Teachers At LI School Accused Of Allowing Students To Drink: Suit

EAST HAMPTON, NY — Attorneys for a student filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Ross School in East Hampton — as well as administrators and teachers — after an incident in which teachers were accused of allowing the distribution of alcohol to students on a school trip; teachers then bullied, threatened and verbally abused students, the lawsuit stated.

The suit, filed in Supreme Court in Suffolk County by the New York City-based law firm Becker & Poliakoff LLP against the Ross School, Bill O'Hearn, head of school and head of the high school, as well as four teachers on behalf of student Hayden Soloviev and his father Stefan Soloviev, alleged that on a 2020 school trip to South America, teachers and chaperones Christopher Maddalone, Daniel Donovan, Peter Roberts, and Sinead Quinlan "requested that tour guides switch out the water being distributed to students for whiskey even though all of the students on the trip were minors."

The teachers discouraged the students from telling anyone, including their parents, the complaint states. Quinlan, the complaint said, led a toast where everyone shouted, "What happens on the glacier stays on the glacier."

Soloviev, an 11th grader at the time, did not drink the alcohol and on March 7, Maddalone and Donovan entered his room and demanded that he "turn over control of the school-approved Instagram project to Maddalone," the complaint said. When he did not "instantly comply," the suit said, "Maddalone began to bully, threaten, and verbally abuse Hayden by raising their voices and yelling at him." They also threatened to give him failing grades if he did not comply, which he did, the complaint said.

Hayden felt so uncomfortable that he returned home early and reported the conduct to the Ross School’s administration, the complaint said. "Thereafter, the Ross School’s administration never advised Hayden or his parents of the outcome of its investigation and refused to respond to any of their inquiries. As a result, Hayden felt so unsafe where he had already been victimized by one teacher and then made to feel ostracized by others, that he unenrolled from the Ross School in advance of his last year of high school," the complaint said.

The suit alleges several causes of action against the Ross School including negligence in hiring; breach of the Ross School’s enrollment contract and the policies in the Ross School’s handbook, unjust enrichment, breach of several duties including trust and duty to warn, the suit said.

Daniel Weiner, attorney for the Ross School, issued a statement: "The Ross School is aware of the claims alleged by Stefan Soloviev and his adult son, Hayden Soloviev. The school, the only nursery school-through-12th-grade private, nonprofit school on Long Island’s East End, is extraordinarily proud of its proven record of excellence and care for its students’ academic development and personal well-being. While the school takes seriously any assertion of misconduct — whether it be by students, teachers, or administrators — it is confident that the Solovievs’ claims of damages in this case are without merit. Far from being 'forced to unenroll' at the school, Hayden Soloviev and his father freely elected to have him attend East Hampton High School for his senior year. The school understands that Hayden intends to begin college this fall, and wishes him every continued success."

Glenn Spiegel of Becker & Poliakoff, who represents the Solovievs, said: “By their lawsuit, the Soloviev family seeks to address the systemic failure by the Ross School to ensure the safety and well being of Hayden and other students in their care.”