Sidwell sued over staff psychologist's affair

[Anonymous]

Sounds like they all deserve one another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they all deserve one another.

Oh, and including a school that asks questions about where the parents went to college and whether the child is adopted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
WTF?


Sidwell Friends Academy is being sued for $10 million for allegedly allowing its staff psychologist to carry on an affair with the married mother of a 5-year-old student he was treating.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/2011/05/sidwell-sued-over-staff-psychologists-affair#ixzz1M9wqrd3q

Pathetic case of an insanely jealous and vindictive man who was dumped.....and obviously deserved to be. Don't waste a minute reading about what should be kept a private matter.

Seriously? This is your take on this? Your comments are a perfect "window" on how so many people view adultery today--very sad. Not a thought about morality or families. Just the thought that it's okay to "dump" a spouse. Sorry, but it's one thing to "dump" a boyfriend. If you're married, there's a name for that kind of behavior--it's adultery.

Your observation is spot on. I wish that people generally took the time to stop and examine their own actions from a moral and ethical perspective.

[Anonymous]

Maybe AG Newmyer III simply had very bad reaction to an overdose of Viagra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe AG Newmyer III simply had very bad reaction to an overdose of Viagra.

And maybe she thought all the money wasn't worth it after all. Too bad she didn't figure that out before she took those pesky little wedding vows.

[Anonymous]

As a current parent, I have to agree. There are many wonderful things going on at Sidwell, but the school needs to work on morals and ethics. The upper school administrators think they do this by throwing the book at kids for minor offenses like dress code violations or missing study hall, but they ignore more serious (and difficult to resolve) issues like drugs and bullying. It is my great hope that the new head of school will take on this challenge.

Anonymous wrote:"Terry" Newmyer and I were classmates at The Sidwell Friends School a half century ago. I last saw him in 1963. While the specifics of his lawsuit against the school are unfortunate, they serve to point out a glaring shortcoming of the school which has gone unreported and unaddressed for far too long. In 1883 Mr. Sidwell founded a school predicated upon the principles of the highest educational, moral and ethical standards. In the middle of the last century, at the urging of many of the influential parents from Washington's highest socioeconomic strata, the school undertook what can only be characterized as a concerted program of social engineering which sacrificed those same educational, moral and ethical standards to the prevailing ideology of the city's aristocracy to keep the student body populated with those whose parents were notable and whose acceptance into the nation's finest colleges and universities was assured by legacy and the "old boy network" rather than intellect and merit. Having attended Quaker meetings for my fourteen years at Sidwell Friends where we were instructed to listen to our "inner voice", I would respectfully suggest that the school listen to its own inner voice and let it guide them back to the path Mr. Sidwell set nearly 130 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Another Sidwell parent here -- we really like the school, but I would agree that there are issues, both academic and social, that need attention there, particularly in the middle school. That said, I would note for those considering applying in the future that the situation giving rise to the lawsuit took place while there was an interim HOS in place. This was almost certainly a factor in the school's response -- or lack thereof.

[Anonymous]

Another SFS parent here. If you are going to let your child's education be determined by unsubstantiated rumors and the sexual lives of adults at the school, you will no place to send himn or her.

[Anonymous]

As a SFS parent, I believe complacency is an issue. The school rested on its laurels for a long time. The lower and middle school academics could be much tougher, for starters. The upper school is challenging, but also oddly rigid and not necessarily a happy place where kids can blossom.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one skeptical that some of the people claiming to be Sidwell parents really are Sidwell parents?

[Anonymous]

I am not a SFS parent, but why would you be skeptical that involved, active, supportive and interested parents from any area school would take the time to reflect on the (strengths and) issues of their institution.

Frankly, I find it refreshing (though maybe you would prefer a more private forum).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And how about the tidbit about Huntington revealing information about other families, learned as a result of his professional position, to his girlfriend? And then there's the lawyer for Sidwell being asked to distribute a letter to the Board and never doing so. It doesn't look good.

That would explain Huntington now fighting for his license:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/05/former-sidwell-psychologists-license-risk-over-affair

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both the NYT article and the WALJ report are inaccuate. Huntington was not the shrink at the lower school as ALJ misreports he was; the lower school is not even in the same state as the middle school campus where he worked. And Huntington was not "treating" Newmyer's daughter in response to the firing of middle school teacher Pete Peterson, nor were is services offered to her in connection with that firing, as the NYT article implies. The child was brought to him for an assessment in his private practice--no affiliation with the School whatsoever--where he met the mom, eyes locked, pulses quickened, etc., and they proceeded to make terrible and terribly stupid decisions (including laying out graphic detail of their affair via email). After the initial assessment by JH, there were no more; the playdates were set up because the parents had the hots for each other and the kids got along, not as mixed therapy/playdate sessions as alleged.

JH is an idiot for many, many reasons. Should've been fired and he was (but not because of his private life). However, his idiocy does not implicate him or the School as liable on any basis asserted by the complaint. No emotional distress without physical harm. Thus, no "injury" and no negligent supervision. No respondeat superior without scope of employment. Not to mention the fact that a kid in counseling at age 6 is _already_ emotionally distressed. The affidavit of a family friend saying she seems "cagey" compared to the preceding summer is hardly enough to prove up a case, even _if_ physical harm weren't a requirement (it is). (BTW, think sending a copy of this complaint to the news agencies is going to help your daughter's troubles?) Fiduciary duty? Please.

As one PP said, the plaintiff is a man whose hatred for his wife and sense of vengeance toward the man who cuckolded him outweigh whatever sense of care he feels toward his daughter (obviously not much). If you read the complaint, it's plain he wanted the daughter to stay in Florida; by tossing out the collaterally damaging accusations he does, he is also furthering his goal of making the School a place his daughter cannot reasonably be expected to attend. The lovebirds and plaintiff are all gigantic assholes and their kids' suffering is only just beginning. Remember when you had that revelation that your parents must have sex to have had _you_, how mortifying, how much of an *ICK* that was? Now imagine what it would be like to stumble across the things in this complaint, written about mommy.

All three of them teamed up to make a total disaster. Good luck kid.

Sayeth counsel to Sidwell's liability insurance carrier. Good job, though, counselor, this was quite persuasive.

[Anonymous]

Jack Huntington is now missing from the list of staff members on the Wake Kendall website. Hmmmm.

[Anonymous]

$400 whoopsi...wppsi Ahhh...99.9 percentile...the Big 3 way