PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia Tony Watlington is defending a $450,000 consulting contract intended to guide him through his transition.
He says he wanted to have a “maximum amount of expertise” to help him form a transition team and charts a course to improve student achievement.
And in a district where only 32% of third graders are reading at the third-grade level, some things will need to be done differently, Watlington said.
Still, it raised some eyebrows when — even before he started — Watlington asked the Philadelphia Board of Education to approve a $450,000 no-bid transition contract with a firm run by former Nashville superintendent Shawn Joseph.
“I have thought about it,” Watlington said in a Zoom call with reporters, considering the optics of the expenditure.
“I don’t think that $450,000 – it’s a big amount of money for the taxpayer, but it is not extraordinarily out of the norm for the kind of work that we need to do here in the School District of Philadelphia.”
Watlington said he believes it was necessary to bring on Tennessee-based Joseph and Associates — “because I needed quick access to transition supports that were shovel-ready on my first day on the job.”
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Anyway, he said, the resolution called for payments of “up to” $450,000 to help with his 100-day plan and evaluate district leadership — and he doesn’t know if the full amount would be spent.
“As we continue to assess the district, we may not reach that $450,000 touchpoint. It could be significantly lower. We might spend every penny of it. I just don’t know yet.”
The School Board released a statement in defense of the contract, reading, in part:
“The Board of Education supports Superintendent Watlington’s decision to engage Joseph and Associates to guide a three-phase transition process that includes the development and execution of a 100-day entry plan; and ultimately, a five-year strategic plan that will serve as the School District’s roadmap to achieving our Goals & Guardrails.”
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The board’s statement went on to say that leaders across all industries use transition support of this nature — and that transition support can provide an even deeper understanding of the individuals, families and communities served by a district as large and complex as Philadelphia’s.
Watlington said he wanted local and national input on how to evaluate the district. And, he said, while there were “very smart people” at school district headquarters, it was a “very lean” staff.
The superintendent said he respects the School Board’s competitive bidding policy, and he said he intends to abide by it in the future.