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Former Miss Hall's head of school to be arraigned Monday on reckless engagement charge

The steps of Berkshire County Superior Court in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
The steps of Berkshire County Superior Court in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The former leader of a private, all-girls boarding school at the center of a sexual abuse scandal in Pittsfield will be arraigned Monday on a count of Reckless Endangerment of a Child.

Last month, Jeannie Norris, who was the head of Miss Hall's School from 1996 to 2012 , was indicted by a grand jury for her role in alleged sexual abuse of students by staff. Former teacher Matthew Rutledge is facing rape charges in Berkshire Superior Court stemming from accusations that he groomed and abused young women in his care during his decades-long tenure at the school. He has pleaded not guilty. Independent investigations, including by WAMC and one commissioned by Miss Hall's, corroborated accounts that Norris allegedly quashed efforts to call out the misconduct. Her arraignment in Berkshire Superior Court - in which she will appear remotely over Zoom - is set for 2 p.m.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018 after working at stations including WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Berkshire County, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. You can reach him at jlandes@wamc.org with questions, tips, and/or feedback.
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