BEXLEY, Ohio — The head of school from Columbus School for Girls confirms lawyers hired by the school to conduct an investigation found a former Spanish teacher had sex with a student.
In a letter to the school community, Head of School Jennifer Ciccarrelli says she received a credible threat about Steven Pryor on Oct.30, 2020.
He was placed on paid administrative leave in November, according to school officials.
Ciccarrelli said lawyers hired by the school investigated and heard from 31 people who came forward.
It's believed the incident happened in the mid-2000s, according to the school.
It's not clear where the incident took place.
Pryor has not been criminally charged.
The Columbus School for Girls declined our request for further comment Thursday.
Here is the full letter from Ciccarrelli:
I write to follow up with you on my communication in early November regarding Steven Pryor, a former CSG faculty member. As you may recall, on October 30, 2020, I received a credible allegation of misconduct by Mr. Pryor from a former student who attended CSG in the mid-2000's. I placed Mr. Pryor on leave and hired Hogan Lovells US LLP to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the matter. I have received a report of the investigation, a summary of which I share with you in this letter.
Elizabeth Pignatelli and Diana Van Leeuwen, Hogan Lovells attorneys, reviewed all available documentary evidence and interviewed thirty-one individuals who came forward with relevant personal knowledge about this matter. Based upon their investigation, Ms. Pignatelli and Ms. Van Leeuwen concluded that Mr. Pryor engaged in a sexual relationship with one of his students while she attended CSG. The investigation did not find evidence of any other instances of misconduct on Mr. Pryor's part.
Although Mr. Pryor has resigned from CSG, I recognize that this information is very unsettling. The safety of our students is central to all that we do at CSG and any circumstance of sexual misconduct jeopardizes the trust placed in us to protect our students. Over the course of the past seven years, CSG has put in place many best practices to further enhance the safety of the children entrusted to us. We have reviewed our personnel policies, clarifying and strengthening our expectations for professional conduct; provided mandatory boundaries training for all faculty and staff; created and implemented a curriculum for students about boundaries and consent; enhanced and standardized our hiring process to ensure rigorous background and FBI checks; strengthened our advisory system in the Middle and Upper Schools and provided avenues for reporting any issues of concern; and hired a full-time Director of Counseling and Wellness.
We will continue to seek out best practices in hiring and supervision of our faculty and staff, and we will continue to enhance the systems of support for our students to ensure that they know that they are in a safe learning environment.
I am incredibly grateful to the CSG community members who came forward to share information they had about this matter. It is critically important that our community—students, parents, faculty and staff, alumnae, and former parents—know that CSG will respond to and act on concerns that are brought to us. We are in the process of creating a confidential reporting mechanism to further ensure that any concerns can be reported, taken seriously, and investigated appropriately.
Please know that the leadership of CSG will continue to be transparent and forthcoming as we take all actions necessary to ensure the safety of our students. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.