Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Horace Mann Pays More Than $1 Million to Victims of Sexual Abuse Scandal

Horace Mann paid out over $1 million to victims in the wake of the elite private school’s sexual abuse scandal last year, according to court filings, The New York Times reports. The legal papers were filed at the New York Supreme Court as the pricey Riverdale private school sues its insurers to recover some of the damages it paid out to two of the more than 30 alleged victims of abuse.

The school earlier this year told reporters that Horace Mann had reached settlements with the vast majority of the victims, but the dollar amount was meant to be kept confidential. According to The New York Post, as many as 27 students may have so far reached a settlement, and if the most recent filings are a good precedent the school could owe over $13 million in damages.

For some, of course, these deals mean little in light of the tragedy.

“I realize that it could be millions and millions of dollars, and it would never have made any difference,” Dr. Kathleen Howard, whose son was one of the victims in the settlement, told the New York Post on Tuesday.

For others, this may be one instance of Horace Mann’s motto, Great is the truth and it prevails.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.