Education and Institutional Abuse

An independent Aleta Law investigation into Miss Hall’s School, an elite all‑girls boarding school in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, has substantiated decades of sexual misconduct by multiple employees and detailed institutional failures that allowed alleged predators, including longtime history teacher Matthew Rutledge, to remain in the classroom. The 60‑page report, which identifies eight substantiated cases from the 1940s through the 2010s and five firsthand accusers of Rutledge, has prompted civil lawsuits, criticism of Massachusetts’ age‑of‑consent laws after prosecutors declined criminal charges, and renewed calls before the state legislature for stronger protections for students.