13th Boy

"It sounds like a horror movie". That's what Stephen Fife's friend said when he told her what happened at his private prep school in New York City. "Fifteen teachers messing with students at the same high school?....How is that even possible?" she asked. Indeed. When one man abused 11 boys at Penn State, there was shock and horror both inside the university community and out, and legal action swiftly followed. But at Horace Mann School, where teachers regularly abused boys over three decades, no formal acknowledgement or independent investigation has taken place. And because of the restrictive statute of limitations in New York, no lawsuits can be filed. Stephen Fife, a poet, playwright, and screenwriter, whose most recent screenplay, "Blue Kiss", was just optioned by Fable Entertainment (to be packaged by Paradigm), was one of these abused boys. He has written a compelling, soul-baring account of his experience. Fife's mentor, an English teacher who praised his writing and told him he could be a famous poet (if he worked closely with him and did everything he advised), used his power over the teenage boy to sexually attack him in a hotel room on a school-sponsored trip. Later he lured Fife to his apartment repeatedly, where the abuse continued. This was 1970-71, before the days of iphones and selfies. When 17 year-old Fife finally found the courage to report the abuse to the associate headmaster, he was told that without solid evidence, he had better keep quiet. An accusation without hard proof, said the associate headmaster, would put Fife's stellar college recommendation letters in jeopardy. To go public would mean risking his Ivy League aspirations and his future as a writer, as well as informing his parents. At the time, Fife did not know he was one of many victims. Nor did he know that Mr Berman, the teacher who abused him, was just one of many teachers at Horace Mann molesting students. Only years later, after an article in the New York Times Magazine named other teachers as well as some administrators (and didn't mention Mr Berman), did Fife realize the extent of the abuse. Hoping to provide insight into what happened at Horace Mann (including suicide by many of the victims, and obsessive suicidal thoughts of his own), Fife is trying to compel Horace Mann to cooperate in an independent investigation. With the publication of this book he also seeks to change the statute of limitations laws, so that future victims will not be prevented from going to court; and to provide moral support for his fellow victims, who were betrayed by adults they trusted. The book also provides practical advice to parents: how to recognise the threat of predatory adults and the signs of molestation, and how to handle the emotional fall out, if abuse does occur.