David Hardy
Background
David P. Hardy is the Co-Founder and retired CEO of Boys' Latin of Philadelphia charter school. Boys' Latin, which opened in 2007 in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's first and only single-gender charter school has a student body that is 98% African-American and 74% economically disadvantaged. Blending classical studies with contemporary pedagogy, the school offers rigorous coursework and an extensive selections extra-curricular activities including robotics, drama, entrepreneurship, mock trial, and 10 varsity sports. In its first four graduating classes, Boys' Latin has sent 85% of graduates to post-secondary education-80% of which attending four-colleges. Boys' Latin students matriculate into the finest colleges and universities in the nation including Pomona, Bowdoin, Carleton, Penn, U Va, and Penn State, as well as 13 of the 14 members of the State University System. It added a middle school in 2013, increasing enrollment to 850 students to make it the largest 6-12 grades all-male school of any type in the region. The school has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on NBC with Megyn Kelly.
After retiring from Boys Latin in 2017, David Hardy served as Executive Director of Excellent Schools PA, a school choice advocacy organization. He also is the principal of a consulting practice, Parkway Educational Consultants. He has recently returned to Boys’ Latin as interim CEO as the school undergoes a leadership change.
Mr. Hardy served as the spokesman for Philly schoolchoice.com, was a founding board member of the Philadelphia Schools Partnership, and is a former board member of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the North Carolina Outward Bound School. He currently serves on the boards of the Center for Education Reform, the Pennsylvania State Coalition of Public Charter Schools, and Ad Prima Charter School.
David Hardy lives in center city Philadelphia with his wife of 31 years, Zina Oliver-Hardy. They have two adult sons.