Dark days at Selwyn House

If an old sex scandal and subsequent civil court case were not enough to cast a dark, foul-smelling cloud over this otherwise celebratory centennial year, yesterday's news of a current Selwyn teacher being detained by U.S. authorities on charges of child pornography possession and soliciting a 13-year-old boy has dragged a disgusting old skeleton out of the closet and plopped it down in the here and now.

A great school’s reputation is spiralling downward — fast — and there seems very little its administration can do about it. Only so much apologizing and damage control can be effectively undertaken in these situations. Unfortunately, there is nothing like a lurid sex scandal to get people talking — and the more they talk, the more the facts can get twisted and exaggerated.

Can you imagine how Headmaster Will Mitchell must have felt when he received that dreadful call from Virginia authorities informing him that one of his elementary school teachers, Richard Doucet, had been arrested on those charges — uncomfortably similar to allegations of molestation brought against three former Selwyn House teachers, said to have occurred in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Can you imagine how the parents of Mr. Doucet’s Grade 3 students must have felt upon hearing the news? How about the parents of all the students he has taught over the past decade? And then there are the elementary school boys themselves, most of them too young to fully comprehend the nature of the charges brought against their teacher, who, outside of their parents, represents the most significant authority figure in their lives.

In all fairness to Mr. Doucet and his family, he has yet to be found guilty. He may be entirely innocent of all charges, the unfortunate victim of a terrible misunderstanding or mistaken identity. We know this happens all the time in the movies, but in most screenplays the hero is totally exonerated by the time the end credits appear. In real life, however, it is more likely that his reputation never recovers and he finds himself persona non grata in any educational institution or other field where children are involved.

So no matter what happens, you can be sure this is one teacher whose days at Selwyn House are through. The school’s well-known and well-deserved reputation for academic excellence is one thing, but the bottom line is that there are very few parents out there who would be willing to pay $18,000 per year to any school where they believe there is a chance, however remote, that their child might be molested.

It’s a sick, disgusting situation for the school to find itself in, because the bottom line, as we all know, always wins out.