CHARLESTON (WV)
Charleston Gazette-Mail
October 23, 2017
By Lacie Pierson
Nine former students of a now-closed boarding school have filed lawsuits this month saying they suffered severe abuse as part of a “culture of silence and secrecy” among officials at two schools in West Virginia and Tennessee.
The lawsuits, filed in Kanawha Circuit Court from Oct. 13-17, are the latest legal actions taken in the case of Miracle Meadows School in Salem, Harrison County. Two other former students filed a similar lawsuit in January.
The former students said school staff sexually assaulted and mentally and physically abused them while denying them food and an education at the school, which state officials closed in 2014, following the arrest of two employees on child abuse and neglect charges.
Miracle Meadows is one of 14 defendants named in each of the lawsuits. Other defendants include Susan Gayle Clark, former director of Miracle Meadows; Seventh-Day Adventist Church North American Division and the Advent Home Learning Center in Calhoun, Tennessee, about 45 minutes northwest of Chattanooga; and its director, Blondel Senior.
All of the plaintiffs were minors during their time at the schools, and they are identified by their initials in the complaints filed in court last week.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.