Philly’s storied Girls’ High is under siege, alumnae and students say. Here’s why.

Sarah Wilson loves her Philadelphia high school, where she has learned coding, challenged herself in the International Baccalaureate program, and served as a class officer.

But Wilson — like many students, staff and alumnae of the oldest public high school for young women in the U.S., founded 176 years ago — worries about the future of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, especially in light of proposed cuts to the school’s budget.

Girls’ High has had a rocky few years: first the pandemic, then the challenges all schools had with a return to in-person learning.

Last year, the storied magnet school was the center of a controversy over a student whose diploma was initially withheld because she danced across the stage at graduation. Ultimately, the school’s principal was removed.

This year, the school was one of several city magnets that had dramatically smaller-than-usual ninth-grade classes — 88 incoming students, a fraction of the size of its last class, which had more than 200 girls — due to changes in the district’s high school admissions policy, some of which have already been tweaked.

In the 2023-24 school year, Girls’ High has weathered much. There were gas leaks, lockdowns, and asbestos repairs that worried students and families who initially received no communication about them, they said. Recently, a Girls’ High teacher abruptly left the school and was ultimately charged with attempting to sexually abuse a 16-year-old student.

Now, the school, which is still without a permanent principal, is facing cuts because of its smaller population. While the district spent extra resources last year to not take away teachers from magnets such as Girls’ that had empty seats because of the admissions changes, this year it’s not making that promise. (A district official said that Girls’ is getting one additional teacher “and some staff members” more than its enrollment allocation.)

But absent additional intervention, Girls’ High will lose several teachers, including those who run key programs, teach Advanced Placement, IB, science and art classes at the magnet school at Broad and Olney.

One Girls’ High teacher said that communication at the school is poor, and that this year has been “incredibly demoralizing.” The teacher asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal.

Monique Braxton, a spokesperson for the district, noted Girls’ declining enrollment and the district’s historical underfunding as reasons for staff reductions. She also noted that though enrollment has dropped by 7,000 students systemwide since 2012, districtwide staffing levels have remained steady.

“There is no threat” to Girls’ long-term viability, Braxton said.

But Wilson, a junior at Girls’, worries about her school’s long-term future. The school has 723 students enrolled this year; in 2013-14, there were more than 1,100. What’s next, she said?

“Girls’ High shows girls — girls of color, girls from low-income backgrounds — that they can be amazing,” said Wilson. “To make these cuts is just abhorrent.”

Rachel Anne Nielsen, a parent with daughters at Girls’ High since 2019, worries about changes she’s seen at an institution that she says “has been a lighthouse for young women for so long.”

The school seems under siege, she said.

“The rug was pulled out, the rug was rolled up, we’ve been beaten with the rug,” Nielsen added.

Deanda Wilson, Sarah’s mother, is president of the Girls’ High Parent Teacher Daughter Association. Testifying at a recent school board meeting, she expressed frustration over the slow speed and lack of transparency around the selection process for a principal.

“The lack of permanent leadership has contributed to the demise of Girls’ High,” Deanda Wilson said. “It’s really compounding all of our other difficulties.”

Girls’ High is a place of tradition, from “big sisters” who show new students the ropes to white gowns worn at graduation. Students walk through pink marble hallways and can take harp lessons. The school offers myriad Advanced Placement courses, and opportunities to enroll in college classes and participate in clubs, arts and science activities, as well as sports.

It has an active alumnae association and boasts graduates from singer Jill Scott and lawyer Gloria Allred to former Superintendent Constance E. Clayton and former University of Pennsylvania president Judith Rodin.

Both the alumnae association and parent group want to leverage all of those things. But the school needs help now, they say.

Deanda Wilson said Girls’ supporters want the district to hold off on cuts for five years, giving them time to rebuild while they mount a campaign to capitalize on Girls’ historical strengths and to tackle issues that face the school. She envisions doing so in conjunction with other magnets, such as Carver High School of Engineering and Science and Girard Academic Music Program, which are also struggling with potential cuts because of enrollment blips caused by changes to the district’s special admissions process.

Girls’ High is “an incubator for women who lead. But we can’t go another year like this,” she said.

Azeb Kinder graduated from Girls’ in 1990. She is the daughter of immigrants, and it was important to Kinder’s mother to send her daughter to a single-sex school. That’s still the case for some families, who feel more comfortable enrolling their daughters in an all-girls school.

Girls’ was a launching pad for Kinder to a career in education, a doctorate, and now work in diversity, equity and inclusion. Kinder has remained close to Girls’, and is now its alumnae association president.

Kinder knows that the charter movement, plus an expansion of Philadelphia magnets, means city girls have more choices for high school than they did when she was choosing a school in the 1980s. But, she said, Girls’ is worth fighting for.

A former district teacher and central office staffer herself, Kinder said she knows the district is dealing with limited resources.

“But when a school is going through transition — we’re just asking, give us a moment,” Kinder said. “We’ve had all these changes. We have 175 years, and we cannot lose this storied history.”