A scorned husband is suing Sidwell Friends School for $10 million, saying the elite private school allowed its staff psychologist to carry on an affair with the married mother of a 5-year-old student he was counseling, causing trauma to the child. James Huntington was a middle school counselor who taught sex education to sixth-grade students in 2009-2010 — the same year that President Obama’s daughter Malia was a sixth-grader at Sidwell — when Tara Newmyer asked him to evaluate her daughter, a prekindergarten student.
Shortly thereafter, Huntington and Tara began a sexual affair that many Sidwell staffers — including the head of schools — were aware of but “despite repeated objections” did nothing to stop for a year, according the lawsuit filed Thursday morning by Tara’s husband, Arthur “Terry” Newmyer.
Ellis Turner, the associate head of schools at Sidwell, said the school will fight the lawsuit. “We’re disappointed that Mr. Newmyer chose this course, but the complaint is without merit and the school will contest it,” Turner said.
| Prez Prep |
| Sidwell Friends School is often referred to as the “presidential prep school” because children of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Nixon, Clinton and Obama have attended the top-ranking private school with campuses in Northwest D.C. and Bethesda. Vice President Biden’s grandchildren are also part of the more than 1,100 students who attend Sidwell, where class size ranges from 11 to 16 students and tuition starts at $31,069 a year. |
One of the nation’s most prestigious private schools, Sidwell is nicknamed the “presidential prep school” for its class pictures filled with the children of wealthy socialites and high-ranking government officials.
Turner would not confirm the date or terms on which Huntington left Sidwell. He said Huntington counseled the middle school and did not normally evaluate Sidwell’s younger children.
Kristin Henrikson, an attorney for Tara Newmyer, said her client has been legally separated from Newmyer since August 2009 and feels “sadness and disappointment” over the lawsuit. Huntington was never involved in psychologically evaluating the Newmyers’ daughter, Henrikson said: “They met as parents.”
According to the lawsuit, Sidwell fired Huntington in February after Terry Newmyer took his information about the affair to Sidwell’s board of trustees.
A Sidwell alumnus himself, Newmyer sent two children from his first marriage to Sidwell and was awarded the Newmyer Award — founded by his uncle in 1975 — for his service to the school as a parent.
At least 11 Newmyers have attended Sidwell since 1937.
Terry and Tara Newmyer disagreed over whether their daughter, “L.N.,” should attend Sidwell, according to the lawsuit. An attorney, Tara Newmyer enrolled the girl without her husband’s consent, the suit said.
Huntington sent sexually explicit emails to Tara Newmyer on Sidwell’s email server, sometimes while female students were in his office “talking about male P.E. teachers who try to hit on them,” according to the lawsuit. He also divulged confidential details involving the children and parents of other Sidwell children he was counseling, the suit charged.
Huntington did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Terry Newmyer was tipped off about the affair by Huntington’s ex-wife, who was concerned that the illicit relationship was traumatizing L.N, according to the suit.
A family friend said in court papers that by late spring of her first year at Sidwell, L.N. had become “significantly more withdrawn, less engaging, quieter … She would not look into my eyes at all, and seemed sad.”
Henrikson said that Tara Newmyer was disappointed by her husband’s decision to take their family matters public. “It’s certainly not the approach you take if you’re truly looking out for your kid’s psychological benefit.”
This is the second sex scandal to shake Sidwell in less than two years. Last school year, middle school teacher Robert Peterson was fired over allegations that he sexually abused a minor.
In the wake of Peterson’s termination, Sidwell sent an email to all parents, identifying Huntington as someone they could reach out to for psychological assistance, the lawsuit says.
