Mother sues Montco boarding school after she says her 7-year-old was sexually abused on campus by a 12-year-old

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to remove identifying details on the two juveniles involved.

A mother has sued the Perkiomen School and its leader after she said her 7-year-old son was sexually abused by a 12-year-old boy in an unlocked equipment room on the private school’s campus.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, the mother, who is not named, accused the boarding school and Head of School Mark Devey of taking inadequate measures to safeguard its campus, with faulty locks and security cameras.

She also faulted the school for its response to the alleged abuse of her son. Neither child attended the school.

After the mother reported the abuse to the school on Feb. 5, it didn’t communicate with her or her husband about the allegations for nearly two months, according to her lawsuit.

“You have this prestigious school that encourages families to be on campus, and then they’re not following through” with their promise of a safe environment, said Carin O’Donnell, a lawyer for the mother.

A spokesperson for the Perkiomen School referred a reporter to a message Devey sent to the school community Monday night. While the school had not yet been served with the lawsuit, Devey said, he noted it had gone to law enforcement after learning of “alleged interactions occurring on the school’s campus last winter between non-students.”

“Due to the sensitivity of the matters involved and our duty to protect the privacy of minors, it would be inappropriate to provide additional details or comment further at this time,” Devey said, adding that the school “will continue to act in the best interest of members of our entire community, with an eye toward safety, belonging and respect.”

O’Donnell said that the family had also reported the abuse to the Upper Perkiomen Police Department, which launched an investigation. But because the 12-year-old was also a minor, “that was left in the hands of the district attorney and police,” she said, declining to comment on the outcome of the investigation.

The incident that sparked the investigation occurred on Feb. 3. when the 7-year-old was on campus.

When her son went to get a drink of water but didn’t return after 10 minutes, the mother went to find him. She found him in an equipment room, which was unlocked, and found her son partially unclothed in a closet with the 12-year-old.

At home that night, the 7-year-old told his parents that the older boy had said that “if he didn’t allow him to perform sexual acts,” the 7-year-old would not be allowed out of the closet or to ride his scooter anymore, according to the lawsuit.

The boy “was told that doing the sexual acts would make him a big boy and a closer friend,” according to the lawsuit. The boy said such abuse had occurred on more than one occasion, including when the 12-year-old had followed him into bathrooms at the school.

The 12-year-old’s father said his son had admitted “to at least some of the acts,” according to the lawsuit.

While the school had said it was barring the 12-year-old from campus, he was allowed to play just behind Perkiomen housing, according to the lawsuit.

After that incident, the school sent an email to the school community, noting allegations of “unfortunate incidents” involving minors on the school’s campus who were not students.

Jillian Roth, another lawyer for the mother, said the Perkiomen School — where annual tuition for boarding students is $75,900 — had been aware of security problems for “at least a year” prior to the alleged abuse. The school had a key card system that “half the time was inoperable,” she said, and camera systems that weren’t operating.

The lawsuit notes other allegations of sexual abuse at the school, including reports earlier this year that two female students had been assaulted by a male student-athlete on campus.

But the school also mishandled the response to the 7-year-old’s alleged abuse once it happened, Roth said. “There should have been immediate action taken to remove that family from campus.”

The school also should have offered services to the 7-year-old’s family, Roth said. “Instead, they became a bit of a pariah,” she said.