LAKEVILLE, Conn. — The Hotchkiss School will appeal the $41.7 million verdict awarded to a former student March 27 at U.S. District Court in Bridgeport by Judge Stefan Underhill. The private boarding high school was found guilty of negligence in a suit filed by Cara Munn, 20, of New York City. Munn was accepted to the Hotchkiss class of 2010. Following her freshman year at the school, she went on a five-week school-sponsored trip to China that began in June and was to have ended in July.In June, the group went to Mount Panshan, which according to www.chinatravelguide.com is on the North China Plain, about 55 miles from Beijing, and is a popular holiday destination for city dwellers. According to Linda Grossberg, who is a paralegal at the law firm that represented Munn, the Hotchkiss group traveled up Mount Panshan in a gondola. Munn and three or four other students asked for (and received) permission to walk down the mountain instead of taking the gondola. No bug spray containing DEET was provided to the students, according to the lawsuit, even though the walk was through a wooded area and even though the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns that tick-borne diseases are a danger in China. Malaria is a particularly grave danger for visitors to China, the CDC website states, adding that “dengue, chikungunya,filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, leishmaniasis and plague are diseases carried by insects that also occur in East Asia. Tickborne encephalitis occurs in forested regions in northeastern China and in South Korea.”About 10 days after that excursion, Munn began to experience severe headaches and high temperatures. She was admitted to a hospital in Tianjin, a city with a population that is close to 13 million. When she continued to get worse, she was transferred to a hospital in Beijing and then evacuated back to the United States. She was diagnosed with encephalitis and has what her lawsuit contends is likely to be permanent damage to her brain.Grossberg said the student’s executive functioning skills were compromised. She can’t speak and has difficulty organizing and planning. She has trouble with small motor skills and can communicate only by texting and typing.“She testified using her speech assistance device, which is like an iPad or iPhone,” Grossberg said. “She types into it and it ‘speaks,’ in a robotic voice. She has a lot of difficulty writing and her typing is slow.”Munn’s attorney was Antonio Ponvert III of the law firm of Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder in Bridgeport, which specializes in malpractice suits and significant personal injury suits. Hotchkiss was represented by Dawn Seaman of the law firm Wiggin and Dana in New Haven. Seaman did not return a call seeking comment.Hotchkiss offered Munn $750,000 in a pretrial mediation, Grossberg said, but she turned it down.The court case began March 6. The jury began deliberations on the eighth day and discussed the case for eight hours. The $41.7 million award covers economic and noneconomic damages, Grossberg said. Past economic damages include the cost of medical care and evacuation from China. Future economic damages take into account her lost earning capacity and the cost of future medical care. Part of the award also covers noneconomic damages such as “the loss of enjoyment of life’s activities,” Grossberg said. It is unclear whether she will ever recover from the brain injury. “Five years have gone by since the injury and she is still unable to speak, after many therapies and many different approaches,” Grossberg said. She added, “she is a very persistent young woman and she hasn’t given up. She is hopeful she will speak again someday. But there are no doctors or experts who are now saying that is likely.”However, Munn managed to complete high school in New York City and is now a sophomore in college. Grossberg declined to share the names of the schools or to share additional information on the family, other than that Munn has two siblings.The suit found Hotchkiss negligent in not sufficiently warning students of the danger of tick-borne diseases in China, where even Lyme disease is common; and of not providing a repellant, like a product containing DEET.Plan to appealHotchkiss plans to appeal the case. On March 29, Head of School Malcolm McKenzie sent a letter to parents and alumni that said, “The case is based on the following incident: At the end of her freshman year at Hotchkiss, Cara Munn went on a Hotchkiss trip to China in June and July of 2007. During the trip she became ill with a tick-borne form of encephalitis (TBE) and continues to suffer the effects of this illness. According to the CDC, she was the first reported U.S. traveler to China to be diagnosed with TBE. It had not happened before the 2007 trip in question, and it has not happened since then.“As part of our due diligence prior to this trip, we checked the CDC website for medical advice and asked parents to do the same. We also requested that families seek advice from a travel medical specialist. There was no indication at all that this was a potential risk.“I would like to take this opportunity once again to assure the Hotchkiss community that our first commitment is, and has always been, to protect and care for our students. We take this duty extremely seriously.“We have been working closely with our insurance carrier. We have appropriate coverage for this matter. An appeal is being planned, and we are optimistic that further review of the facts will lead to a more favorable ruling.”In a statement released March 28, the school said, “We care deeply about all our students. We make every effort to protect them, whether they are here or participating in a school-sponsored activity off-campus. We put great care and thought into planning and administering off-campus programs, and we extend the same care to students on these trips as to students on campus. “Historically, our students have undertaken study, service projects and travel in the United States and throughout the world and have derived great benefit from these opportunities. We remain very saddened by this student’s illness. “We continue to hope for improvements to her health. While we will not comment on specific elements of the case, we plan to appeal this verdict.”When students left for the China trip, Robert “Skip” Mattoon was head of school. He was replaced on July 1, 2007, by McKenzie. McKenzie will leave the school this summer and found a new school in Beijing. His replacement will be Kevin Hicks, who had been the school’s dean of faculty.A spokesman for Hotchkiss said the school has an endowment of $380 million. It is one of the largest endowments of any private high school in the United States, according to www.boardingschoolreview.com. Another travel disaster occured this year, when students and teachers were on a ship in the Antarctic on a trip sponsored by alumnus Forrest Mars Jr. The ship was hit by a 30-foot wave that knocked the captain unconscious and shattered the glass of the ship’s bridge, leaving many crew members with cuts and injuries. None of the students or faculty was harmed.As for future student travel, McKenzie said, “We anticipate no change in our foreign study, service and travel plans. These are an integral part of the global education that is so important to our students.”Housatonic’s China tripInternational travel is becoming increasingly common for high school students, at public and private high schools. Housatonic Valley Regional High School sponsors an annual trip to China; students and faculty are departing for this year’s trip on April 6. Assistant Principal Ian Strever, who is traveling with the group, said, “We are not going to a part of China that is rural and where students will be exposed to ticks, and we limit the exposure by wearing long pants and shirts. “We do look at the CDC website, and share that with parents before we go.“We carry with us hand sanitizer. We stick with the same tour company we’ve been using for a number of years. We limit exposure on all fronts as much as we can.“Our concern is more about the pollution in Beijing; we may need to wear masks, which we will provide to students.”
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Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.
“I was a library kid. I walked to the library after school,” she said.
For Sher, the library is as much about the people as it about the books.
“Part of the job I love so much is that running the library is such a community,” she said.
She treasures the relationships she has built, whether recommending books, celebrating accomplishments or helping patrons through difficult times.
“I am thankful that our community is so supportive of the library, unlike what is happening in some other places where librarians are villainized,” Sher said.
Sher takes pride in the Hunt Library’s reputation for being “open and welcoming to everyone. People come in and see things and get pulled into things they weren’t expecting. Our library is seen as a positive force.”
Sher came to Falls Village after being awarded a fellowship at Adamah Farm, then a program of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. She worked at pickling, in the greenhouse and later in the development office. She also worked as a nanny.
At the same time, “I was in the library all the time,” she recalled. “I’m a voracious reader. The library is where I met a lot of my first friends in Falls Village.”
She became assistant librarian at Hunt and worked in that position for almost a decade before becoming the executive director four years ago.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino
Sher met her husband, Adam, while working at Adamah. They had their wedding there in 2012. He now emcees many events which she co-organizes with the Falls Village Recreation Commission.
Sher and her family live near the library.
“It’s an easy commute,” she said with a smile. “My kids run back and forth. I can go home to walk the dog if I need to.”
“My kids have grown up here.” Her oldest son, Eli, “loves volunteering. He helps with Augustfest and often helps set up chairs for ArtWall gatherings.” Her younger son, Noah, is often at events and was eager to taste cookies at last year’s holiday cookie swap.
When she is not at the library, Sher likes to hike with her family. Bella, their Portuguese water dog, often accompanies them.
Sher enjoys seeking out people to offer events at the library.
“I do a lot of different community programming. It is one of my favorite parts of the job.”
Augustfest, featuring food, music and an auction, is the library’s biggest fundraiser.
“This summer we had a record 152 attendees, which was pretty incredible.”
Yonah Sadeh, a filmmaker from Falls Village, inaugurated the VideoWall this year, Sher explained.
“I’ve known Yonah since he was two. It’s wonderful to work with him as an adult.”
The VideoWall complements the library’s ArtWall, which showcases a new artist each month. Sher praised the ArtWall committee for its work and highlighted December’s popular “12x12 Show,” featuring works by local artists, each measuring 12 by 12 inches and priced at $150.
Sher added that some of the artists who exhibit at the ArtWall offer workshops to students at Kellogg School, next door to the library. In September, artist Danielle Mailer worked with the children. Vincent Inconiglios taught a class last November.
Being next to the school, said Sher, is a great advantage.
“Kids are coming after school, to see friends, work on projects, find a great book. Kids that love the library end up using the library as grownups.”
This past year, in partnership with Adamah, the library and school created a garden, with excess produce made available at The Center on Main.
This year is Sher’s second year participating in the Troutbeck Symposium in Amenia with James King, director of the library at Salisbury School. The Troutbeck Symposium is “a gathering of a year of student historical inquiry across the region” in which students “uncover stories that have been overlooked, forgotten, or never recorded.”
Last year, Sher and King began a project with a group of students researching Irish immigrants in Falls Village, exploring ancestry and creating small magazines about their findings.
They continued this year, visiting St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery on Dublin Road, cleaning seven gravestones and even righting one with the help of stonemason and gravestone restoration expert Karl Munson. Paul Kozeazny, a representative of the Catholic archdiocese, helped secure access to the site.
A film documenting their activities will be shown at the symposium in spring 2027.
A full schedule of programs and events, ranging from tech help to ceramic mug-making, can be found on the library’s website.
Despite spending her days surrounded by books, and a busy schedule of programming, Sher still loves to settle in with a book at home.
For more information on library programs and events, visit huntlibrary.org
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Touré was born in northern Mali in 1981. His father, the renowned guitarist Ali Farka Touré, came from a family of soldiers and wanted his son to join the army. The younger Touré studied drums and the calabash and practiced guitar in secret. He earned his father’s blessing to pursue music shortly before Ali died in 2006, and they played two tracks together on Vieux’s debut album.
Touré is known for his deft, polyrhythmic playing, and his songs grow out of riffs that repeat and layer to hypnotic effect. He draws on rock, blues, Latin music and various African traditions. This distinctive blend builds on his father’s work adapting the sonic traditions of Mali’s arid north to the guitar.
Vieux’s album “Mon Pays” (“My Country,” 2013) honored Mali’s culture after Tuareg separatists and extremist groups seized the north in 2012. “Samba” (2017) was recorded before about 50 listeners in Woodstock, New York. In 2022 came “Les Racines” (“The Roots”), a return to his father’s desert blues, and “Ali,” on which he and the trio Khruangbin reworked eight of the elder Touré’s songs.
Touré leads the Ali Farka Touré Foundation, which focuses on cultural and educational work in Mali. Around the anniversary of Ali’s death, it holds a festival in Bamako, Mali’s capital. Bamako has been under blockade for much of the past year, besieged by JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Against this backdrop, Touré continues to carry the music of Mali to audiences abroad.
At the Nov. 5 concert, Touré’s desert blues will share the bill with Gnawa, the music LanGus plays, which developed in Morocco among West Africans who were brought north across the desert as enslaved people. Gnawa is religious music traditionally performed at all-night healing ceremonies called lila, intended to carry participants into trance.
Samir LanGusProvided
LanGus was born and raised outside Agadir, Morocco, and began learning Gnawa from its masters at age 8. He plays the sintir, a three-stringed bass lute made of wood and camel skin. The player strikes a low string with the thumb to create a deep, resonant pulse. Iron castanets clatter over the sintir’s bass line, and vocalists trade call-and-response refrains.
LanGus infuses the tradition with jazz and improvisation. In New York, he founded the ensemble Innov Gnawa. His first solo album, “Gnawa Love,” came out in February.
Touré and LanGus’s Nov. 5 concert is one of the last public events at Race Brook Lodge, which is for sale and ended full-service operations at the end of 2025. The lodge’s final scheduled event, on Nov. 6, is an evening of Rumi’s poetry with translator and vocalist Haleh Liza Gafori, cellist Isabel Castellvi and ceremonial bard James Bird.
For tickets, visit rblodge.com.
James FitzGerald is a student at Yale Law School, where he focuses on ecological restoration and international environmental cooperation. He splits his time between Lakeville and New Haven.
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