Philadelphia Military Academy isn't what you'd think

A MISPERCEPTION hovers over the Philadelphia Military Academy, one that's soon dispelled when some city parents and students meet with school administrators.

"Because of the name of the school, we still get applicants that have a lot of disciplinary issues," said principal Patricia Randzo. "They think that we are a military school for discipline rather than the academics. And we're strictly academics."

Maj. Kenneth Roberts, the school's Junior ROTC commandant, said that "the academy uses a military structure to create opportunities for success . . . This is a learning environment."

An environment that has landed the school first among its peers - high schools with similar student demographics - with a 58 percent overall score in the 2013-14 School Progress Report. Academy parents tell other families about their deep satisfaction with the school, noting the fierce commitment to students by teachers, staff and Randzo.

"Teachers there seem to care about their students. It's not just a job," said Kensington parent Margaret Wright, whose daughter Katlin is in 10th grade. "The principal genuinely cares about the kids."

Well, Randzo will tell anyone just that.

"I see my kids as my children," said Randzo, who has been principal for six years. "I've always been like that as a principal. I go into it believing they're my children, so what would I want from my own flesh and blood? Then the experience will always be at a high level."

Every day during announcements, she repeats her mantra for the cadets: "What a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

The academy had two locations until the district merged them in 2013. Randzo was principal of the academy at Leeds, then was named principal of the combined school, the former Elverson Middle School, on 13th Street near Susquehanna Avenue, in North Philadelphia.

The citywide-admission school seeks students with A's, B's, even a few C's, definitely no history of serious behavioral problems and good attendance records, she said.

"We get a lot of kids who have a C average, B's, but they have a good work ethic," Randzo said. "All we need is a little bit" - she held her index finger and thumb an inch or two apart - "and we can take you the rest of the way."

A military career is not the academy's focus. Joshua Levinson, the roster chair and dean of students, said that the "course of study has nothing to do with the military."

"It's not a place where you train to go into the military. That's the misconception: Either you train to go to the military or you have to have a desire to go to the military," said Levinson, who is also a principal intern.

About one student per year will enter the military, he said. Occasionally, a graduating cadet will attend the U.S. Military Academy, in West Point, N.Y., or the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Md.

Randzo said that the academy "celebrates excellence [and] it really gets the kids to work even harder." That has been reflected in the school's Keystone Exams, with students who were below basic moving up to basic, and those who were basic improving to proficient, she said.

Randzo's philosophy is simple: "We just expect them to do it," she said. "And then our teachers have the buy-in, because we tell our teachers that the kids learn because of them."

Senior Shyan Alvarez, 17, of Mount Airy, followed her cousin and godsister to the school after they told her it was a good school, she said.

Alvarez had not been showing her potential, she said, and was told as much by her Army instructor and her math teacher.

Since the start of her sophomore year, Alvarez said, she has made the Principal's Club every quarter. (In 11th grade, she earned all A's.)

The club is the academy's version of honor roll. To qualify, a cadet must earn A's or B's and 1's for behavior.

"Our kids learn because of the great teachers," Randzo said.

On Twitter: @ReginaMedina

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