The other 14 percent come from families with incomes no higher than 150 percent of the poverty level. He noted that there have been modifications to the deed over time, most notably to expand admissions to include first minority boys and, later, girls. Alumni say the school, which holds a majority interest in Hershey Foods Corp., and the board of managers, which administers both the school and the Hershey trust, violate the law and the wishes of Milton Hershey by routinely ignoring the deed, which specifies children as the benefactors of the trust. Under pressure, the school commissioned Dick Thornburgh, former Pennsylvania governor and former U.S. attorney general, to look into allegations of board misconduct. He concluded in a report issued last year that the board had done nothing illegal and was, in spite of the court's binding decision that stopped the training facility, operating within its authority.
Administrators defend the school's policies as consistent with the deed.
The deed of trust is guiding school principles about who we serve, but the board of managers has broad discretion to change and adjust programs relevant to today. Lepley said the school must change to respond to modern needs. The 12,000-acre campus of farmhouses set miles apart was unwieldy, so the school created a central campus of about 9,000 acres, selling or converting the farmhouses and replacing them with modern ranch houses circling the classroom buildings. The most recent flash point came over the last month, when nine students, boys aged 10 to 14, were charged by local authorities with sexual misconduct on campus. The alumni group blamed the school for housing children of different age groups under one roof.