A school will reopen at the former Glen Mills School property under a settlement agreement between the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and Clock Tower Schools.

Clock Tower was granted a provisional two-year license to run a residential and day treatment program at the site in Glen Mills.

Abuse allegations shut down Glen Mills, the nation’s oldest all-boys reformatory school, in 2019, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

Eight individuals from the shuttered school have ties to the nonprofit Clock Tower Schools, and they’ve been trying to revive the school since July 2021.

DHS spokesperson Brandon Cwalina said the settlement agreement sets a new standard for oversight and has safeguards so that “every child is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

An independent organization, Justice by Design, will monitor operations on-site and have full access.

Not everyone is pleased with the DHS decision. 

“Based on available information, a team of individuals who worked in or were in the leadership of a notoriously abusive institution that violated students’ education rights will be in charge of this same institution under a new name,” said Katy Otto, spokesperson for The Juvenile Law Center.

The Law Center represented former Glen Mills students in a lawsuit against the school.

Read more about the reopening of the Glen Mills School at WHYY.