The Key School Maryland

The Key School in Annapolis Maryland was known as a prestigious private school,founded on the conviction that children are innately curious about themselves and the world; they want to learn, discover, and create. Its mission is to nourish and guide this natural exuberance, energy, and delight in the search for meaning so that each student embraces lifelong learning and develops into an informed, thoughtful, and constructive member of society. Unfortunately, they categorically failed in fulfilling this mission for decades while children were being sexually abused and the administration and community turned a blind eye.

It took a group of brave survivors to bring this dark truth to light. Many survivors took to social media to call out the school and demand acknowledgement, and succumbing to the pressure, the school hired a firm to conduct an investigation. That six-month investigation revealed the horrific breadth and scope of the sexual abuse and validated the claims being made by the survivors.  A scathing 45-page report was published by Kramon & Graham that showed that from 1970 – 1990, there were at least 10 adults who sexually abused 16 children. It also depicted graphic details of rape, harassment, paid abortions by teachers, and a culture of abuse and negligence on the part of The Key School. As we have seen with so many institutions, the staff and community knew of the culture there and failed to do anything out of fear of losing revenue.

Once again an institution placed its own reputation and financial future above the safety and welfare of its students. They put money over the duty to protect children. And of course, these children, now adults, had no legal recourse to hold them accountable in any court of law-criminal or civil.

Until now.

The Child Victims Act was created for survivors just like the ones from The Key School as it opens a window that allows for child victims of sexual abuse who were previously time-barred to file civil lawsuits in court against their abusers and any institutions that knew of and could have prevented the abuse. A window is a period that bypasses current laws restricting survivors’ ability to file such suits and gives a definitive time for those impacted to do so. In Maryland, the legislature went beyond most states and opened its window permanently. This is a much-needed opportunity for justice, healing, accountability, and prevention of future abuse for so many impacted survivors and their families.

If you or your loved one was a victim of The Key School, you now have a legal mechanism to hold them accountable and get the justice you deserve. Call us today.