Eric Cote was retained by Rocky Hill School in 2016 to help the exclusive private school develop a crisis communications plan to address allegations of sexual abuse of students by members of the faculty dating back to the 1970’s. As a result of the crisis around sexual abuse of former students at St. George’s Academy in Middletown, RI, Rocky Hill was proactive in launching a review of its own policies and making important policy updates based on the recommendations of outside legal experts.
As part of this process, Eric helped school leaders draft a letter to current and former students explaining the school’s proactive approach and inviting any current or former student who had information about instances of sexual abuse, whether now or in past decades, to come forward. Two months later, three separate alumnae came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against a former faculty member.
Eric then helped school leaders develop an updated communication to the school community breaking the news of the allegations. Knowing that this communication would be shared with the media by a parent, Eric also drafted a stand by media statement for an expected media onslaught. As anticipated, media calls arose within hours of the distribution of the letter. In addition to preparing the statement, Eric served as the spokesperson for the school on this matter and provided ongoing advice to the Head of School, the board of directors and communications staff on strategies for addressing continued media inquiries. Eric also provided media coaching to the Head of School for TV interviews that he conducted and also helped with a final message to the school community when the matter was closed a couple of months later.