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Madeleine Baran

Shattuck board defends deal with teacher caught with child porn

Shattuck St. Mary's campus
The iconic archway leading into the campus of Shattuck-St. Mary's, a private college preparatory school in Faribault, Minn., in an undated file photo.
Photo by Jackson Forderer / For MPR News

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The board of trustees and alumni association at Shattuck-St. Mary's expressed "unqualified support" for the school's president, Nick Stoneman, in a letter to alumni sent in response to an MPR News report that found Stoneman authorized a $12,500 confidential payment to a teacher caught with child pornography.

The letter said Stoneman acted swiftly to protect students, find out what happened and upheld "our legal and ethical responsibilities."

Lynn Seibel
Former Shattuck-St. Mary's teacher Lynn Seibel, July 12, 2013 at the Rice County Courthouse in Fairbault, Minn.
Jennifer Simonson / MPR News 2013

MPR News reported last week that Stoneman had negotiated a confidential separation agreement with teacher Lynn Seibel in 2003 after the Faribault boarding school found child pornography on his work computer. Stoneman did not call police, and Seibel continued to work with minors in other states.

Police learned of the pornography in 2012 while investigating allegations that Seibel sexually abused students at Shattuck-St. Mary's. In 2013, Seibel pleaded guilty to abusing six Shattuck-St. Mary's students from 1999 to 2003.

Abby Carlstrom Humphrey, the chair of the board of trustees, and Maggie Osterbauer, the president of the alumni association, praised Stoneman's leadership in the Feb. 9 letter to alumni.

Nick Stoneman
Nick Stoneman, president of Shattuck-St. Mary's School, sat for a deposition in the case of former teacher Lynn Seibel, Aug. 22, 2014.
Video courtesy of Jeff Anderson

"It is this very type of clear focus on doing the right thing that has led the Board of Trustees and Alumni Association to lend their unqualified support to Nick and his entire leadership team — a group of individuals eminently qualified, capable, and committed to bringing to life the mission of the School and providing compelling opportunities for the students it serves," they wrote.

They also criticized the MPR News report: "Most recently, we were profoundly disappointed that Minnesota Public Radio used carefully selected bits of information provided, in part, by the plaintiff's attorney currently engaged in litigation against the School, to create a misleading picture that bears little resemblance to our School or to the actions we took to remove Mr. Seibel from our community when his misconduct became known."

The letter referenced a possible upcoming story by the New York Times on the same topic.

Humphrey and Osterbauer did not immediately respond to interview requests. A spokesperson for the school acknowledged the letter, but declined to comment.