PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia's schools chief said the district wasn't trying to misrepresent its enrollment loss this year when it ordered students to be put back on the rolls.
School District Superintendent Tony Watlington said enrollment this year was about 2,100 less than last year. The Inquirer reported that internal documents show the shortage was twice that number, but principals were ordered to restore students to the rolls, even if they hadn't shown up at all this year.
Speaking on KYW Newsradio's "After School" program, Watlington said he wanted proper documentation before a student was dropped from the list.
“I've ordered a review of 2,000 students. We accounted for most of those students being enrolled somewhere else. But there are about 720 students or so that were inappropriately taken off the rolls and I want them accounted for,” he said.
“We should have documentation that they're enrolled in another school, perhaps a charter school, private school or a school in another state,” Watlington continued.
“We need to document if they move to a different country, if they left Philadelphia, if they're incarcerated or if they are deceased. In the School District of Philadelphia, we do not just let children disappear in the winds. And we're following Pennsylvania guidance to the letter.”
State school funding is based on enrollment figures reported to the Department of Education by Oct. 1. In the weeks before that, the district took the extraordinary step of having central office staffers go door-to-door to try to enroll missing students.
