Hershey Trust series – #2
Over the last several years I’ve spoken with many people who’ve voiced many concerns about the Hershey Trust. What follows is a compendium of suggestions.
I’ve asked recently myself, and others, what changes would Milton Hershey himself make to correct problems at his beloved school and trust? Here are some suggestions:
1. Put kids first
Needy children were Milton Hershey’s first priority. Not land deals, high finance, or political patronage. The first step in reforming Hershey’s Trust is to once again make needy children the top priority at Hershey. The emphasis should be on the kids, not politicians, their friends, their pet projects, high finance, or empire building with Mr. Hershey’s financial legacy.
2. Appoint child welfare professionals to the Hershey Trust Board of Managers
There are currently no child welfare professionals on the Hershey Board of Managers. A majority of the board should be people with residential childcare experience.
3. End patronage practices
In the past decades political patronage has played a prominent role in appointments to various board and jobs at Hershey. These political patronage practices should end.
4. Hire childcare professionals from outside of Pennsylvania
As we see in the Jerry Sandusky / Penn State scandal, Pennsylvania’s child welfare agencies themselves are badly in need of reform and often seem more concerned with protecting their troubled agencies and cohorts than kids.
5. Bring in outside blood and end cronyism.
Just because you’re a Milton Hershey school alumnus doesn’t make you a good administrator of the world’s largest residential school. There are alumni in the administration of the school who aren’t qualified.
6. Talk to alumni, but not just the usual suspects
Over the last decades many alumni have been involved in efforts to reform the Hershey Trust. Others have walked away out of exhaustion, frustration or alienation. An effort must be made to listen to all.
7. Improve the school’s turnover / dropout rate
The school’s dropout rate has been unacceptable. The Milton Hershey School has the resources to turn these kids around. Place troubled kids in a separate home with special tutors and a curriculum specially designed for behavior improvement.
8. Stop all land deals at Hershey until a through investigation of past practices can be completed
It should go without saying: freeze everything until this mess can be straightened out.
9. Those with conflicts of interest in the Attorney General’s Office should recuse
Those with political or personal conflicts of interest in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office should recuse themselves from dealings with the Hershey Trust.
