PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City schools superintendent Tony Watlington is optimistic about this school year. He says the district is in better shape than it was last year.
"We’re excited because we have the wind behind us, a little momentum going into this year. Teacher attendance is up, student attendance is up, the drop-out rate is down," he said.
Watlington says 265 fewer students dropped out last year than the year before. He says teacher attendance is up by more than 6% and student attendance is up by 3%.
"And when we say attendance, we’re talking about teachers and students who are in school 90% of every month and 90% of the year. That’s really significant. We’ve got more work to do.”
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Watlington says more good news is on the way.
"We’re looking preliminarily at our reading, math and science testing data, and we think we’re going to have some good things to share in the near future, once all the data are verified."
Watlington had hoped that starting the year after Labor Day would avoid closures due to excessive heat but temperatures are expected to be in the mid-90’s until Friday.