Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia, one of the city’s newer charter schools, began its second year on Wednesday, aiming to be an educational beacon in the financially and academically troubled district.
Because it’s a single-sex public school — one of four in the city — Boys’ Latin faced huge opposition and almost didn’t exist.

The Women’s Law Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania had opposed Hardy’s charter application based on its exclusion of girls.


It was initially rejected by Philadelphia school officials in January 2006, but was approved five months later after then-district CEO Paul Vallas called the gender achievement gap “a crisis.” Boys’ Latin opened in fall 2007.


New rules implemented by the U.S. Education Department in 2006 allow same-sex education whenever schools think it will expand the diversity of courses, improve students’ achievement or meet their individual needs.


But ACLU attorney Mary Catherine Roper said those regulations conflict with the Constitution and Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in education. There are nonexclusionary ways to improve education, such as decreasing class sizes, she noted.


“There is no justification for offering kids different opportunities based on their gender,” said Roper.

Juniors at the city’s public High School for Girls, which has been single-sex since its founding in 1848, scored 79.3 percent proficient or higher in math and 85.3 percent proficient or better in reading. [David] Hardy noted that no one has suggested making that school coed.