Former Head of All-Girls School Indicted, Accused of Ignoring Abuse Reports

A former headmaster of a private girls’ boarding school in western Massachusetts was indicted on Wednesday on one count of reckless endangerment of a child.

Jean Norris, the former headmaster of Miss Hall’s School, is accused of failing to take appropriate action in response to “numerous reports” she had received of a teacher’s inappropriate behavior during her tenure, the district attorney’s office in Berkshire County said.

The district attorney, Timothy J. Shugrue, said the charge was part of a larger investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the school. A former teacher at Miss Hall’s, Matthew Rutledge, was indicted in March on three counts of rape for allegedly assaulting two students who attended the school between 2001 and 2010.

The investigation into the school drew attention to the Massachusetts law that deemed 16 to be the age when a person is able to consent to sex. This month, the state passed legislation that raised the age to 18 when the sexual activity involves an adult in a position of a trust or authority over the child.

Joseph C. Merschman, a lawyer for Ms. Norris, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the indictment. Nora Adukonis, a lawyer for Mr. Rutledge, could not be immediately reached for comment. Mr. Rutledge has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Melissa Fares, an alumna of the school who has said that she was abused by Mr. Rutledge, said the indictment of Ms. Norris was a “big moment” she never thought would come.

“Accountability doesn’t stop with the person who commits abuse,” Ms. Fares said in a statement. “It extends to those who enable it, ignore it, or fail to act when children are at risk.”

Miss Hall’s School enrolls about 200 students in grades 9-12 in rural Pittsfield, Mass., near the New York border.

In 2024, the police began investigating Mr. Rutledge, then a teacher at the school, after Ms. Fares publicly accused him of assault. But Mr. Shugrue announced later that year that Mr. Rutledge would not be charged with a crime because his accusers were 16 or older at the time they said he had begun having sex with them.

Aleta Law, a law firm hired by the school, conducted its own investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. The findings, released in an extensive report last year, included evidence suggesting that Mr. Rutledge had abused five girls over about 20 years. That prompted the district attorney’s office to take a closer look at the case.

A grand jury in March charged Mr. Rutledge with three counts of rape, accusing him of assaulting two students. Ms. Fares and Hillary Simon, another former student, told The New York Times that they had testified before the grand jury and the charges involved assaults on them.

The indictment of Ms. Norris comes after Aleta Law found that students and staff members had repeatedly raised concerns about Mr. Rutledge’s behavior. Ms. Norris was aware of some of these concerns and consulted legal counsel, the report found, but she took no substantive action against him.

In one instance during Ms. Norris’s tenure, the school suspended a student who had told a group of peers that Mr. Rutledge was “having sex” with students, the report said. Ms. Norris at the time called the student’s remarks defamatory, and the school required the student to write an “apology” letter to Mr. Rutledge.

In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Simon said, “It finally feels like we’re being listened to.”

Mr. Rutledge resigned from Miss Hall’s in 2024 after more than 30 years at the school as the police began their initial investigation.

The school has since changed certain policies, including rules on where and how students and teachers can meet, and has settled legal claims filed by survivors of abuse. Its leaders have also apologized for the institution’s role in decades of alleged abuse.

Over the years, the school allowed the abuse to continue unchecked, the report found. It noted that several faculty members, including Ms. Norris, maintained close relationships with Mr. Rutledge.

“For decades, Jeannie Norris had the power to stop Matthew Rutledge, and she chose to protect him over the children in her care,” Ms. Fares said.