Delaware County’s two reform schools inspired Ridley native Diana Rodriguez Wallach to write the young-adult novel, “The Silenced,” writes Gina Lizzo for Main Line Today.
Wallach started research on the Glen Mills School, a boys-only reform school in Delaware County that closed in 2019 because of abuse allegations. It reopened as Clock Tower Schools in 2023.
Her research took her to Andrew Abramson, who had worked at the girls-only Sleighton Farm School, only a few miles from the Glen Mills School.
The school had a major drug problem, and there were rumors of the same at Glen Mills, according to Abramson.
The Sleighton School closed in 2021 and is now abandoned.
“I came to really see the system for what it was, which is disastrous,” Abramson said. ”My intent was to help kids get better, but the reality was that it was a financial windfall for the organization that’s running it and for the people at the top.”
Wallach’s book, “The Silenced,” available Sept. 16, follows Hazel Perez who is possessed ty the ghost of a former student at the Oakwell Farms School, a fictional composite of Sleighton and Glen Mills.
Read more about Wallach’s book and the latest developments at Clock Tower School in Main Line Today.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in September 2025.
