I am the chairman of the board of trustees of the American Boychoir School in New Jersey and have been a member of its board since 2007. I write because I feel this newspaper treated this school, its staff and its students most unfairly when it published an OpEd by Shonna Humphrey.
Let me be clear that I am not in any way challenging Humphrey’s right to discuss publicly her husband’s negative experiences at the school almost 25 years ago or to write about his, and her, continuing anguish. Contrary to her assertions, ABS has long acknowledged that very serious sexual misconduct occurred at the school a generation ago. We have not sought to silence anyone who wished to speak about their experiences or that period.
ABS has taken numerous steps to communicate privately with the victims of abuse. Moreover, we have reached settlements with all those victims who chose to pursue legal remedies.
Finally, and despite Humphrey’s attempt to brush these off, this school has put into place, and enforces, rigorous child safety practices at the school of today. Our staff receive regular advice and training from local child welfare organizations, including PEI Kids and the New Jersey Child Abuse Prevention programs, and we welcome appropriate inspections and regulation. In fact, in an email to the school in 2014, Humphrey said she applauded the safety protocols displayed on our website.
Humphrey’s piece makes it seem that no movie can be shown that tells a fictional story about a present-day boychoir school like ours unless it also tells her story, which Humphrey has herself published in a book and articles. I simply do not understand why it was fair to attack the “Hear My Song” movie because, in telling its fictional story set in the present day, it did not also wrestle with events of 20-plus years ago that had no part in the story actually being told.
Again, I do not at all criticize Humphrey for telling her story but only for insisting that a story about a boychoir school also address her family’s personal pain.
Humphrey makes passing reference to a recent New Jersey criminal prosecution for sexual misconduct of a man formerly employed by the school. It is only fair to point out that the victim was not a member of our school’s community; the case concerned conduct that did not occur at the school or while he worked there. Despite extensive local publicity about the prosecution, no one has come forward to suggest that any misconduct occurred while he was employed at our school.
For our students, these published opinions on the movie and their school have caused considerable pain. They were proud of the parts they got to play and music they got to provide for the movie. They love what they do as members of the American Boychoir, and they were looking forward to seeing their musical work on display as part of telling the movie’s fictional story.
The sexual abuse that occurred at the school in the past was wrong, heinously wrong, and it should not be forgotten. But neither should recognition of that past be used to impugn the reputation of the present-day faculty and administration of this school or to cast a shadow over the musical performances and education of the hundreds of boys who have passed through ABS in the intervening years or are singing and learning there now.
The American Boychoir is the premier touring boychoir in this country. We have a talented and dedicated staff of teachers, music directors and administrators who work very hard to make our program safe and supportive. As an artistic institution and a small school with an extensive financial aid program, our finances are precarious. (In fact, we are in the process of reorganizing under Chapter 11.) Publishing a one-sided OpEd about the school, especially one that focused on sad parts of the school’s history, without any attempt to report on the school’s present operations, damages the school and its boys.
Robert L. D’Avanzo is chairman of the board of trustees for the American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey.