PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) —The new School District of Philadelphia superintendent’s transition team has released a report with almost 100 recommendations for a five-year plan to remedy the district’s issues.
The report was presented to the school board by Andrea Custis and Dr. Guy Generals, co-chairs of the transition team formed of more than 100 diverse stakeholders which include district staff, teachers, parents, nonprofit and union leaders, school advisors, and other community members.
The 91 recommendations, 58 short-term and 33 long-term, will guide the district over the upcoming months and years. Themes like inconsistent communication, lack of coordination and collaboration, low academic achievement and buildings in poor condition echoed the listening tour Superintendent Tony Watlington conducted over his first 100 days.
Consultant and former superintendent Dr. Betty Morgan delivered a few highlights to address those issues, including releasing more transparent data to the public.
Related
“More data is needed in non-academic aid areas, and academic data must be user-friendly and readily available to all stakeholders,” said Dr. Morgan, who shared other recommendations from the team.
“They emphasize the need for professional development to facilitate non-racist teaching, and equitable access to schools, programs, and curriculum for all students. They advocated for increased resources for particular schools in order to create equity.”
Watlington says the next steps would be to debrief the recommendations and then develop the five-year plan.
But as board member Lisa Salley asked, immediate issues remain.
Related
“Certainly, we've got to dig into making sure that our attendance is accurate, focusing on strategies that keep kids in school, because if kids are not in school, certainly it'll be more difficult to achieve the goals and guardrails,” said Salley.
Watlington says the work has already begun.
“We are going to dig in really deeply on the issue of student dropouts,” said Watlington.
“In fact, on student attendance and dropouts, I intend to bring the board a report every month at every board meeting soon. Because dropouts are really important to make sure that we're not just following the four-year dropout rate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but kids who were in school last year. We have to find those kids.”
You can read the full report below.