To the editor:

I was surprised to see the letter from Mr. Sudofsky published on August 14. As I mentioned to Mr. Sudofsky when I spoke to him last week, it is our goal to be good neighbors to the entire Marion community and beyond. It is also our responsibility to look out for the wellbeing of our students. We appreciate that the Sippican Harbor is a public space, and at the same time, it is also our practice space for our sailors. While we expect that all Tabor employees act respectfully in all cases, we also empower our faculty, staff, coaches, and security to look out for the welfare of our students, and we support their efforts—including those of the faculty in this case—to conduct due diligence in connecting with boaters who may be in close range of that practice space.

We recently communicated with our entire Tabor community about historical educator misconduct, outlining instances pertaining to former employees. To be clear, the misconduct claims we have received do not pertain to a current employee, as Mr. Sudofsky’s letter suggests. We have worked hard to be transparent about these unsettling and painful experiences. The entire process, communication, and resources for support have been communicated to our constituents and are outlined clearly on our website. If you have read through the investigations and support resources, with information dating back to our first communication in August 2022, you will see that we are encouraging our community to be open and honest with us, inviting them to come forward so that we can address the historical misconduct that has taken place by former employees. To help safeguard our students, we have a robust hiring process that includes CORI/SORI background checks on all adults in our community who interface with students, which are repeated every three years.

It is my hope that we can continue to be good neighbors to each other and work together to foster a positive environment for all those who call Marion home. My door is always open.

Tony Jaccaci, Head of School, Tabor Academy