resigned after less than a year on the job, filed by a former dean of student services, Plaintiffs' 1st Complaint 4 1 2019 With Parent Affidavits & Exhibits (PDF), Plaintiffs' 1st Complaint 4 1 2019 With Parent Affidavits & Exhibits (Text), California residents do not sell my data request. Its extremely negligent to let students have this level of power over each others lives, he said. The exam is the culmination of a boot camp of sorts for incoming college students. Events such as the Military Tattoo, Regimental Dining In, and Vespers reflect British traditions. When the schools official alumni association board of directors again challenged the trustees on multiple issues in 2019, the trustees simply disbanded the alumni group. The officer ranks used above were briefly reinstated in 20142016. Valley Forge Military Academy and College - Wikipedia. The main songs, among others, are "VFMAC Alma Mater", "the Line of Gray", "Spirit of the Forge", and the "Army Song". That was before the pandemic. Asked directly what the prospects were for keeping Valley Forge open, he sounded a note of warning. VFMAC is a popular school for various royal families. All students are members of the Corps of Cadets. In junior college, hoping to thwart such attacks, he and some of his Forge classmates took on overnight surveillance shifts. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Together with the courses require in the academic fields of study, the core programs provide the foundation for successful transfer to a four-year college and long-term academic success. After this meeting, he wrote, I was discouraged from reporting this incident to anyone else. A few years later, he shared his story with the police, who spoke to school officials. We only had seven kids returning who were interested in the program, said current school president Col. Stuart B. Helgeson. (In a response to the lawsuit, the school disputed her account of the incident.). He was succeeded as Chaplain by Colonel[clarification needed] John E. Steele Jr., Valley Forge Military Academy and College. During another standoff, Gallagher emailed an HR official asking when Woods contract was up for renewal. Levi French 1993-1997. (Before the design of the school "pips", cadet officers wore the British "pips" design with the crowns.) Wood quit the Forge that year, in any case, after seven years on the job. Bandmaster is Warrant Officer (II) Phil Evans, Royal Marines Band Service (Retired).[22]. This prompted the schools lawyer to warn that firing him would amount to a retaliatory discharge based on Woods efforts to uncover serious breakdowns in how abuse allegations were dealt with. They had the wrong idea of what service and tradition really are. But he was even more frustrated with the school for creating an environment in which college kids were saddled with responsibilities beyond their age and experience. Grades 7 & 8 compete in the Middle School eSports League. All they cared about was that there was no negative press, even if it meant that kids were being sodomized or kids were having inappropriate sexual relations, or getting drunk or getting high, or whatever. Helgeson also tried some new revenue streams, such as licensing the Valley Forge name to a K12 school in Qatar and submitting a proposal to the local school board to establish a public charter school on the grounds. In her 2019 resignation letter, she called the present governance structure and apathetic attitude of the trustees not only troubling but reprehensible.. Students of color and female cadets were admitted, if not with open arms. Victims Come Forward To Tell Their Stories. or Best Offer. Brigadier General Alfred A. Sanelli, Class of 1939, B.A., M.A., Pennsylvania Guard (Retired) [Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army (Retired)] (19212005), was the long-serving Chaplain and Director of Character Education, after serving as Dean of the academy, Dean of the college, Professor of Military Science, and in other staff positions over many years. Former, unused, and honorary ranks are in italics. I look forward to welcoming you to Valley Forge Military Academy & College. The faculty currently includes Royal Navy, Royal Marines Commandos, and Royal Marines Band Service personnel, especially in the academy's regimental band and also as staff and tactical officers. We keep hoping these guys would go away, said current president Stuart Helgeson. SPONSORED. It began admitting female students in its junior college in 2005. But he soon came to see the exam as an empty ritual. Italian Government Order Award -General M.C. In my role, I am only the latest in a long line of stewards of the legacy of Valley Forge Military Academy and College. VFMAC's Commandant of Cadets is Garrison Sergeant Major William Mott.[15]. Several alumni who serve in the armed forces told me that nothing in their military experience has been as harrowing as their years at the Forge. At the height of its enrollment in the late 1960s, Valley Forge had 1,169 cadetsmost white and all male. But I can say if we wont stand together, we all will fall.. (Long sued the school, claiming the allegations were cooked up by a trustee who disapproved of his management style. Artillery made their debut in the corps (as E Battery) in 1939, formerly in the machine gun role. No one could pronounce Triola, so they shortened my name to Troll, which amused me since many students' names had far . Formal military education emerged in Europe during the 18th century and was embraced by the colonial brass during the Revolutionary War. A 2015 whistle-blower complaint filed by a former dean of student services alleged instances of boy-on-boy and boy-on-girl rape. In his affidavit, Niessner testified that when he reported his abuse to the TAC office, an officer asked, Will your parents sue? (They did not.) ), In 2007, two parents told the Philadelphia Inquirer they were pulling their sons from the Forge after one of them, age 16, was brutally beaten by peers, and the other, a 13-year-old, was repeatedly tormented, kicked while doing pushups, and branded with a five-pointed star. Former cadets Ryan Niessner, Jordan Schumacher, and Young Sheng are among the former cadets speaking out about their experiences at the Forge. In 2017, a 16-year-old cadet was allegedly subjected to a sadistic hazing ritual called tooth-pasting. The now-former cadet alleges in a lawsuit that fellow cadets hit him with a lacrosse stick, pushed it down his throat, and then tried to shove it into his anus. Some graduate as commissioned military officers, but all are subject to the customs and courtesies of military life, as well as its trials and traumas. On a chilly evening in September 2020, Jordan Schumacher solemnly patrolled the grounds of Valley Forge Military Academy, near his wit's end. Alumni and parents sued the trustees in March 2019 to have Lord reinstated, but the case was thrown out last November for lack of standing. It merely makes them obedient. This truth helps highlight the moral clarity of dissenters such as Salinger and Schumacher, whose insubordination was a clear-eyed response to abuse, a righteous rejection of bullying masquerading as command and control. Schumacher and another former cadet remember Rivera at one point declaring his intent to give cadets an experience the commandant likened to a deployment in one of the shit-istans. This consisted of TACs berating and belittling the cadets and robbing them of sleep. I dont want to say thats a goal of the school, but its something that happens. Therese Dougherty, who oversaw student activities and the schools summer camp for McGeorges successors, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in 2013 contending that administrators treated her in a condescending and demeaning manner and showed favoritism toward male employees. Terms of Service apply. The campus is crumbling, too, its barracks periodically infested with rats, cockroaches, and moldcadets have also complained of burnt and moldy food in the dining hall. 203 talking about this. Additionally, some students in the school's band perform regularly on and off-campus on the school's Coronation Heraldic Fanfare Trumpets. Priced at roughly $45,000 for tuition, room and board, it is the last military academy in Pennsylvania. Veteran military leaders who attempted to fill the role have accused the trustees of micromanaging day-to-day operations. Each academy's particular need guides VFMC's SAP Program. Valley Forge prepared me for life.. But Michael Karson, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Denver who specializes in child abuse, told me that one of the few hard laws in his field is as follows: Punishment doesnt work to change peoples character, he says. 530 W. Dekalb Pike Rt. Valley Forge Military Academy and College (VFMAC) is a private boarding school (grades 712) and military junior college in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Schumacher stormed back to his dorm afterward, gathered his belongings, and threw everything in his truck, yelling and banging doors as he vented his rage. The independent study, paid for by a trustee close to the insurgents and provided to The Inquirer, said the reason was that the academy was not living up to its promises to parents.. 23% of employees would recommend working at Valley Forge Military Academy to a friend and 26% have a positive outlook for the business. But the kind of torment Valley Forge kids were subjected to, trauma that can leave psychological wounds as deep as those borne by soldiers on a battlefield, is impossible to justify. 202, King of Prussia, PA 19406-3002. In addition, school administrators said that Mrs. Lord is still welcome on campus. And security has been told that if my wife steps foot on the grounds, they are to call the police. School administrators said Mrs. Lord has not been banned and is still welcome on campus, following the visitors protocols,once campus is open to visitors again. The service, which General Baker developed, is rooted in the Episcopal or Anglican "Book of Common Prayer" and is Christian in nature. The corps and the rank system have since evolved. Taps: Directed by Harold Becker. [18] (Bandmaster Dudley Keith Feltham served as Bandmaster of the 1st Battalion, the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry from 1938 to 1949. It brings out the best and the worst in people, he told me. We cant compete with Main Line boarding schools with sleek furniture and IT thats state of the art. In 2015, the schools thenTitle IX officer warned of a Gomer Pyle method of training, referring to a character from Full Metal Jacket whose brutal hazing by others pushes him to commit a murder-suicide. As punishment, they were ordered to paint the commandants house. 680 Following. Additional clients, Ryan says, are preparing complaints that stem from the Forges intentional ignorance.. The case was settled out of court.). In a grainy video recently shared on the Valley Forge Sucks Instagram, Rivera, now chief of staff, can be heard screaming Shut the fuck up! at a whimpering young cadet. But by the accounts of some cadets, their situation hasnt improved. VFMAC. We didnt get anything done.. At Taps, all cadets, except those granted "Late Lights" to study and cadets of the college, are required to be in bed. 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