligan, a longtime employee and former St. Andrew’s student himself, was terminated this week as the school grapples with the fallout from the two cases, which have rocked the campus and fiercely divided parents and faculty.

His firing came after The Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday that he was one of the administrators who knew of the sexual assault on a 15-year-old student on campus in 2014 but failed to alert law enforcement or state child-welfare officials, his attorney, Bill Cornwell, confirmed.

Cornwell called his removal an unfair attempt by the St. Andrew’s board of trustees to cast blame on individual administrators for what was really a systemic problem at the school, which he said had unclear protocols about who should alert authorities about sexual abuse concerns and when.

“I t ’s a n o t h e r e p i s o d e