CULTURAL SHIFT: Forty years ago, Girard College was all white. Today, it's 83 percent black.

"The white alumni don't even send their kids or grandkids to the school, nor do the teachers," says Daley. "Most white people just won't send their children here for [different] reasons. … If a white high school student was just being introduced to the Girard student body for the first time, then they might struggle trying to get acclimated to the environment."

It hasn't always been this way at Girard.

Forty years ago, the school was only open to poor white males. Today, not only are slightly more than half of the school's 721 students female, but 83 percent are black. (The school runs from first to 12th grade.) Conversely, 73 percent of the school's 78 faculty members are white. An anonymous teacher blames that disparity on the fact that public-school teachers earn more than those at Girard and that there are fewer positions for new teachers to come into. While minority teachers are preferred, there are currently no faculty recruitment efforts.

But as part of its strategic plan, the administration recently launched a diversity initiative that doesn't stop at billboards. Though the school wouldn't divulge how much it is spending, it hired Washington, D.C.'s National MultiCultural Institute (NMCI) in February to jump-start the plan. Consultants interviewed staff members about diversity and, this month, had focus groups take a Web-based needs assessment. With the data from the interviews and surveys, they expect to soon formulate a plan to bolster diversity. (In addition to white students, they're also hoping to attract nonblack minorities.)

Zuki McLaughlin, the school's director of communications, says students' parents want their children to be exposed to a diverse body of individuals. "Diversity at the school does not just mean demographics," she says, "but also acceptance." Admissions director Tammie Hoch noted that if the racial roles were reversed, the school would make efforts to attract more minority students. (Funding, she said, was earmarked for this effort.)

"We try to attract more ethnic groups," Hoch says, "because diversity is good for everyone."

Hoch continued that no one has been denied admission to the school on account of race, but concedes that if a situation arose where two equally qualified students, one black and the other Latino, were competing for one admissions space, the school would probably take the Latino student on account of diversity. But that scenario, she says, "has never been encountered."

The initiative is not without its critics. A residential advisor, who requested anonymity, thinks the administration should dedicate funds to improving the quality of education and quality of life. That would be a better recruiting draw than a billboard, says the RA, pointing out that another white student left Girard because of shabby living conditions. Still, he says the administration told him that the need for diversity was a big issue because the campus is "culturally intolerant"; they've noticed students making racial slurs to one another.

Despite the efforts, Daley says he finds Girard College to be a good environment in which to learn and socialize, especially for those whose families lack financial resources. Unsure how he'd feel if there were more white students on campus, he says that over his nine years at Girard, he's adjusted to hanging around kids of different races.

"In the end, people are people," Daley says. "Girard may not be the most diverse place that you'll encounter, but the eclectic group of students and staff make this one of the most unique places I have ever experienced."

City Paper Intern David Jackson is a Girard College 12th-grader.