From my experience, I would venture to say it would be easier to eliminate schools that are NOT caring and supportive. I travel and give workshops at a lot of other musical theatre programs. When I first started doing them, I was shocked by how similar the dynamics were at most of the schools. I feel like there were a lot of programs out there who are similar to ours (SU) in that they put students first and want them to succeed. As far as individual faculty are concerned - every faculty has a curmudgeon. The program director is the person your child will spend the most time with. If your child feels a strong connection with that person, it is probably a good fit.
~VT