Pa. settles with former Glen Mills students for $450,000, creates new monitoring procedures
The Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Department of Human Services have agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a case brought by former students of the Glen Mills Schools, which closed in 2019 after an Inquirer investigation revealed decades of violence against boys sent to the reform school in Delaware County.
In a settlement agreement finalized Tuesday, the education department also agreed to new procedures for monitoring schools and residential programs like Glen Mills that serve children placed by courts or child welfare agencies.
The Office of Program Monitoring and Accountability — which the department agreed to maintain through at least Jan. 17, 2027 — will be directed to create a process for people to submit complaints about the schools. It will also create procedures for the department to collect data about the schools, and monitor them — with circumstances listed in the agreement that could trigger unannounced site visits.
The agreement does not address additional responsibilities for the human services department, which licenses and regulates the residential facilities, though the education department will have to periodically consult with a DHS liaison.
