Elder High School

Archbishop Elder High School is a parochial high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Scandals of former staff members

Former staff members of Elder High School have had multiple accusations of sexual abuse against them including two former principals{{fn|4}}, Rev. Lawrence Strittmatter and Rev. Thomas Kuhn{{fn|5}}. These have lead to controversy because of the decision of Archbishop Pilarczyk of the Cincinnati archdiocese not to suspend some of the priests directly on learning of accusations against them; subsequently Archbishop Pilarczyk has said "I apologize from the bottom of my heart to those who have been abused by Father Strittmatter."

Related Topics:
Sexual abuse - Priest

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The school was also at the heart of a sex-abuse scandal when Reverend David Kelley was accused of "inappropriate behavior with students" at the school and it was alleged by Konrad Kircher, a lawyer suing the local archdiocese, that the archbishop wrote a letter to a treatment center saying students reported Kelley "touched their genitals," but subsequently covered up this knowledge to protect the priest{{fn|6}}.

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The scandals by former staff members at Elder High School and other related ones ended{{fn|7}} with the conviction of the archdiocese on five misdemeanor crimes for having "knowingly failed" to report information about the abuse, the first time that an archdiocese has been convicted in this way. Apart from Reverend David Kelley, none of the Elder High School staff members accused of abuse has been convicted, the charges and lawsuits against them having been dropped due to the statute of limitations{{fn|8}}.

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The present school administration encourages any former students who may have been abused, or anyone who has knowledge of such abuse to report such abuse to law enforcement authorities and to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

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