When THP President Deacon Patrick Moynihan arrived at Louverture Cleary School in 1996, changes were in order. At the time, only 15% of the LCS student population was female. Reasons for this disparity are many and include a domestic culture that views sons as more likely to earn an income and thus more deserving of what few educational opportunities exist.
A strict affirmative action plan was immediately put into place, requiring at least 40% of each incoming class be female. Because potential students must pass an entrance exam for enrollment, this necessitated enrolling some females even if they tested lower than a number of males.
Within only a few years, it became far less necessary to adjust the acceptance process. Word got out about the success of LCS’s women graduates and biases in the community began to change. Soon, LCS had a large number of female applicants to pull from.
