Former Miss Hall's Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges
Warning: this article discusses sexual assault.
Updated on Sept. 10, 2026 at 5:30 pm - According to the District Attorney's Office, on Thursday, Sept. 10, Matthew Johnson, 70 years old of 31 State Line Hill Road 3, Norfolk Conn., was arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court on three criminal charges related to his time while working as a teacher at Miss Hall's School.
The Defendant was indicted by a Grand Jury on Aug. 20 on one count of Assault with Intent to Rape and two counts of Indecent Assault and Battery Over Age of 14.
The Defendant entered a plea of not guilty to all three charges. The judge released the Defendant on personal recognizance with the condition that he stay away from and have no contact with the victim in the case and to update probation if he has a change of address or phone number.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28 in Berkshire Superior Court.
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— A second former teacher at Miss Hall's School will be arraigned for assault, appearing in Berkshire Superior Court on Thursday.
Matthew Johnson, 70 years old, of Norfolk, Conn, will be arraigned for three criminal charges related to his time working as a teacher at Miss Hall's School in the 1990's. He was indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 20 on one count of assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14; a student.
Johnson was a science teacher at Miss Hall's School from 1993 to 1994.
"Evidence gathered during the investigation shows that the Defendant was dismissed from the school in 1994, prior to the end of the school year," the Berkshire District Attorney's Office wrote on Tuesday.
"The criminal charges all stem from the Defendant's tenure at the school. The victim was a student attending Miss Hall's School at that time."
Johnson is the third former staff member of the girls' boarding school to be charged this year.
Former teacher Matthew Rutledge was indicted by a Berkshire grand jury in March following accusations dating back to the 1990s of sexually assaulting students at the girls' school. Several women came forward publicly to accuse him of grooming them as teenagers and raping them.
Rutledge was working at the day and boarding school until the allegations surfaced around three years ago. Pittsfield Police investigated the claims but initially concluded no charges could be brought forward because the students were 16, the age of consent in Massachusetts.
But the Berkshire District Attorney's Office took up the investigation and, with information from a report commissioned by the school, a team of special prosecutors said they found Rutledge to have violated state law.
This prompted the passage of a bill, authored by state Rep. Leigh Davis, which closes a loophole that allowed adults in positions of authority, such as teachers, coaches, police officers, social workers, and other mandated reporters, to claim that a 16- or 17-year-old consented to sexual conduct.
In August, Jeannie Norris, head of Miss Hall's from 1996 to 2012, was arraigned for one count of reckless endangerment of a child.
Based on evidence collected during the investigation into allegations of abuse that occurred at the school, the Berkshire DA alleges she was aware of inappropriate relationships between Rutledge and students attending the school. The evidence collected demonstrated that she received numerous reports of Rutledge's alleged inappropriate conduct, according to the indictment.
The DA's office urges any other victims or anyone with information about this situation to contact law enforcement.
Anyone with information about abuse at Miss Hall's School can contact the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit at (413) 449-5055 or email BerkshireSPDUtips@mass.gov.
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