FEATURE
vcreporter.com
Painful Education
Multiple reports of sexual abuse come to light at The Thacher School by Kimberly Rivers kimberly@vcreporter.com
EDITORIAL NOTE: The following report contains sensitive content that may be disturbing for some readers.
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t’s no surprise that the boarding school environment is particularly ripe for sexually inappropriate situations between adults and minors. When a child is living at a school away from parents, it is accepted and even desired that close relationships will form between teachers and students. That trusted bond is valuable. But when that trust is broken, by adults in a position of power or authority over vulnerable children or teens, the emotional and psychological impacts can send shockwaves through families for a lifetime. “You cannot calculate the damage done when this trust is broken. There is such a power imbalance, and that sense of betrayal,” said “Mary Sullivan,” who asked that her real name not be used at the request of her daughter, “Valerie Michaelson.” Sullivan learned a year ago that Michaelson, a graduate of Thacher School, Class of 2000, experienced sexual abuse and assault at the hands of a trusted teacher. Michaelson, along with other Thacher students, came forward last year to report events that took place about 20 years ago. Their experiences, along with some responses from school administrators and those accused, are detailed in a 91-page report (1), which was released by the school earlier this month. The report follows an investigation prompted by reports received by the school of sexual assault, abuse and rape, including statements made on several Instagram accounts that went live last summer. Michaelson declined to be interviewed at this time for this story, although she gave her mother permission to talk with the Ventura County Reporter. The report The community of The Thacher School in Ojai has been rocked by the report detailing multiple first-hand accounts and supporting witness reports of events that range from inappropriate relationships and touching between faculty and students to sexual abuse, assault and rape. Four faculty members are named in the report regarding “sexual misconduct”: Timothy Regan, John Friborg, Willard “Bill” Wyman II, and Derick Perry. The report also names two teachers, Rod “Jake” Jacobsen and Dana Vancisin, who were allegedly involved in a “failure to maintain appropriate boundaries with students and non-sexual touching that made students uncomfortable.” The investigation was conducted and the report prepared by the Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger, Tolles and Olson (MTO). According to that report, Thacher’s board of trustees met in the summer of 2020 in response to reports of “sexual misconduct” among staff and faculty. In August of 2020, the current chair of the board, Daniel Yih, informed Thacher students, parents and alumni about the active investigation by MTO and the creation of a hotline for anyone with relevant information to provide information. The identity of callers would be kept confidential. In the report MTO states that the investigation was inde-
pendent and that the two attorneys conducting the investigation and creating the report have never represented Thacher and will not represent the school in the future. According to the report, over 120 people were interviewed. According to the transcript of a June 22 phone call hosted by Thacher School, posted online and linked through the Instagram account @rpecultureatthacher, Yih states the report was made public at the recommendation of the attorneys. Thacher officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but a spokesperson agreed to respond to submitted questions. Those responses all referred back to the report, or letters produced by school officials on the website. The report has lit a spark within the Thacher community, with demands that the school reform its culture. It’s a fire that may spread to other private school communities. Summary of those named The hard truth The Thacher School is now faced with is that sexual abuse has occured on its grounds and under the eye of its administrators. The stories of those named in the report describe not only blatant and horrendously inappropriate and illegal activity on the part of adults trusted with the care of minor students, but also a pattern of looking the other way when concerns, complaints and cries for help are raised
in order to prevent controversy. Rod “Jake” Jacobsen Allegations regarding Jacobsen are limited to inappropriate touching, such as back massages, and do not include touching of “erogenous zones” of female students. Jacobsen began working at Thacher in 1991 and according to the report was forced to retire in June of 2020, when Blossom Pidduck, current head of school, and Jeff Hooper, assistant head of school, met with Jacobsen about student complaints that included unwanted shoulder rubbing, him placing his hands on the backs of female students, walking through the girls dorms while they were showering and general physical closeness and touching that made students feel uncomfortable. One student who witnessed the behavior called it a “weird intimacy.” According to the report, the school gave Jacobsen a fond farewell for his retirement and there was no mention to the school community of his reason for leaving, until the report was released a year later. Dana Vancisin Vancisin, a female faculty member, received three warnings about a relationship with a senior boy and was told to not July 1, 2021 —
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