Who Is Milton Academy Teacher Rey Buono? Ex-Educator Sexually Abused 12 Male Students At Boston School

It’s been well over a decade since former teacher Rey Buono was fired from his position at Boston’s Milton Academy after admitting to molesting a student in 1987. But more details regarding Buono’s sexual misconduct with minors recently emerged after the school sent out a letter Tuesday stating Buono not only sexually assaulted several more male students during his tenure but the headmaster at that time, Jerry Pieh, was reportedly aware of the teacher’s behavior.

Buono was a teacher at the prestigious boarding school from 1972 to 1987, according to the letter. Although Buono admitted to sexually abusing a student in 1987, when he was fired, Pieh reportedly first became aware of Buono’s misconduct in 1982, according to Fox 25. A nine-month investigation by a New York security consultant firm hired by Milton Academy discovered Buono had sexually assaulted at least 12 male students before he was fired, the Boston Globe reported.

“Milton Academy’s leadership at that time failed to protect students and failed to investigate whether Rey Buono had abused other students during his tenure at the school,” the current headmaster, Todd Bland, said in a joint statement with Lisa Donohue, the president of the board of trustees. “On behalf of Milton Academy and its board of trustees, we want to acknowledge and deeply apologize for those failures.”

Further investigation into Buono’s case was sparked after a 2016 news report was released regarding sexual abuse in New England private schools. Along with Buono’s transgressions, three other former male employees at Milton Academy also reportedly engaged in sexual misconduct with young female students at the school.

In the letter, Bland and Donohue attributed the delay to the fact that sexual misconduct cases between teachers and students are not typically reported to the administration when they occur.

A May 2016 Boston Globe report found more than 200 students at 67 private schools in New England have been victims of sexual abuse by staffers since 1991.