Dr. Parthenia Moore, longtime former Girls’ High principal and alumna, has died at 70

Dr. Parthenia Moore, 70, of Elkins Park, a career educator and the former longtime principal of Philadelphia High School for Girls, died Tuesday, June 18, of cancer.

Dr. Moore, who spent nearly half a century as an educator, embodied Girls’ High to many. She graduated from the school in 1971 and was its principal from 2010 to 2019 — a leader who was loving but no-nonsense and took seriously the charge former Superintendent Constance Clayton gave Moore: Your job is to serve Philadelphia’s children.

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The daughter of Shirley Wilson-Moore and Elmer Moore, Parthenia Arnita Moore was born July 11, 1953, and grew up in South Philadelphia, at 18th and Morris Streets, but her mother insisted that her studious daughter attend Girls’ High in North Philadelphia.

Going to Girls’ High “was the best decision my mother ever made for me,” Dr. Moore said. “The sisterhood has meant everything to me.”

Dr. Moore earned an education degree at Pennsylvania State University, then came home to teach in her hometown, working at Rhodes, Cramp and Francis Scott Key schools. She later earned a master’s degree from St. Joseph’s University and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.

In the 1990s, Dr. Moore moved into administration, working as an assistant principal, principal, and assistant regional superintendent in the Philadelphia School District, and as an assistant superintendent in the Harrisburg and Bristol school systems. After spending a few more years in central office roles when she returned to Philadelphia, Dr. Moore accepted the Girls’ High principalship, a role she relished like no other.

Dr. Moore called her students “phenomenal young women” and held high standards for them, academically and personally. She was determined to be a visible principal, an active one — jumping double dutch and getting on the dance floor at the prom, but also asking students about their college plans, being stern when they tried to skip class or act in a way that was less than what she deemed decorous.

“The girls are my daughters,” Dr. Moore said in 2019. “They are self-determined to be and to know and to grow, and they have confidence. They amaze me with all they bring to the table.”

Azeb Kinder, the president of the Girls’ High alumnae association, said Dr. Moore “was the epitome of a Girls’ High girl. She was fierce, she was committed to the school’s ideals. And she had an incredible sense of integrity. She said, ‘These are what our standards are, and you’re going to live up to them.’”

After her retirement from the district, Dr. Moore was an adjunct professor at several local universities and worked as vice president for education for OIC Philadelphia, the workforce-development nonprofit.

Dr. Moore’s plans to work as a substitute principal in Philadelphia schools were scuttled by the adrenal cancer diagnosis she received in May.

“She wanted to stay busy, always,” said Keith Bunch, one of Dr. Moore’s two sons. “She couldn’t stay retired — she had to help kids in some capacity, she was an educator. That was her passion.”

Even during her brief battle with cancer, Dr. Moore took joy in her students. For instance, she was delighted to find a former Girls’ High pupil of hers administering her CT scan.

“She was so happy and proud,” Bunch said. “She was telling people every place she went, ‘Oh, I saw one of my girls.’ She was the godmother of Philadelphia; she just touched so many lives.”

Outside of work, Dr. Moore adored her family — Bunch and his brother, Kevin; her stepdaughters, Wynter Lyle and Jenifer Mursaloglu; her 17 grandchildren, and her late husband, Eddie Charleston, whom she married in 2016. The two reconnected after attending Penn State together.

“She was just a dynamic woman,” Kevin Bunch Jr. said of his mother. “She laid a lot of groundwork to prepare us for our life, for our future. She had a lot of love, and she gave a lot of love.”

Dr. Moore had “a heart of gold,” Keith Bunch said. “Sometimes, she would forget to eat, because she was making sure everyone else ate.”

She loved visiting new places, and loved music. She was a huge Luther Vandross fan; she traveled to Las Vegas this year to see Charlie Wilson.

“She loved to have a good time,” said Keith Bunch.

In addition to her sons, stepchildren, and grandchildren, Dr, Moore is survived by a sister, Adrienne Warfield.

Information about services was not complete.