“I am warning all the parents of [Rye Country School.] This is going to happen again," the mother said.
Trigger warning: This story mentions bullying and death by suicide that may be disturbing to readers.
Rosellene Bronstein sent her son Nate to a private school, and paid $50,000 a year in tuition, hoping he would get the best of everything, But in January 2022, the mother lost her son to suicide.
The distraught mom thinks that her son ended his own life because the principal of the Chicago private school allegedly ignored the bullied 15-year-old. Now, she wants to warn other parents in New York—where the administrator is set to begin a new job soon—that their kids might not be safe in his hands.
Chair of the RCDS Board of Trustees Leigh Geller announced today that Randall Dunn will be Rye Country Day's next Head of School. Mr. Dunn, who is currently the Head of Latin School of Chicago, will begin his tenure on July 1, 2022, following Scott Nelson’s planned retirement. pic.twitter.com/Z5HeJvCIy7
— Rye Country Day School (@ryecountryday) October 5, 2021
Randall Dunn, 57, head of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Independent Schools, has run the Latin School of Chicago since 2011. He is ready to take on the top job at the posh Rye Country Day School in Westchester, the school announced.
“Dunn does not care about students. He cares about himself and his career. He’s a fraud. He is dishonest,” an emotional Rosellene Bronstein, 48, told New York Post.
In April, Bronstein and her husband Robert filed a $100 million lawsuit against Dunn and other school officials and parents in Illinois, alleging their son died by suicide after a month of relentless bullying.
Mother of dead student issues tearful warning to NY private schools parents https://t.co/5Ibo9WqX1u pic.twitter.com/VQsapjlJhL
— New York Post (@nypost) June 19, 2022
Dunn and others “consciously disregarded” and hid the bullying and harassment Nate endured from classmates “in order to maintain their prestigious façade,” the Bronsteins allege.
Apparently, the non-stop bullying was partly due to a false rumor that he had been unvaccinated, the family shared in court papers. Andrew Sanchez, a geometry teacher, also allegedly regularly harassed Nate. At one point, he told him he was “going nowhere in life,” the family claimed in the legal filing.
“I am warning all the parents of [Rye Country School.] This is going to happen again. Their kids are not going to be protected in that school under Dunn,” she charged.
However, the family’s accusations are “inaccurate and misplaced,” the $40,000-a-year Latin School said in a statement. “The school’s faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students’ interests first, as they did in this instance,” Latin School said. “The school will defend itself, its faculty, and its staff against these unfounded claims.”
Though it is unclear when Dunn got to know about what, the mother alleged that there was no way Dunn wouldn't have known about the assault, and added that her son would probably have still been alive, had it been a different administrator.
Our deepest condolences. As parents we have an expectation that schools will be a safe haven for our children. Sadly we are learning that that isn’t the case. Thank you for going public despite your pain in the hope that it will lead to change.
— Tambora Dialogues (@TamboraDialogu1) June 19, 2022
“They spent more time yelling at my son about keeping his nose covered with that f—king mask than teaching the kids to be inclusive and kind and thoughtful and caring,” she said.
The parents also alleged that Dunn promised to investigate the incident and take action against the bullies, but nothing of that sort has been done, they said.
Meanwhile, a rep for Dunn said that the allegations against him were false. “The loss of a child is an unspeakable tragedy and Mr. Dunn’s heart goes out to the Bronstein family. While it is understandable that grieving parents would look to assign blame, that blame is misplaced and the allegations of wrongdoing the Bronsteins have made against Mr. Dunn are completely false and unfounded,” a rep for Dunn said.
Rye Country Day School said Dunn told them about the boy’s suicide, and that they’ve been in communication with the principal and Latin School “to better understand the situation.”
“Student safety is of paramount importance to the RCDS Board of Trustees, which is comprised almost entirely of current parents. A committee of trustees has been scrutinizing the details of this tragic case and has not found evidence that would support the aggressive claims against Mr. Dunn or that would raise safety concerns for the RCDS community,” the school said.
References:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/18/mother-of-dead-student-issues-warning-to-ny-private-schools-parents/
Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Fred De Noyelle | GODONG
