Two former Milton Hershey houseparents have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the non-sectarian school is sponsoring proselytization and pushing an evangelical Christian agenda on students.
Bradley and Val Darrington, who are married, say the school required them to attend and participate in evangelical religious programming, "which they found discriminatory and offense to their personal religious beliefs and that of other employees and students."
The Darringtons claim they were fired on Dec. 29 as retaliation for complaining about the school's religious programs, according to a report in Court House News.
PennLive earlier this year published a report that looked at how the school had breached the guidelines set by its founders Milton and Catherine Hershey.
Milton Hershey is the nation's wealthiest boarding school for disadvantaged children, serving an especially vulnerable population of students, as well as their parents and guardians.
The school falls under the governance of the state attorney general's office, which oversees its massive $13.8 billion endowment. The endowment, funded in part by The Hershey Co., dwarfs that of many elite universities.
Recent Milton Hershey graduates, alumni and former houseparents told PennLive that they had been subjected to a fervent brand of socially conservative evangelicalism.
The school, founded in 1909, was established as a non-denominational institution, though grounded in Judeo-Christian heritage. School guidelines, however, prohibit staff from pressuring students to convert from their own faiths.
PennLive found that a socially conservative evangelicalism has permeated the Home Life program run by houseparents, fostering a culture of intolerance against LGBT students.
Approximately 2,000-plus students are enrolled in the sprawling Derry Township campus.
In the federal complaint, the Darringtons claim the school fired them after they complained about religious discrimination.
The Darringtons have also filed two charges alleging the school violated Title VII, via religious discrimination, and the Pennsylvania Human Rights Act.
Milton Hershey was approximately two years ago the target of another federal lawsuit filed by a former student. Adam Dobson charged that Milton Hershey discriminated against him because he suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. He contends his mental condition was aggravated when he was publicly humiliated by houseparents attempting to change his sexual orientation and "pray away the gay." Dobson said he was made to watch an anti-gay video after he was caught downloading gay pornography.
Dobson was expelled in 2013.
Top officials at Milton Hershey School have historically declined PennLive requests for interviews on this subject.