One of Philly’s premier high schools is in turmoil, staff, parents, and students say

One of Philadelphia‘s top magnet schools is in disarray, those inside it say — shedding enrollment, losing teachers, and facing issues with safety and school climate.

Make no mistake: The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, in its historic, columned building on South Broad Street, continues to produce shows, concerts, a musical. But it has changed, and continuing problems with internal politics and personnel threaten its stability.

“There’s all this positive stuff going on, but underneath all of that is a lot of toxicity,” one teacher said.

More than a dozen CAPA staff and former staff, students, and parents described to The Inquirer a school roiled by internal strife. Most of those interviewed declined to be publicly named for fear of reprisal.

Concerns about problems at CAPA have been brought to the Philadelphia School District for years, to the school board in recent weeks, and, most recently, to City Council. The teachers union is also aware.

But issues continue.

In 2022-23, the school enrolled 744 students; this year, it has 646 on roster, and is now projecting 569 for the 2025-26 school year, a startling number in a city where a shift in special-admissions policy means that some qualified students who apply to magnets do not get into any of their desired schools, and where such enrollment shifts mean fewer teachers and staff.

“At this point, it‘s pretty bad in there,” a second staffer said. “CAPA has always been an ‘everyone’s family’ kind of place, and now there’s all this division, and it‘s spilled over into so many things, into enrollment, into teacher retention. Morale is very low, and I suspect that the enrollment is going to be affected for several years to come.”

Because of the projected enrollment drop, CAPA was initially slated to lose five teachers — including those in key roles in the arts school — but district officials said they would restore some of those positions. But no official notice of the restoration has come, and many teachers have accepted other positions or are actively interviewing.

Christina Clark, a district spokesperson, said in a statement that the school system “is committed to supporting safe and welcoming learning and work environments for all students and staff. We recognize that significant change is rarely an overnight phenomenon; rather, it unfolds gradually, often requiring persistent effort and patience.”

Principal Alonzo Fulton, new this year, “is working towards creating a positive culture at CAPA,” Clark said. She cited his efforts to celebrate student successes, his involvement with school performances, and his efforts last week to cook for his staff for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Clark said CAPA “will continue to enroll students who are on a waitlist or who are new to the district and are qualified, including passing the auditions and have not participated in the school selection process” because they’re new to Philadelphia.

CAPA opened in 1978 as a district magnet, part of a plan to desegregate the school system. Its graduates are dancers, writers, actors, artists: notable alumni include Questlove and Black Thought, Leslie Odom Jr., Christian McBride, and the members of Boyz II Men.

The school had long runs of stability — most recently, Joanne Beaver, winner of a Lindback Award for Distinguished Principal Leadership, was at the helm for nearly a decade.

But Beaver, who had not announced any plans to leave, abruptly disappeared toward the end of the 2022-23 school year. (She resurfaced in the 2023-24 school year as a retired principal brought in to stabilize Girard Academic Music Program, another city magnet that had lost its leader. She still holds that role.)

Assistant principal Kimberly Byrd, who came to CAPA in 2021-22, clashed with Beaver, according to multiple sources. Byrd remains part of the school‘s administrative team.

The next year, Jennifer Melendez was interim principal but was not a good fit for CAPA, sources said. Last summer, Fulton became Melendez‘s successor. Some progress has been made — the school was able to stage a musical again, after a hiatus — but deep divisions remain.

Top district officials are aware of the issues at CAPA.

Assistant superintendents make regular visits, and a retired principal, Ed Koch, was dispatched to work at the school alongside the current administration to calm the tensions. Despite telling staff he had planned to stay into the next school year, Koch left recently with no notice.

Clark, the district spokesperson, said that Koch “was brought to CAPA to support Principal Fulton as he transitioned to the school community during his first year, which is a common practice. Supportive resources will change based on evolving needs of the school’s leadership.”

CAPA Home and School Association president Dominique Medley, who described the school as a “hot mess,” said leadership was a major problem in a letter to City Council members sent Tuesday.

The administrations of the last two years, Medley said, have caused significant strife in the school.

“CAPA once stood as a model of excellence and a testament to what a diverse, inclusive learning environment could achieve under strong school leadership. Unfortunately, that legacy is no longer being upheld,” read the letter, obtained by The Inquirer. “Instead of leadership grounded in unity, vision, and accountability, we’ve witnessed decision-making that has fostered division, fear, and frustration. Since 2023, enrollment has declined by 22%. This alarming trend cannot be separated from administrative missteps — beginning with the unexplained removal of a successful principal and continuing with the appointment of leaders who have failed to earn the confidence of the school community.”

Robin Cooper, president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators, the district’s principals union, said that CAPA is “a school with systemic challenges,” but that its problems were centered on personalities, to the students’ detriment.

“Any changes are going to be problematic for a school with systemic challenges and undercurrents around race, around who’s right and who’s wrong,” Cooper said. “They don’t have to like the leader, but they have to allow the leader to lead.”

Multiple staffers said Byrd represents a through line of CAPA‘s tumult. They said her combative leadership style, tendency to “weaponize” students, and speak ill to students of faculty she does not like are a significant worry.

In 2022, some CAPA students staged a protest, walking out of class over what they said was racial discrimination against Byrd and a lack of diversity among the faculty. (One student cited Byrd being “left out of things” and forced to monitor students in the cafeteria, according to a Billy Penn article about that protest.)

Byrd is Black; Beaver, the principal at the time, is white, as are a majority of CAPA teachers. CAPA students are diverse: 50% are Black, 27% white, 12% Hispanic, and 6% Asian.

One student who walked out for Byrd and spoke at the rally in her honor in 2022 said he now believes that Byrd misled students.

One point made at the rally for Byrd was accurate, said the student, who is also Black — CAPA does have too few Black teachers. (Nationally, rates of Black teachers are abysmal.)

“That lack of representation is true,” the senior said. “That‘s why it‘s so easy for us to hold on to people like Byrd, to be on her side, without details. But now, I’m older, and I see things more clearly, and there were no signs of racism.”

Byrd, more than a dozen staffers said, often labels CAPA as an “inherently racist institution” to faculty, staff, and students, a notion that those interviewed by The Inquirer — both Black and white — dismiss.

Last school year, controversy erupted over a play presented by CAPA students. The Agatha Christie play And Then There Were None has a charged racial history — the work’s original name contained a racial slur, and repeated that slur in places throughout the book on which the play is based. (The slur was not included in the play.)

The play, which students themselves chose to perform, was set in England, but includes a scene where a character holds a noose — an action that shocked and upset some in the audience because of its lynching connotations.

Melendez apologized to the CAPA community for the hurt caused by the play, but the episode caused a further rift in the school.

Last year, some staff members sent a petition voicing concerns about the administration to the district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Byrd, multiple staff said, stopped working with, talking to, or even looking at those who signed the petition.

“The staff told the principal this year that they did not feel comfortable with the AP [assistant principal] conducting our formal observations,” a third staffer said. Byrd has not conducted any staff evaluations this year, leaving Fulton to complete them. Some have been completed, but others missed.

Byrd was not authorized to speak, but said Veronica Joyner, education chair of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, was speaking on her behalf. (Joyner was the founder and longtime leader of the Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School, which closed abruptly last June after Joyner announced her retirement, a move that sent 900 students scrambling for new schools. Joyner said no one could run the school as well as she did, and was offended the Philadelphia School District offered only a one-year charter renewal.)

The crux of the issues, Joyner said, is “the school has a history of racism.” Byrd replaced a white assistant principal “and many of the staff had been on her since that replacement.” (Before Byrd, whom Beaver hired, CAPA last had an assistant principal, a white man, in 2013.)

Byrd filed a discrimination complaint early on in her time at CAPA, said Joyner, who also said students were called a racial slur by a white teacher and some were denied a request to wear kente cloths as a nod to their African heritage.

“There are a handful of teachers that are leading the charge, writing petitions, people that don’t like Kimberly Byrd because of her race, and because she’s a female,” said Joyner. “She’s tried to do the best she can; she’s under a lot of pressure. Administration had gone to her requesting that she transfer. I encouraged her to remain there. I said, ‘You’re helping the children.’”

On Sunday, Barbara Ransom, Byrd’s lawyer, said that Byrd “has been very consistent with following the rules and regulations. My client is an assistant principal; she has never been sanctioned, and she doesn’t have the power to make some of the decisions that would be considered controlling over a situation.”

Tumult has continued this year, from multiple intruders in the school and no lockdowns ever formally called — in one case, a former employee roamed the building for four hours — to days where the school goes hours with no certified administrator at all in the building.

Policies are lax or nonexistent, staff said; on one occasion, a field trip turned into a free-for-all, with no communication about which students were supposed to be on the trip and who was in charge of them, and no communication with the school nurse, which meant no emergency medications, like EpiPens and asthma inhalers, were sent for kids who might have needed them.

The school has struggled with some key teacher vacancies; in one instance, students in one math class had no math instruction but received fake grades, parents and teachers say. (In 2013, CAPA principal John Dunphy was removed from the school after allegedly giving out fake grades.)

Staff said that the lack of structure translates to student conduct, too. When students act out, even in major ways, consequences are nonexistent. Students fight or even strike teachers and nothing happens, multiple staff said.

“Students can shove teachers or threaten them, and they know there’s no consequences,” the third staffer said.

Another CAPA senior said the school has been losing steam since her sophomore year.

“It’s gotten progressively worse,” said the second CAPA senior. Safety is a concern, the senior said, but so is a feeling of few rules and less enforcement. “You’ll walk into the office and see students in there, skipping class and talking crap about other students with adults.”

Professional development is haphazard, with teachers meeting not by subject area or grade level but by when they happen to have their prep time.

“Other schools are meeting about content,” a fourth CAPA staffer said. “All we’re doing is listening to lectures about how horrible white people are and questions about how we bring joy to our classes.”

Some staffers have filed complaints with various individuals, boards, and agencies — and have been sent to the district’s so-called rubber room for allegations leveled by the administration that were ultimately deemed to be unfounded.

Medley and a number of other parents spoke publicly at the April school board meeting about their concerns. After the meeting, one CAPA staffer was seen showing students the board meeting video and making negative comments about those who spoke out.

“The kids know that there’s a divide — we try to make it less, to be professional, but sometimes, it’s not even professional,” said a fifth staffer.

CAPA is being “eviscerated from within,” said a sixth staffer. “I see young people internalizing cynicism a lot earlier than they have to, and it looks like the environment is directly contributing to that. Every day, their shoulders slump a little bit more.”

The district declined to make CAPA administrators available for an interview.