Miss Hall’s School abuse survivors working to protect teens from predator teachers

They led the charge to sound the alarm on and rid Miss Hall’s School of a teacher who they allege preyed on them. They felt validated when an independent investigation concluded that administrators at the posh private Massachusetts school failed to protect them and other female students from an accused sexual predator.

But Melissa Fares and Hilary Simon say the 60-page report, which was released last week following an investigation by Maine law firm Aleta, brought them little in the way of closure.

They have to live with the knowledge that their alleged tormentor, Matthew Rutledge, who has also been accused in the report of grooming three other former Miss Hall’s School students for sex, will likely never be charged with a crime because the age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.

“When the report came out, I found myself holding so many different emotions at once,” Fares, 33, said. “I wish the report could have said here’s your youth back. But that time is gone and we’ll never get it back.”

Simon, 38, echoed Fares.

“These findings confirm what I already knew from my lived experience,” she said. “At the same time, I feel a deep sense of validation, something survivors rarely experience.”

But Fares’ and Simon’s fight for justice isn’t over. In addition to having an open lawsuit against the school, the women are working to help get support for a bill state lawmakers have introduced that would allow for people like teachers in positions of power to be held criminally responsible, even if the student has reached the age of consent.

Facing an uproar after Fares and Simon came forward in 2024 with allegations that Rutledge had groomed them for sex when they were teenage students, Miss Hall’s School hired the law firm to investigate the allegations.

The report found that Rutledge was reported to school leadership multiple times and that the school failed to act. It also details other cases of sexual misconduct going back to the 1940s against students by other former staffers at the venerable boarding and day school for girls in Pittsfield, where tuition is upward of $75,000 a year for students who board there.

“Miss Hall’s received information on several separate occasions in the late 1990s and mid-2000s about Rutledge’s inappropriate relationships and interactions with students,” the report states. “The evidence supports that the School’s leadership failed to adequately investigate and respond to the reported information.”

Rutledge, the report added, was a known quantity at the school. He was a “larger than life” figure who, at various times, served as a teacher, coach, resident, adviser and department chair, and who was known to bellow “make way for Mr. Wonderful” as he “bounded” down the hallways, the report stated.

Head of School Julie Heaton issued an apology on behalf of the school and herself after the report was released.

“The investigation revealed horrible truths about a community we hold dear and brought about personal and institutional reckoning,” Heaton wrote.

Heaton, who has been in her post since 2014, admitted she too “did not do enough to protect the wellbeing of students.”

Fares and Simon said Heaton’s apology was late in coming.

“I don’t see the publication of this report as closing the door on my fight,” said Fares, who filed a civil lawsuit last October in Berkshire County Superior Court against Rutledge, Miss Hall’s School, former head of school Jeannie Norris and three other women affiliated with the school and identified in the court papers as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3. That case is still pending.

“But it was nice to see, in writing, that our claims about what happened to us were substantiated,” Fares said. “I also felt some pride. It’s scary to think that if I hadn’t come forward, this could still be happening at the school.”

Norris, through her lawyer, declined to comment on Fares’ civil lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the Miss Hall’s School Board of Trustees released a statement on Fares’ lawsuit.

“Out of respect for the former students and Survivors involved and to maintain the integrity of the legal process, Miss Hall’s School will not comment on any pending litigation,” it said.

In March 2024, Fares reported to the school administration that Rutledge, 63, sexually abused and exploited her both when she was a student and after she graduated. The school placed Rutledge on administrative leave and he later resigned. Rutledge taught at the school from 1991 to 2024.

Fares also posted last April in a private Facebook group for Miss Hall’s School alumni that she had reported Rutledge to the school.

At the same time, the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office announced it was opening an investigation into the allegations against Rutledge. In October, it concluded that no crime had occurred because the accusers were at least 16 years old at the time of the incidents.

“Massachusetts law defines the age of consent as 16. While the alleged behavior is profoundly troubling, it is not illegal,” District Attorney Timothy Shugrue said in a statement.

Now, Simon and Fares have set their sights on getting the state of Massachusetts to pass a law that will make it possible to prosecute teachers like Rutledge, who has not been charged with a crime despite allegations he groomed at least three other former Miss Hall’s School students for sex between 1991 and 2024.

The bills that Simon and Fares are backing, sponsored by state Rep. Leigh Davis and state Sen. Joan Lovely, both Democrats, would make it a crime for adults in positions of authority or trust to have sex with older teenagers even though the state’s age of consent is 16.

“Right now in Massachusetts, a teacher, a coach or a priest can legally have sex with a 16 or 17-year-old in their care and claim it was consensual,” Davis said during a recent hearing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary. “That’s not consent. It’s exploitation.”

Simon said she is convinced Rutledge knew what he was doing by waiting until after she was 16 before the relationship turned sexual.

“I started school when I was 14, he started grooming me when I was 15, and he waited until after I was 16 to have sex with me,” Simon said. “I think he had to know the age of consent in Massachusetts is 16 and that it provided him cover. If anybody accused him of preying on students, I think he knew he could use age of consent as a defense.”

A lawyer for Rutledge said, “We do not have any comment.”

“This will never make any sense to me; that, despite the complete control he had over me, he won’t be prosecuted because the age of consent in Massachusetts is 16,” Fares said. “I didn’t give my consent. He stole my virginity and so much more.”

Fares said she is aware that amending the law will not clear a path for “prosecuting Matt Rutledge for what he did to us.”

“But, at the very least, they would protect future students from the same abuse of power,” she said.