Updated

Several former students at the Horace Mann School in New York City say the prestigious private academy was plagued in the 1980s and early 1990s by teachers who sexually abused students.

That's according to a story in The New York Times Magazine written by a former student (http://nyti.ms/NkeoOM).

The students accused at least three now-deceased teachers of habitually molesting them and other pupils. They described an atmosphere where the social lines between teachers and students were routinely blurred, and then taken advantage of by pedophiles.

The accusers were mostly identified in the magazine story only by letters in their names.

Horace Mann's current administrators are declining to talk about any specific cases, but say in a letter that the allegations are "highly disturbing and absolutely abhorrent."

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com