History

30th Anniversary ~ 1980-2010

Founded in 1980, the year 2010 marks our 30th anniversary. CAP is proud of its accomplishments and over 1800 graduates. From The Community High School to Community Academy Charter School, the Teresa Gonzalez Mena Early Childhood Center, One Bright Ray Inc., Fairhill CHS, North Philly CHS, and Baltimore CHS, the CAP/CHS family serves over 2000 young people and 1900 families in two states from 6 weeks to 21 years old. We look forward to the next 30 years with a commitment to service and pride in our accomplishments.

Historical Timeline

Opened in West Philadelphia in 1980, serving 60 students.

The school quickly moved in February 1981 to 2820 North 4th Street in West Kensington. The Community High School built an international reputation and became a national leader in urban education. Facing the challenges of West Kensington, the school was recognized and praised by groups from Philadelphia's City Council to the University of Oxford in the UK.

Regional Info
Statistics for the West Kensington area, our home from February 1981 to June 2003, reflect high rates of crime, physical and mental health problems and poor educational outcomes. In 1992, the DEA and ATF targeted the area for massive raids. In the mid-90's, ABC's "Nightline" dubbed the area "The Badlands." In 1997, the Philadelphia Police Department targeted the area for an intense crime fighting effort due to the high incidence of drug and murder arrests. A 1998 Manhattan Institute study identified the area as one of the most devastated in the United States. However, during this period, The Community High (CHS) and Community Academy Charter School (CAPCS) graduated over 700 young men and women, disproving the hopelessness implied by the bare statistics.

The Community High School's partnership with the School District of Philadelphia led to CHS pioneering compensatory education programs for chronic underachievers, high school dropouts, schoolphobics, teen-parents, and expelled students. The school's partners included the State of Delaware and several social service agencies. However, CHS--and CAPCS to follow--always emphasized scholarship as the foundation to life success.

In 1994, CAP opened its day care center

In 1995, The Community High School was accredited by the Middle States Association on Colleges and Schools (MSA), Commission on Secondary Schools (CES).

Upon receiving our first charter in 1997, The Community High School changed its name, and the new Community Academy of Philadelphia, a Pennsylvania Charter School, set out to bring its message of hope to a broader community (known for two years as "Philadelphia Community Academy" or "PCA"). In 1997, CAP also open a teen clinic called Lisa's Place.

The Emotional Support Team was created in 2000; it now includes a staff psychiatrist, three full and one part-time therapist, three social workers, and a two school counselors. CAP has its own school two psychologists and a seven-member special education team.

In 2001, CAP's charter was renewed, and it was the only Philadelphia charter school that year to receive approval for enrollment expansion. As planned, we added kindergarten to grade 3 classes in the autumn of 2001 at a satellite location. The next year, CAP continued its expansion with grades 4 and 5 opening at a second satellite campus. At 4th Street, we kept grades 6 to 12.

In June 2002 our founding non-profit corporation, International Education and Community Initiatives (IECI) dba One Bright Ray, Inc. (OBR), formerly The Community High School, secured a Pennsylvania charter school record $17,045,000 in Standard & Poor's "A" rated municipal revenue bonds through the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID). CAPCS immediately began renovation of a 118,000 sq. ft. former Kraft cheese factory on 6.5 acres at 1100 E. Erie Avenue.

In September 2003, all three schools were combined at our new Erie campus. Its new state-of-the-art school site, it served 1,000 students in grades K-12. In 2004, CAP re-organized as three mini-schools, Lower (nursery/day care and K-4), Middle (5-8), and Upper (9-12) with 1,200+ students on our 6.5-acre, urban campus. With a brand new gym, CAP joined the PIAA in 2005.

(By the way, our 2820 North 4th Street campus is now occupied by our sister school, Fairhill Community High School, which carries on the Community High School tradition of re-educating high-risk youth.) One Bright Ray, Inc., has since opened North Philadelphia Community High School at 1142 East Erie Avenue (the old Amici's Restaurant and now the Megan Simpson Building headquarters of OBR) and Baltimore Community High School in 2009, continuing the philosophy and programs of The Community High School of 1980 - 1997.

Under Mr. Proietta's leadership as Chief Executive Officer, CAP extended its secondary school accreditation in 2004 and applied for accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Committee on Institution-Wide Accreditation (CIWA), for its comprehensive N-12 program.

The CIWA Visiting Team evaluated our school program in May 2005, and after receiving a sterling oral report, CAP was given school-wide accreditation on December 1, 2005.

Community Academy remains a leader in educational programs that include both college preparatory and remedial classes targeted for urban youth; in addition, the school provides a full range of non-academic services.