Two years into his tenure at the University School of Nashville, director Amani Reed has gotten crossways with parents, students and longtime faculty for how his administration handled an investigation into an English teacher accused of sexual misconduct during the past school year.
Twenty teachers co-signed a letter sent Tuesday criticizing Reed and Quinton Walker, USN’s assistant head of school, for allegedly misleading statements about USN’s legal response and disputing the student’s official account of abuse by English teacher Dean Masullo. (See a PDF of the letter at the bottom of this post.) Walker abruptly put Masullo on leave in the spring in the wake of the allegations. The private school fired Masullo over the summer. He had worked at USN since 2008, for most of that time under previous head of high school Steve Robins and former director Vince Durnan.Â
“Transparency and accountability in addressing these issues are critical to rebuilding trust in the governance of our school,” reads the letter, in part. “We urge the Board to act swiftly and decisively to restore our confidence in USN’s leadership and to ensure that the safety and well-being of all students remain paramount, as administration repeatedly claims in communications to the community.”
Faculty members take particular concern with the school’s decision to repeatedly portray legal guidance from Marie Scott, a white-collar criminal defense attorney specializing in crisis management at Fisher Phillips, as a “third-party investigation” in official communications. Scott did not respond to the Scene’s request for comment.Â
In addition to an independent investigation of the student’s allegations conducted by outside counsel, teachers request that USN bring its response into alignment with best practices outlined in a 2018 Task Force on Educator Sexual Misconduct report by the National Association of Independent Schools. This includes a full review of USN’s policies for educator sexual misconduct and acknowledging that the student’s report was “credible and corroborated.”Â
The faculty letter is dated the same day — Sept. 10 — that the board of trustees defended the administration in a letter to the school community, including alumni. The statement, signed by board president Eric Kopstain — a vice chancellor for administration at Vanderbilt University — dismisses concerns about how the school handled its investigation. Kopstain explains that concerns for confidentiality prevent the school from correcting “conversations and letters shared within the USN community as well as media reports” that have “mischaracterized” the situation.
The board refers questions to Juanita Traughber, vice president of marketing and communications. The Scene caught Traughber between meetings Wednesday afternoon. She was not immediately prepared to answer questions about when and why the school hired Scott, and did not offer any official response to the faculty letter sent the previous day.
"You have so many apparent conflicts of interest," Traughber said by phone, pointing out that I attended USN. "If you truly want to cover this story accurately, fairly, balancedly, you should be passing it off to someone else at the Scene."
In August, the student, who has since graduated from USN and begun college, sent a thorough accounting of Masullo’s behavior — including allegations of inappropriate physical contact and direct communication outside of school — to USN’s board via her lawyer. She requested more information from the school and an apology from Reed. Connor Daryani first reported the story for the Nashville Banner on Sept. 9. USN students are now also circulating a petition in support of the student.
Annual tuition at USN ranges from $26,518 in lower school to $32,908 in high school. Turnover has affected every top administrative position at the school. Beyond Reed, who was named director in 2022, USN hired Shavon Davis-Louis as head of the middle school in 2023 and Kristian Noden as lower school head in July 2024. Walker plans to leave his post at the end of this school year. USN hired Chai Reddy as its new head of high school this summer.
Disclosure: Motycka is a 2013 graduate of the University School of Nashville.
