Star swimmer claims Malvern Prep didn't stop coach's sexual harassment
A former star swimmer at Malvern Preparatory School has sued it for alleged negligence, accusing officials and employees at the Main Line boys' school of failing to stop a guidance counselor and swimming coach who harassed him sexually for more than a year.
A former star swimmer at Malvern Preparatory School has sued it for alleged negligence, accusing officials and employees at the Main Line boys' school of failing to stop a guidance counselor and swimming coach who harassed him sexually for more than a year.
In the suit, filed Thursday in Chester County Court, lawyers for William Beard said the school and a private swimming association on campus did not properly supervise Emily Feeney or prevent her actions, even after the student and his father told employees that she had sent a barrage of unwanted sexual emails and text messages.
"Her abhorrent and improper behavior towards [Beard] was open and observable," the suit says.
One teacher allegedly told the teenager, "She talks about you like you're her boyfriend." Teachers witnessed Feeney "frequently" pulling Beard out of class to go to her office, the suit says. Beard's lawyers say no one investigated.
On one such occasion, in December 2014, Feeney locked her office door. She sat on Beard's lap, kissed him, and "attempted to engage him in sexual intercourse," according to the suit. When Beard refused, she let him go back to class.
Beard was eventually given another guidance counselor, but Feeney continued to coach him in swimming, the suit said.
The 41-year-old former counselor and coach is serving five years' probation, and had to register as a sex offender, after admitting in March that she tried to seduce Beard between March 2014 and May 2015.
Beard's lawyers say the school moved too slowly, firing her last year only after the allegations were reported to prosecutors.
The day the school received the child abuse report, the head of school allowed the Malvern police chief to question Beard for two hours without his parents' knowledge, according to the lawyers, Miriam Benton Barish and Sol Weiss of Anapol Weiss, and James J. Pepper of the Pepper Law Firm.
Now an adult, Beard is undergoing counseling for what happened to him, the suit said. He seeks damages from Malvern Prep, head of school Christian Talbot, assistant head of school Steven Valyo, swim coach Peter Lee, the Malvern Swim Association, and Feeney.
In a statement Friday, Talbot said student well-being was the highest priority.
"In May 2015, after learning of the inappropriate actions by Emily Feeney, the administration took immediate steps to notify the appropriate authorities and place Ms. Feeney on administrative leave," Talbot wrote. "We then determined that Ms. Feeney would not return to our campus."
He called Beard "a bright young man" and "a shining example of what Malvern Preparatory School students strive to become."
Talbot said the school would not comment further on the litigation.
Feeney joined the school staff in 2013. The next year, she began trying to seduce Beard, then a 16-year-old student attending on a swimming scholarship.
Feeney also told Beard she could get him onto Harvard University's team. She sent him sexualized photos, emails, and text messages as he repeatedly told her to stop, according to a criminal complaint.
"You are gorgeous and this is killing me. Please talk to me," she wrote in one message. Another said: "If you'd . . . just stop fighting and let it happen, you'd be a lot less uptight and much happier."
At her sentencing in March, Feeney, a Wayne resident and a mother of young children, said that her behavior "was a huge mistake and unlawful," and that she was sorry.
610-313-8207 @MichaelleBond