Settlement offered in school abuse case

A lawyer for a man who filed a lawsuit that accused the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford and officials of a prestigious New Haven private school of a decadeslong coverup of sexual abuse of young boys by one of their teachers has offered to settle the suit for nearly $7.5 million.

The man was a 12yearold student at St. Lawrence parochial school in West Haven when he claims he was sexually assaulted by the teacher, Glenn Goncalo.

Goncalo, of Derby, shot himself to death in 1991 after police made arrangements with him to turn himself in on an unrelated accusation of sexual assault against a child.

The lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Hartford, St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church Corp., the Hopkins School of New Haven and the Hopkins Trustees is scheduled to go to trial in September. But in papers filed this week in court, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Cindy Robinson of the Bridgeport law firm Tremont, Sheldon, Robinson and Mahoney, offered to settle the case against all defendants for $7.48 million.

“We have a preventable situation where schools allowed a school employee to have unmonitored access to children, enabling him to sexually abuse them. The effects of this kind of abuse are indelible — the loss of selfesteem, the inability to trust, the anxiety never goes away,” Robinson said.

In an emailed statement Thursday evening, a Hopkins School spokesman argued the school only learned about the allegations in recent years and has investigated any allegations it has received of sexual misconduct.

“Hopkins first learned of the current allegations in the last few years when it received a letter from plaintiff’s lawyer,” said John Galayda, the school’s director of communications. “It swiftly commenced an investigation and did not sweep anything under the rug. Hopkins School has been very open and transparent about its confrontation of any sexual misconduct within its community.

“Indeed, the school has written its community about past sexual misconduct including naming the adults who committed the abhorrent act,” Galayda added. “Hopkins will continue to address these issues with conviction for rootingout misconduct and supporting those who have survived such reprehensible behavior.”

The archdiocese’s lawyer, Lorinda Coon, said, “It is the policy of the archdiocese not to comment on pending litigation.”

In the nearby Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop Frank Caggiano has said he wants to make transparency a priority. Retired Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg earlier this month released a report of sex abuse by priests going back to 1953 that listed 71 priests who had been credibly accused compared with 41 priests already identified by the diocese. Caggiano said he would investigate the 30 additional accusations Holzberg identified.

Goncalo was a teacher at St. Lawrence School, an archdiocese school, and an intramural director and coach at Hopkins.

Hearst Connecticut Media obtained a New Haven police report regarding a sexual assault claim against Goncalo.

In that report, dated Sept. 7, 1991, the father of a boy other than the plaintiff in this lawsuit complained that his son had been sexually assaulted at Hopkins School by Goncalo.

The report states that Goncalo was the boy’s teacher at St. Lawrence and had taken the boy to Hopkins on the pretext of having him try out for the baseball team. But when they got into the school’s vacant gym, Goncalo bound the boy’s hands behind his back and sexually assaulted him, the report states.

The report states that another boy said he witnessed the incident.

New Haven police made arrangements with Goncalo to turn himself in, when on Sept. 29, 1991, he was found lying on the side of the road near his home with a gunshot wound in his chest, the police report states. An autopsy determined his death was selfinflicted.

The lawsuit, filed by Robinson, claims that Goncalo was allowed 24/7 access into Hopkins School, including after regular school hours and when school was not in session, and would bring minor boys, including the plaintiff, to Hopkins under the guise of using the school gym to play basketball.

After using the gym, Goncalo required the boys to shower naked with him, the suit states. In addition, on an overnight stay at Hopkins School, and at Lawrence School, Goncalo molested the plaintiff, the suit claims..