Dozens of lawsuits have just been filed against Miracle Meadows School, a Seventh-day Adventist-run alternative school in Salem, West Virginia that has become synonymous with abuse and neglect. It comes after a previous group of students sued the school for similar reasons and came away with a hefty settlement.

Miracle Meadows first made headlines for all the wrong reasons back in 2014. The year-round school encouraged parents to send kids there if they were dishonest, defiant, or experiencing “spiritual disinterest.” And many parents did, in part because the staff members were said to have a “divine commission to live as examples of God’s high calling, inspiring the students to follow their lead in responsible Christian living.”

It all came crashing down that year when the public learned that the school’s leader, Susan Gayle Clark, surrendered on charges of child neglect resulting in injury on top of three other misdemeanors. The school’s custodian was also charged with child abuse.

Their crimes are horrific but still worth explaining in detail: In one instance, the custodian tightly handcuffed a 14-year-old student over suspicions of “sexual misconduct.” The child was kept overnight in a “quarantine room,” and his wrists were bloody the next day. Clark knew about incidents like this but did nothing to prevent the abuse. ...