David Hardy, Boys’ Latin founder and school choice advocate, has been named interim president of Girard College

David Hardy, the founder of Boys’ Latin Charter School in Philadelphia and a prominent school-choice advocate, has been named interim president of Girard College.

The former president, Christopher Goins, resigned last month after less than a year leading the historic boarding school in Fairmount, which serves about 300 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in first through 12th grades.

Hardy, currently a senior fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative Harrisburg think tank that promotes school choice, will take over at Girard on April 25.

“Under Mr. Hardy’s leadership, we will continue to move Girard forward, reaffirming its connection to the community, and maximizing opportunities for our students to be successful,” Bernard Smalley, president of the Board of Directors of City Trusts, and Lynette Brown-Sow, chair of the Girard College Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.

Hardy did not immediately return a request for comment.

Since retiring as CEO at Boys’ Latin, a West Philadelphia school that is Pennsylvania’s only single-gender charter, Hardy has advocated on behalf of charters and the school-choice movement.

Hardy serves on the board of the national Center for Education Reform, the Pennsylvania Coalition for Public Charter Schools, the Independence Mission Schools — a network of Catholic schools in Philadelphia — and Ad Prima Charter School, with campuses in Overbrook and Mount Airy.

He replaces Goins, who was hired at Girard College last year after a six-month search. Goins, who previously founded a high-performing Chicago charter school and worked with the Obama Foundation to build a nonprofit focused on creating communities for Black and brown boys, had said he aimed to bring stable leadership to Girard.

Goins, who took over July 1, resigned March 31 due to personal reasons, according to the board of directors.