Writer Tim Whitaker puts this week’s late-night theft of 58 laptops and other equipment from West Philadelphia High School – valued at about $80,000 – into context with the other struggles the school has had in recent months in a post on Philadelphia Magazine’s website today.

The ski-masked thieves were caught on surveillance video taking the equipment early Wednesday morning. Police are still investigating the thefts, which are the latest blow to West. Earlier this month, dozens of students walked out of the school in protest of ongoing changes there, including three new principals this school year.

In the article, entitled The Biggest Embarrassment in Philadelphia, Whitaker lauds former principal Saliyah Cruz, who was also praised by students and parents before she was moved out of the school. He writes:

Things have been deteriorating steadily and dramatically at West Philadelphia High, one of the city’s oldest and most iconic educational institutions, for decades.

But for a brief time, just a moment ago but all but forgotten already, there was hope. Hope came in the form of Saliyah Cruz, a passionate principal who mobilized and inspired a troop of young and devoted teachers to her mission for three years at West Philadelphia High School until she was shown the door at the end of the 2010 academic year.