Philly superintendent reveals phase on improving district
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia School's Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington has set in motion a three-phase plan to improve the district. Another phase of the plan has now been revealed, and CBS3 got the chance to talk to him about the findings.
"I'm excited that the work of the transition team is finally concluded they spent several months digging into our data," Watlington said.
The next phase of improving the School District of Philadelphia has been completed, as Watlington's three-stage plan moves forward.
The transition team, which included more than 100 Philadelphians from various backgrounds, presented its findings to the superintendent and the school board on Thursday.
"We had a cross-section of some 100 Philadelphians to include teachers, school-based people, principles, students, parents, community members, faith based partners, philanthropic supporters," Watlington said.
The diverse group evaluated the district's strengths and weaknesses and provided 91 recommendations. Three major themes were revealed.
"It was things like we have to do a better job of communication and better job of customer service," Watlington said. "We need to also consider how we increase our accountability structures to make sure we're all accountable for students achieving and moving instruction forward."
Andrea Custis and Guy Generals were co chairs for the transition team.
"We worked with the committees and committees were divided into five areas and so our job was really to make sure everybody was engaged," Custis said.
"We were somewhat of a sounding board. As drafts came out, we had an opportunity to respond to those drafts and as the final drafts came out made its way through the process," Generals said.
District officials will soon move into the final phase of improvement, setting the stage for short and long term goals, with the ultimate goal of becoming the fastest improving large urban school district in the country.
"The reason it's so important to get all these people together is because at some point this year we're going to finalize a strategic plan, which is going to be the driver for improving our school district," Watlington said.
The full transition team report including specific recommendations on improving the School District of Philadelphia can be found here.
