Eric Henry, who served as CEO for the Hershey Trust Company for the past six years, has resigned to pursue “other professional opportunities.”
Henry managed $13.5 billion in assets for the Milton Hershey School. A national search is underway for his replacement, according to an April 23 press release announcing Henry’s departure.
Henry couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Milton Hershey School, in Hershey, serves 2,000 underprivileged youths from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Students live on campus in cottages with assigned house parents.
Attendance at the school is free thanks to a trust established by the late chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey and his wife Catherine in 1909. Thirty-two new student homes are under construction and the student population is expected to increase to 2,300 students within the next four years, according to the school’s web page.
Sources of financial support for the school include income from the Hershey Company and Hersheypark amusement center, along with a portfolio of investments and real-estate holdings.
In 2016, Adam Dobson, a former Hershey student, filed suit against the school, claiming he suffered from depression that was exacerbated after a house parent allegedly pressured him into viewing a religious-themed anti-LGBT video.
Dobson, who is gay, attended the school for several years prior to his expulsion in 2013. He’s requesting an unspecified amount in damages and remedial measures at the school.
A jury trial in the Dobson case is scheduled for Jan. 7 at the Ronald Reagan Court House in Harrisburg, with U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner presiding.
In an April 30 email, school spokesperson Lisa Scullin defended the school and its hiring practices.
“At MHS, we are committed to hiring highly qualified faculty and home-life staff with significant experience in education and child care,” Scullin said. “Sexual orientation is never a factor in assessing a candidate for employment. While staff members have self-identified as LGBTQ, and some of them are married, we do not presently have any same-sex couples serving as house parents.”
Criteria for house parents include couples aged 27 or older, married at least three years, with no more than two of their own children, and with legal U.S. work authorization, Scullin said. Applicants must then participate in a series of background and credit checks, intensive interviews and additional visits on campus and at home. “Fewer than 5 percent of applicants are eventually offered a position.”
Scullin also explained the lack of an LGBT support group on campus.
“In an effort to break down the emotional barriers which students built before coming to our campus, all student curriculum is built upon mutual respect and creating a welcoming and inclusive community,” she said. “We realize that as students develop, they may question their sexuality. Discrimination, intolerance or abuse of any kind by staff or students will not be tolerated.”
Additionally, Scullin provided PGN with a policy statement specifying that the school forbids “disparaging others based on sexual orientation, gender identification, or other socially acceptable behavior or appearance.”
In 2011, the school allegedly denied admission to an HIV-positive boy based on a faulty understanding of HIV transmission. A federal lawsuit that was filed by the boy’s mother was settled for $700,000 in 2012, according to court papers.
The school also was required to pay $15,000 in civil penalties assessed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which investigated the matter and concluded that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The school didn’t admit to any wrongdoing when settling the case.