A recent Vanity Fair article opened the floodgates following Miss Hall’s School’s reputation-shattering story of the sexual abuse of multiple students by a prominent teacher.

On March 27, 2024, a 2010 graduate, Melissa Fares, took official action against her former teacher and abuser, Matthew Rutledge. While the story has gone mostly under the radar, a first-hand account from Melissa Fares and another former student, Hilary Simon, was published on Vanity Fair on Jan. 16, 2025, pushing the story into the limelight.

Five days after the initial notice came out (April 1, 2024), Fares posted on Miss Hall’s alumni Facebook page, confirming she had officially reported the allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation. She reported the sexual relationship that started in 2006 went undetected at school, at his house, and even in her own home. The relationship lasted well into her college years, finally ending in 2014.

The story was first picked up by The Berkshire Eagle, who posted an article on April 8, 2024, summarizing the ongoing investigation, which included the initial letter from the Head of School, Julia Heaton.

Heaton’s letter addressed Miss Hall’s current and alumni community. She explained the conditions of Rutledge’s resignation from the school, the ongoing investigation, and urged current and past families to speak up, “To that end, I am reaching out to all in the MHS community asking that you please contact me directly if you or your child have experienced any sexual misconduct while a student at MHS,” she wrote.

A story like this hit boarding school communities a little harder.

Upon reading this story, Esther Glazer, a senior from Newton, Mass., had a mixed reaction. “Part of me was very surprised while reading this story, but part of me honestly wasn’t that surprised just because I’ve definitely heard of situations like these happening at boarding schools,” she said.

Within the past decade, prominent boarding schools such as St. George’s School in 2016 and Choate Rosemary Hall in 2017 have had breaking sex abuses scandals surrounding inappropriate faculty relations. A 2016 article about an investigation from The Boston Globe on the widespread sex abuse in boarding schools was highlighted in The New York Times, explaining that,

“Since 1991, more than 200 students from at least 67 private schools across New England have accused teachers, administrators or other staff members of sexually abusing or harassing them, according to a report on Sunday by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation team.”

These are only the statistics of publicly reported (if at all) cases.

When asked about their reaction to the article, an anonymous source expressed their issue with Miss Hall’s violation of sanctity. “Honestly it was scary, our school seems to protect us so much, and I wonder if the students at Miss Halls had the same perception, but still all of that was happening under wraps,” they said.

As revealed in the Vanity Fair interview, the abuse with Hilary Simon started in 2001. An incident of Simon and Rutledge was reported to a college counselor by a classmate but was promptly brushed off. Right after Simon’s graduation, in 2005, another incident was brought to the Head of School. Rutledge denied the accusations and walked out without another question. Alumnae have explained the school’s cover up of Rutledge’s actions. Many alums have spoken to The Berkshire Eagle, “More than a dozen alumnae have told The Eagle that administrators over the years tried to silence students who talked about what they allege they were witnessing between Rutledge and students.”

Mina Sugiyama, a senior from Tokyo, Japan, doesn’t see Miss Hall’s recovering from their secrets, “Because it talked about in the article that Miss Hall’s knew about it, but kept it a secret for that long,” she said.

While Miss Hall’s is in an era of rebuilding, the public nature of the case has skewed the view on boarding school.

Esther has been at boarding school for the past four years but doesn’t see this case making it as appealing as it has been. “With this coming out, it’s not gonna help parents make the case for sending their kids to boarding school, and it doesn’t paint the best boarding school in the best light,” she said.

Gus Brown, a senior from Peapack, NJ, agrees that the trust in boarding schools is going to be negatively impacted. “I think that parents are gonna be a lot more wary of trusting schools with their children that they can’t be around or be near for very long periods of time,” she said.