A former student of a prestigious Bronx private school has filed a lawsuit alleging that a volleyball coach at the school sexually abused her while she attended.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 20, alleges that Coach Collin Henry, who worked at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Riverdale, targeted the former student during her junior and senior years from 2004 to 2006. According to the complaint, Henry manipulated, isolated, and groomed the plaintiff before subjecting her to repeated sexual abuse and rape.
The woman has filed suit against the school, Henry and another staff member. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged abuse.
The plaintiff, whose name was withheld in court documents, claims the trauma left her suffering from decades of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Her allegations are supported in court documents by a statement from her counselor, Julie Hoffmann, MHC-LP.
The lawsuit accuses Ethical Culture Fieldston School and junior varsity volleyball coach Lynford Foreman of negligence. The complaint alleges that school officials ignored warning signs and that the abuse was openly joked about, with staff blaming and sexualizing the victim instead of taking action.
The 47-page complaint described in detail the years of alleged abuse from 2004 through 2006, when she graduated. The plaintiff claims that she felt intimidated by Henry at the time, noting that he was a powerful figure at the school and “revered” for his successful athletics program.
The lawsuit also went on to describe how the alleged abuse impacted the plaintiff’s life after she left school. The woman claimed that she went from being an “exceptionally bright and curious child” who attended an elite private school known for producing Ivy league scholars, to a deeply depressed and traumatized woman who gave up on her dreams and struggled with relationships because of her history of abuse.
The woman presented her allegations to the school in July 2024. The school subsequently hired an outside law firm to conduct an investigation and fired Henry. But the victim claimed in the court filings that instead of being open and transparent when notifying the Fieldston community about the alleged sexual abuse, the school “intentionally obscured the topic.” The plaintiff also claimed its e-mail notification was “misleading.”
In the email, the school referred to the allegations as “misconduct,” which the victim claimed in the court filing did not go far enough in enumerating that the claims were about ongoing sexual abuse. The lawsuit also alleged that the school did not encourage former players, students, faculty and others with relevant information to come forward.
Neither Henry nor Foreman could be reached for comment.
The Ethical Culture Fieldston School denied the allegations and said that it acted accordingly.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority, and ECFS acted quickly and appropriately to address this issue as soon as a concern was raised,” a school spokesperson said in a statement. “Prior to this, the school had never received any complaints regarding inappropriate behavior by this individual. All ECFS employees, including full-time, part-time, and seasonal staff, undergo comprehensive background checks, including criminal background and fingerprinting.”
