Girls, INTERRUPTED

Nestled in the Berkshires, with a pedigree dating back to 1898, MISS HALL'S SCHOOL appears to be a cocoon of safety and formative tutelage for its students, all of them young women. But for decades, an alleged sexual predator operated on campus. Now alumnae are speaking out in hopes of holding their former teacher-and the school-accountable

- EVGENIA PERETZ

On the other end was Julia Heaton, the head of school at Miss Hall’s—the small all-girls boarding school across the street, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where for three decades—since 1991—Rutledge had been the star history teacher and a charismatic face of the school. Heaton had bad news to share: The school had received a letter accusing Rutledge of sexual misconduct with a former student. Frantic, he texted Hilary Simon, his former student and advisee. “[If] this is related to you and me,” he wrote, “I am SO sorry.… I am not sure how to conduct myself here, other than knowing that I can only offer a blanket denial and decline the opportunity to say more than that to anyone who asks to speak to me…. I’m shaking as I type this, because I’m terrified, of course, but I don’t really know what else to do.” As she read it, Simon was shaking. She thought she’d die with their secret—that when he was 40 and she was 15, he’d sought her out and eventually began a sexual relationship that lasted well into her 20s. He’d cajoled her, obsessed over her; she was sure she was the only one. By the end of their exchange, in spite of herself, she found herself telling him she’d find out what she could.