Milton Academy rocked by expulsions
By Michael Levenson and Jenna Russell, Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff | February 20, 2005
MILTON -- A Milton Academy official said yesterday the school's decision to expel five male students for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old sophomore girl was ''excruciating" but necessary to send a strong message to students, as students and parents expressed mixed reactions to the discipline.
Three sophomores and two juniors, all members of the boys hockey team, were expelled from the picturesque private campus Friday, after a three-day school investigation found that they requested and received oral sex from a classmate in a school locker room last month, an academy spokeswoman said.
Police are investigating the incident; no one has been charged. Two uninvolved students who spoke on the condition of anonymity yesterday said the sex acts were reportedly performed by the girl as a birthday present for one of the boys, an assertion the spokeswoman said she had heard but could not confirm.
Yesterday, the mother of one ousted student said the school acted rashly, while some students said the campus is deeply divided over the punishments. Cathleen Everett, the school spokeswoman, said other parents have expressed appreciation for the discipline and the difficulty of the decision.
''Helping adolescents understand the sensitivity and respect with which they need to deal with members of the opposite sex is a challenge schools like ours take on constantly, and we take it very seriously," she said. ''When it goes awry, we have to be very clear in our response, so the response makes the severity of the situation patently obvious to children."
Milton Police Chief Kevin Mearn confirmed yesterday that detectives in his department are investigating the incident. Police expect to take statements from all five boys this week, he said.
''They still need to talk with the female student who was involved," he said. ''It's relatively preliminary at this point."
Mearn said he believed the boys were between 16 and 18 years old. In Massachusetts, a 17-year-old can be charged as an adult, said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney Wiliam R. Keating, whose office is assisting in the investigation.
Under state law, anyone who has sexual intercourse or ''unnatural sexual intercourse" with someone under 16 can be imprisoned for life for statutory rape, even if the sex is consensual. ''There is no mechanism in the law where someone can consent before the age of 16," said Traub.
