Solebury School

Solebury School is a co-educational private boarding and day school located on a campus in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Solebury School's academic program features a college-preparatory curriculum with courses and electives in various subjects and a focus on interdisciplinary and experiential education models.

History

20th century

Solebury School was conceived by Robert Shaw, Laurie Erskine, Julian Lathrop, and Arthur Washburn in the early 1920s. It opened in September 1925 in rented quarters with four boys and four teachers. A year later, the founders purchased Michener Farm, which remains the institution's site. In 1949 the school merged with another local school, the Holmquist School for Girls, which had a similar educational philosophy and often shared events and productions. Solebury is often described as a socially progressive or liberal institution.

In the 1980s, a local activist and noted anarchist Abbie Hoffman would give speeches to the student body.

21st century

The school hosts LGBTQ groups; it produced an entry about bullying for the It Gets Better Project in 2011 and has an active campus club which pertains to sexuality, which students and teachers attend together. By participating annually in a local AIDS fundraiser walk, Solebury School has raised thousands of dollars for AIDS organizations.

Sexual abuse

In 2014, after several alumni claimed they had been sexually abused as students at Solebury, including by the current head gym coach, the school publicly issued a letter of acknowledgment and apology to them by mail in 2014. In a second letter to alums and parents, the school revealed its chief founder, Robert Shaw, had sexual relationships with his students.

On January 26, 2017, Bucks County published the results of a 2015 grand jury investigation detailing testimony considered credible by the district attorney from six former students alleging sexual abuse at Solebury School from the 1950s through 2005,Bucks County Investigating Grand jury report
on sexual abuse at the Solebury School identifying nine living adults formerly connected with the school who could be prosecuted. The report was critical of the Solebury School's campus culture as facilitating the abuse.

Prior to this, in the mid-1990s, there was a public sexual abuse scandal at Solebury between a music teacher and an underage student, which was settled in a civil suit in 1998.

Notable faculty

* Anna Whelan Betts, Victorian style illustrator
* Jonathan Miles - Novelist, Harmonicist (Writer-in-Residence)

Notable alumni

* Peter Hobbs - Actor
* Joyce Bulifant '56 - Actress
* James MacArthur '56 - Actor
*Alexa McDonough ‘62 - Politician
* Robert Kenner '68 - Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker
* Jill Nelson, journalist and writer
*Peggy Shepard - Environmental justice activist
* Elizabeth Pitcairn '91 - Classical violinist
*Andrew Bynum - NBA All Star
* Shaun Cassidy - Actor and Producer
* Langhorne Slim - Musician, songwriter

External links

*

The Association of Boarding Schools profile

Sex abuse case

*

Bucks County Investigating Grand jury report
on sexual abuse at the Solebury School

References

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Boarding schools in Pennsylvania
Private high schools in Pennsylvania
Educational institutions established in 1925
Schools in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
1925 establishments in Pennsylvania