Child-advocacy group opposes reopening of troubled former Glen Mills Schools in Delaware County

A child-advocacy nonprofit on Tuesday declared its opposition to the state allowing the former Glen Mills Schools to reopen for the first time since a 2019 child-abuse and cover-up scandal led to its closure.

Under a settlement reached last month with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, the Clock Tower Schools was granted a provisional license to initially operate a residential treatment program for 20 court-ordered boys — a fraction of the school’s former 400-student capacity. The reduced capacity could grow over time with state approval.

The nonprofit Clock Tower agreed to pay for an on-campus, independent monitor, and DHS officials said they will provide extra oversight during the provisional period. The state denied Clock Tower’s application for a new license last April.

“Glen Mills was a dangerous facility that closed for a reason, and now has been rebranded and relicensed with the same leadership and staff and monitored by the same state agency that failed to detect rampant abuse,” the Philadelphia-based Children First, previously known as Public Citizens for Children and Youth, said in a two-page statement.

A Clock Tower spokesperson declined to respond directly to Children First, and reiterated a statement from last month: “The Clock Tower Schools welcomes the opportunity granted by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide critically needed residential treatment, trauma-informed care, and education for children in need.”

Pennsylvania revoked Glen Mills’ license in response to a 2019 Inquirer investigation that revealed decades of violence against boys sent to the school in Delaware County.

Clock Tower, formed in 2021, is run by director Christopher Spriggs, a longtime Glen Mills executive. Under the settlement, seven former staff members from the Glen Mills era will be permitted to work at Clock Tower, as well as Spriggs. Those staffers reportedly have sworn under oath that they had no knowledge of abuse at the school. Clock Tower is barred from hiring past staff or contractors beyond that approved list.

Last month, former students suing the Glen Mills Schools and local and state agencies settled for $3 million with the Chester County Intermediate Unit, which had a contract with Glen Mills to educate children at the school. The settlement didn’t resolve other claims in the ongoing lawsuit.

The Inquirer reported in 2019 that beatings of boys by Glen Mills staff were an “open secret” and that staff tried to stop students and their families from reporting the attacks, threatening that Glen Mills would instead send the boys to a different state-run facility with boys who were mentally ill or had committed sex offenses. Courts across the country then pulled boys from Glen Mills, and DHS revoked the school’s license.

In a statement last month when the Clock Tower provisional license was made public, a spokesperson for DHS said the agreement “sets a new standard for oversight and accountability and it will provide DHS with additional safeguards to ensure every child is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. DHS is committed to close and thorough monitoring of operations at Clock Tower Schools and any violation or threat to a child’s safety and well-being will not be tolerated.”

The need is acute for juvenile facilities in Pennsylvania, the spokesperson said.

“It is a fact that Pennsylvania has been facing a critical shortage of beds and facilities for juvenile care. There has been a 29 percent decrease in beds in secure facilities over the past three years, and this has led to waitlists that delay treatment for these youth as our facilities exceed their licensed capacities,” the spokesperson said.

Children First in its statement Tuesday criticized having former Glen Mills-era employees work for Clock Tower. The state should require 100% new staff and board members with no prior history to Glen Mills, Children First said.

Children First also called the pledge by DHS to monitor meaningless because the agency failed to catch what was going on before. Instead, DHS should implement 24-hour on-site monitoring.

Children First said that if a new complaint leads to an investigation, DHS should suspend admissions and remove all children pending the investigation.

“DHS must immediately lead the development of solutions that ensure children placed for juvenile detention are in safe, healing, non-secure facilities,” Children First said, adding that the new administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro should create “alternatives to detention and secure residential treatment that allow them to heal, take accountability, and learn from their mistakes while remaining in their communities.”