Headmaster: OK Child-Abuse Bill

By Michael O’keefe
New York Daily News
May 13, 2013

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/headmaster-child-abuse-bill-article-1.1342446

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has proposed the Child Victims Act.

Headmaster Tom Kelly has reservations about the Child Victims Act, which would eliminate the statute of limitations and open a one-year window for survivors of past abuse to file criminal and civil cases, but supports it.

Horace Mann's headmaster says he supports a bill that might open the scandal-stained school to lawsuits by sex abuse victims.

But Tom Kelly has reservations about the Child Victims Act, which would eliminate the statute of limitations and open a one-year window for survivors of past abuse to file criminal and civil cases.

“Yes, I’m a supporter, but . . . the bill in its current form falls short,” Kelly said in a recent statement.

Kelly said the bill by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) falls short because it does not address abuse suffered by students at government-funded programs and schools.

“It would be a huge injustice to ignore this portion of the student population in New York State, when, in fact, they represent some of our neediest kids,” Kelly wrote.

Many of the former students who say they were abused at Horace Mann have already negotiated settlements with the elite private school.