Georgia private school settles lawsuit over decades-old sexual abuse

The former students, now men in their 40s and 50s, said they had been repeatedly molested by an English teacher and “dorm parent” at the boarding school from 1974 to 1994. 

A northwest Georgia private school has agreed to compensate 20 former students who say a teacher sexually abused them decades ago.

The former students of the Darlington School in Rome had alleged in a lawsuit that school officials didn’t stop the abuse even after boys and, in at least one case, a parent complained about the teacher’s behavior in the 1980s and 1990s.

In a statement Tuesday announcing it had settled the lawsuit, Darlington pledged to fully investigate future reports of abuse. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The former students, now men in their 40s and 50s, said they had been repeatedly molested by Roger Stifflemire, an English teacher and “dorm parent” at the boarding school who taught in grades 9 through 12 from 1974 to 1994.

Read more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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