Dear Andover alumni—

Over the past 10 years, Phillips Academy has written to the community on several occasions regarding sexual misconduct that occurred decades ago—sharing findings from investigations; when appropriate, naming former faculty and staff members who harmed students; keeping our commitment to support survivors; and remaining open to hearing from anyone who was harmed while in our care. This letter continues that work.

When the Academy wrote to the community in September 2012, Richard Keller, who served as the Academy’s medical director from 1992 to 2011, had been arrested in connection with child pornography charges. We wrote at the time that we had no reason to believe that any of our students were involved in, or affected by, Keller’s alleged criminal behavior. In November 2013, Keller pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography and served over six years in prison.

We write today to share that two Andover alumni have since come forward to report that they were sexually abused by Keller while students at Andover. We are thankful for their courage in coming forward and sharing this information with the Academy. We recognize that people process trauma on their own terms and timelines, which is why Andover remains open to hearing from alumni, no matter how many years have passed since they were harmed. If you were harmed by Richard Keller or anyone else at Andover, please contact us so that we can fully respond and investigate.

There are several ways to report misconduct or abuse:

Please know that Andover remains committed to addressing misconduct, learning from past mistakes, and providing resources and support to all survivors. On behalf of Phillips Academy, we extend our deepest apologies to those who have been impacted by any form of misconduct at Andover. Since the school first began writing to the community about these painful matters, it has taken significant steps to strengthen its policies, programs, and culture. We have introduced new programming for students and adults, strengthened our training and policies, and applied lessons learned from that period.

Among other practices, we are working with Learning Courage, a survivor-led national nonprofit that works with schools to support sexual misconduct prevention, trauma-informed response, and healing. We are grateful for our partnership with Jamie Forbes and Amy Wheeler of Learning Courage who are both survivors of abuse. They have invaluable experience in independent schools and bring an understanding of what it is like to revisit difficult moments in the past. They will help guide our community from a survivor-centered and trauma-informed perspective while also recommending potential improvements to policies and procedures. Jamie and Amy are also available to speak with anyone who would like to learn more before using any of the reporting pathways above. They can be reached at jforbes@learningcourage.org or awheeler@learningcourage.org.

Protecting our students’ health and keeping them safe remain our highest priorities. We are profoundly grateful to the faculty and staff who commit themselves to nurturing a caring and supportive learning environment for every Andover student.

Sincerely,

Raynard Kington, MD, PhD, P’24,’27
Head of School

Eric Zinterhofer ’89, P’18,’19
Board of Trustees President