The Lord of Discipline

Students who have failed elsewhere in Philadelphia graduate college-bound from Vuong Thuy's charter school. But even the district's tough CEO questions the headmaster's methods.

By Brett Schaeffer

The short, gray-haired man stands up from his desk and steps out of his office. Dressed in a navy blue jacket, a tie, and dark slacks and shoes, he moves quickly and quietly down the short hallway toward a classroom. He knocks twice on the door but doesn’t wait for an answer as he pulls it open and steps inside. In that instant, 16 high school freshmen and sophomores wearing prep school blazers leap to their feet and stand at attention.

Headmaster Vuong Thuy is in the room, and shirts better be tucked in, eyes better face forward, and a pin-drop better echo.

At Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in Philadelphia, the diminutive Thuy, a 66-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, casts a long shadow. Once a Philadelphia public school teacher and a former professor at Temple University’s education school, Thuy (pronounced "twee") opened the grades 9-12 school in 1998, shortly after the state legislature passed...