Back to school: Safety concerns, positive student improvements addressed by Philly superintendent
School District of Philadelphia superintendent talks of improvements in keeping kids in classroom
Philadelphia’s Superintendent of Schools, Tony Watlington, is looking forward to the start of the new academic year and tells FOX 29 he’s focused on his goal of making the school district the fastest improving big school system in the country.
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia’s Superintendent of Schools, Tony Watlington, is looking forward to the start of the new academic year and tells FOX 29 he’s focused on his goal of making the school district the fastest improving big school system in the country.
Starting his third school year in Philadelphia, Watlington will put in place a new, district-wide reading program. In an interview with FOX 29, he said, "We are going to drive excellence in academic achievement by launching a new, kindergarten through twelfth reading curriculum and make sure teachers are well-prepared to teach that curriculum."
Watlington will do that in a district of some 114,000 public school students who’ve shown improvements in reading and math, post-pandemic in grades three through eight, but still face steep challenges.
FOX 29’s Jeff Cole asked, "It’s accurate to say that the majority of the kids in the district are reading and doing math below proficiency?
Watlington replied, "It is correct to say we have entirely too many children, more than half, who do not perform on reading and math at a proficient level. However, we can also say we’re improving."
Watlington argues the district is also improving its dropout rate from more than 3,900 in past years to 3,600 last year. Asked if he thought the dropout was still in crisis, he said, "When we have thousands or more fewer kids dropping out, I think it speaks to progress."
Watlington said the district continues to search for teachers. "Our district, the eighth largest in the country, has 9,000 teachers," he said. "And a 95 percent fill rate, that five percent represents a few hundred teachers. We’re addressing it by recruiting and hiring."
The superintendent said they’re working on fixing aging school buildings while arguing crime impacting students is falling. Cole asked if the crime numbers also suggest that some of the participants in crime and the victims are constituents. They are kids. Watlington replied, "And to your point, part of what we’ll do is to continue to insure that children have regular attendance, and we’ll continue to improve that as we have in the past two years."