Five former employees at a north Alabama private school, including the longtime music teacher, have been accused of sexual misconduct after a months-long investigation, school officials said in a letter today.

In the letter obtained by AL.com, the Randolph School in Huntsville announced the majority of the allegations involved former longtime music teacher Delbert Bailey, who was the subject of an AL.com investigative story earlier this year. Bailey worked at Randolph, a secular private school educating some of the more affluent children in Huntsville, for about 20 years from the 1970s until 1993.

“Six separate individuals reported sexual misconduct by Mr. Bailey that ranged from inappropriate touching in a private area of the body, to undressing in front of the student, to attempting to have the student engage in sexual behavior, to sexual intercourse,” the school’s letter states.

The school said allegations involving Bailey allege misconduct that happened between 1974-1992.

Bailey, who is now 80 years old, didn’t immediately return a call for comment from AL.com on Thursday. Multiple attempts by the school’s private investigator to reach Bailey were also unsuccessful, according to the report.

In an interview with AL.com earlier this year, Bailey denied allegations brought by three men who said he abused them decades ago when they were students and he was a teacher at Randolph.

Prosecutors and police in Huntsville are still investigating allegations of sexual abuse against Bailey.

The Randolph School hired Suzanne Bogdan of the law firm Fisher Phillips to conduct its investigation, which began in October 2018. The investigation, which included interviews with 48 people, found that none of the accusers reported the alleged misconduct at the time they say it happened.

“On behalf of the School, we apologize to everyone who was affected by these events, for any past failures by the School, and for what the survivors have experienced,” says a letter from Head of School Jay Rainey and Brian Pollock, chairman of the school’s board of trustees. “Randolph should have been a place of safety and security for all students.”

Rainey didn’t immediately respond to an email from AL.com seeking comment.

During the investigation, misconduct allegations were also brought against four other former employees, according to the letter. The allegations range from an alleged sexual relationship to forcible touching and sexual suggestions, according to school officials. The names of those four former employees weren’t released.

“These allegations, which were reported to have occurred between 1972 and 1982, were not corroborated by our investigation,” the report states. Two of the accused have died, one denied the allegations and the fourth wasn’t reached by the investigator.

The school said it has confirmed that, of the living accused former employees, none presently work with children.

“The investigation revealed that none of the survivors reported an incident of sexual misconduct to the School around the time it occurred,” the school’s letter says. “In addition, there is no indication that any member of the administration or faculty was aware of sexual misconduct at the time it was occurring. One faculty member recalls mentioning to an administrator in the 1973 timeframe that Mr. Bailey’s interactions with some students made her feel uncomfortable. The administrator does not recall this report.”

Former music teacher

Earlier this year, AL.com published a story in which former music students Bill Wear, Stuart Vance and James Lloyd — three men now living in three different states — said Bailey sexually abused them decades ago.

Wear said he was a 15-year-old 10th grader when Bailey first started touching him inappropriately in 1974. Wear, who is now living in Mississipi, said he didn’t report the abuse at the time. Even when the abuse escalated to rape, Wear said, he didn’t report it because Bailey made threats about his scholarship.

Vance, who now lives in Hawaii, said he was sexually abused at Bailey’s house in May 1980 after a friend’s graduation party. Vance said he was a 16-year-old 11th grader when Bailey offered to let him spend the night at his house. Vance said Bailey groped and fondled him that night.

Lloyd started at Randolph School in fifth grade in 1976. He said inappropriate contact with Bailey began with backrubs or hugging. By the time Lloyd was a 14-year-old eighth grader, he said, it escalated to sexual touching over clothing. By the 1980s, Lloyd told AL.com, the abuse escalated to rape.

“Mr. Bailey regularly engaged in boundary-crossing behavior with students who were involved in choir, concert choir, ensemble, or theatre,” the school’s letter says, citing interviews with multiple students and former employees. “Mr. Bailey would frequently hug students, rub their backs, massage their shoulders, and allow students to do the same to him.”

Bailey behavior sometimes happened openly during class and in public areas, according to the school’s letter.

“Mr. Bailey’s habit of hugging and touching students made some uncomfortable, but the behavior seemed normal to others because the group of students who were actively involved in music and/or theatre at Randolph were very close to each other and to Mr. Bailey,” the letter says.

In an interview on Thursday evening, Vance said he’s pleased the school investigated the misconduct allegations.

“This is a good next step for the school," he said. “But they still have things to answer for, and this is not the end of this.”

The school

Randolph is a K-12 private school formed in 1959. Current tuition for high school students can reach over $20,000 per year. Nearly 1,000 students attended Randolph during the 2015-16 school year, the most recent for which enrollment numbers are publicly available.

A similar influential private school in Birmingham, Altamont School, last year released a report that said 10 students survived sexual misconductby teachers between the 1970s-90s.

In their letter today, Randolph school officials said they are offering to pay for counseling or provide reimbursement for past counseling for any student who survived sexual abuse.

“The safety of the children in our care remains our highest priority at Randolph,” the letter says. “The School is fully committed to taking steps to prevent such abuses from occurring again.”

Although the school said it trains in accordance with child abuse reporting policies and other safety precautions, its Student Protection Committee has made the following recommendations, which already have been implemented or are being put in place:

Training for overnight chaperones and expanded training on harassment and boundary-crossing behavior for substitutes, clinicians, and chaperones.

Strengthening the background check process for employees, community coaches, and employees of contractors, including increased frequency of background checks.

Requiring training and conducting background checks for volunteers who have regular or sustained involvement with students.

Reviewing campus facilities to identify areas that could facilitate privacy with students and taking precautionary steps to create more visibility or to make such areas off limits.

Creating a Child Protection Policies document, including the following sections: Child Abuse Policy and Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse; Student-Adult Interactions and Boundaries; Harassment; Chaperones for Overnight Events; and Volunteers.

“The School is reviewing all policies and procedures thoroughly and will update them periodically so that appropriate safety policies are in place to prevent, or to require immediate reporting of, sexual misconduct,” the letter says.