More lawsuits filed against nation’s oldest reform school

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Five more lawsuits have been filed against the nation’s oldest reform school, which now faces more than a dozen suits alleging abuse.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the latest suits bring to 13 the number of lawsuits filed recently against now-shuttered Glen Mills Schools. The plaintiffs allege physical and sometimes sexual abuse at the 193-year-old campus for court-ordered boys in Delaware County.

All students were ordered removed and the school’s licenses were revoked last year after an Inquirer investigation detailed decades of alleged abuse and cover-ups at the school.

A Glen Mills spokesman called the allegations “heartbreaking.”

“Our attorneys are now evaluating the lawsuit,” said a statement provided by Jeff Jubelirer of Philadelphia-based public-relations firm Bellevue. “In the meantime, Glen Mills Schools continues to cooperate with all governmental authorities.”