Ex-teacher’s defamation lawsuit heads to trial

Saint Andrew’s has moved past turmoil of allegations 3 years ago

Allegations of “inappropriate relationships” between a teacher and students that rocked Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton three years ago will be revisited in a civil trial set for March.

While the private campus has moved past the turmoil, the case concerns a defamation claim by a former music teacher against the Episcopal school and its former board of trustees chairwoman.

Most of this battle focuses on a 2016 school-commissioned investigative report into allegations that students were endangered by the faculty member, who had lived on campus alongside residential students. Emails that allegedly circulated throughout the school community also are being contested.

The report prepared by a New England law firm concluded there was no evidence of any sexual abuse of students. But the findings still slammed school administrators for failing to report the allegations to authorities, and not protecting students who were “at risk” for years.

Fallout from the allegations and the much-publicized report resulted in the departure of some faculty members and top administrators, including the

headmaster. Yet the episode didn’t result in any criminal charges or action from state child protective agency overseers, records show.

What became of all of this acrimony at Saint Andrews? A half-dozen lawsuits, including the subject of the upcoming six-day trial in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Sleepovers cited in report

In this litigation, exteacher and boys’ “dorm parent” Christopher Waite claims the school, and former Board of Trustees Chairwoman Mary Jo Finocchiaro, were behind a series of false accusations that ruined his career as an educator.

Waite, 44, contends the 13-page investigative report, while not revealing his name, is clearly all about him and alleges he got too close with students before he quit in late 2015.

The “inappropriate relationships” cited in the report include repeated teacher-student sleepovers, a trip to the beach with a student after midnight, and a “private embrace” with a student.

The school responded by announcing it would start mandatory child-abuse annual training for all employees, among other reforms.

In a statement at the time, officials said that “regardless of the fact that there are no reports to suggest that sexual abuse occurred, senior school administrators took insufficient action to protect students from potential abuse.”

A Boca Raton Police report indicated there was “no evidence to substantiate any criminal behavior” by Waite. The same report noted the state Department of Children and Families determined it didn’t meet that agency’s criteria for an investigation.

Waite’s lawsuit — filed in early 2017 and since revised six times — contends that in addition to the report, Finocchiaro on more than one occasion had called Waite a sexual predator and a “pedophile teacher.”

“As a direct and proximate result of the false, malicious, and slanderous statements made by (the school and Finocchiaro,) Waite has suffered perpetual harm including public humiliation, contempt, distrust, disgrace and ridicule, as well as the loss of his ability to gain employment and earn a living,” wrote Waite lawyers Cathleen Scott and Lindsey Wagner.

Waite, who is seeking unspecified financial damages, said in a 2017 interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he never hugged students inappropriately.

“They horrifically misrepresented my time at Saint Andrew’s,” said the former fine arts department leader. “I did not do anything to endanger any student whatsoever.”

Reached on his cellphone Thursday, Waite referred questions to Scott and Wagner.

“This has been a devastating experience for him both financially and personally,” Scott said in an interview.

Ex-headmaster settles suit

Waite’s lawyers have argued the school and Finocchiaro had a motive for targeting him: To remove then-headmaster Peter Benedict, they decided “to create an alleged scandal involving Waite.”

Benedict and the school reached a severance agreement in 2016, just before the investigation began and four months before the investigative report was released.

Just last month, lawyers for the school and Benedict revealed in court papers that they had settled a lawsuit he brought in 2017.

Benedict had claimed the school failed to provide a promised letter of reference, along with a statement that his severance agreement had nothing to do with “any sexual misconduct” on campus — as the report found no such evidence.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Saint Andrew’s and Finocchiaro have filed court pleadings denying all of Waite’s claims.

Carlos Barroso, spokesman for the school and its attorneys, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel: “Saint Andrew’s School does not comment on pending litigation.”

On the settlement with Benedict, Barroso said the dispute “has been resolved,” without giving specifics.

Meredith Plummer, attorney for Finocchiaro, called Waite’s claims “frivolous” and said she believes her client ultimately will be dismissed from the lawsuit.

To date, Circuit Judge Lisa Small has denied Finocchiaro’s request to be removed from the case.

Small last month ordered the trial to be scheduled sometime in March, with the parties required to try first to resolve the dispute through mediation.

Teacher faces counterclaim

The judge is expected to rule soon on whether the jury also will hear a countersuit by the school against Waite.

In early 2018, Saint Andrew’s sued Waite for breach of contract.

The school says Waite violated the terms of his November 2015 confidential severance agreement by attaching a copy of it to his lawsuit.

As a result, the school argues Waite should be forced to return his nearly $11,200 in severance pay plus $5,000 in moving expenses. The agreement states that Waite voluntarily resigned for “personal reasons” and the matter would remain private.

Scott, one of Waite’s Jupiter-based lawyers, calls the counterclaim “retaliatory and baseless.”

Scott said Waite had a right to reveal the severance agreement because it is a point of contention in the lawsuit — a claim that the school violated its deal with Waite by bashing his reputation.

Waite had agreed to resign in an effort to move on with his life, but months later learned he was a target of the school’s investigation, according to his lawsuit.

Along with the investigative report, Waite says the defamatory attacks continued in two emails that he claims were produced by Finocchiaro.

The second email, signed by “concerned parents,” cites a March 2017 news article about the filing of Waite’s lawsuit and complains Waite’s “inappropriate conduct has dragged the school’s image through the gutter.”

This email, in the case file, urges parents to pressure the school against settling with Waite: “Tell them that we refuse to give our hard-earned dollars to a school that gives money to pedophiles, and that we are willing to pull our children out of Saint Andrew’s if they do so.”