After Girls’ High graduation flap, its principal has been replaced

After withholding diplomas from some students because of their actions on the stage at graduation, the Girls’ High principal is gone — at least temporarily.

In a letter sent recently to the Girls’ High community, Philadelphia School District Associate Superintendent Tomás Hanna discussed a “temporary change in leadership” at the historic magnet school.

Janis Butler has been named “substitute principal at Girls’ High,” Hanna wrote. “Dr. Butler is excited to support the school community to help set the stage for a successful 2023-2024 school year.”

Butler replaces Lisa Mesi, who had been Girls’ High’s principal since 2019.

It is not clear whether Mesi will be returning, the circumstances under which she left, or any other information. Some alumni said that Mesi received death threats after news of the graduation went viral.

“While this is the only information I can share at this time, I am committed to providing updates as additional information becomes available,” Hanna wrote.

Monique Braxton, the district’s spokesperson, said she could not answer questions about whether an investigation had been launched, whether leaving was Mesi’s choice, or whether Mesi might return.

» READ MORE: Girls’ High denied a graduate her diploma because she danced across the stage

Mesi denied at least two young women their diplomas in June because the students’ conduct elicited audience reaction as they walked across the stage at graduation. Hafsah Abdul-Rahman did the griddy dance and an audience member laughed, and Saleemah Burch flipped her hair and made a gesture, and someone clapped.

Girls’ High, which opened in 1848 as one of the first public high schools for women in the United States, is steeped in tradition. School leaders expect graduates to dress in all white and walk across the Kimmel Center stage sedately.

Mesi had warned graduates that if their families clapped, cheered, or called out their names, diplomas would be withheld.

Both Abdul-Rahman and Burch said they were humiliated by having their diplomas publicly withheld, and wondered why they were being held responsible for audience members’ behavior.

District officials have said they did not “condone the withholding of earned diplomas based on family members cheering for their graduates. We apologize to all the families and graduates who were impacted and are further looking into this matter to avoid it happening in the future.”

But the Girls’ High Alumnae Association publicly supported Mesi.

“She is a compassionate leader and outspoken advocate for our little sisters,” the alumnae group said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have her shepherding our alma mater through incredibly difficult years — through city-wide budget cuts, policy changes and a global pandemic that magnified every obstacle the faculty, administration and our dear little sisters have faced.”

» READ MORE: Girls’ High alumnae back principal who denied diplomas for dancing across the graduation stage

Alumnae also criticized the national media coverage of the Girls’ High graduation, saying it misrepresented the spirit and tone of the graduation.

“At the onset — and previously shared with all students, families, and other attendees — Principal Mesi clearly communicated the guidelines and regulations for the ceremony with an added dose of warmth and humor,” the alumnae group said.

Still, there were widespread objections among critics over both the suppression of any overt celebrating and the policing of Black students’ cultural traditions.

Mesi is a veteran educator who spent time training new district principals. In 2021, she won a prestigious Lindback Award for distinguished principal leadership.

Butler, who spent time as a vice president of education for the nonprofit Universal Companies, has also served as an interim assistant superintendent in the district, and interim principal of Edison High.

The 2023-24 school year is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.