How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to Superintendent Tony Watlington

Tony B. Watlington Sr. took some razzing when he arrived in Philadelphia for a high-stakes job: superintendent of the city’s public school system.

Who was this outsider hired to run the nation’s eighth-largest school system?

Watlington was born in New Jersey — Fort Dix, to be exact — but spent most of his life and all of his career in North Carolina, with the lilting Southern accent to prove it.

But since 2022, Watlington has been a Philadelphian — a distinction he’s now proud to claim. (He’s staying around, too — the school board just extended Watlington’s contract through 2030.)

While most Philadelphians describe their perfect day away from work, Watlington couldn’t help himself.

I’m up early, and I’m either out early getting a run on the Schuylkill or doing an indoor CrossFit workout. I work out for one hour — and I make sure to spend plenty of time stretching.

I walk into my office, and it is clutter-free. All my emails are responded to from the evening before — though some come in overnight. All of my phone calls are returned from the previous day, so I get to hit the ground running, ahead and not behind. That is really important to me.

After I get a cup of coffee and look at that nice email inbox, I meet with the chief financial officer [Mike Herbstman] if it’s a Monday. He’s the first person I meet with every single week — we talk about district finances.

Then I’m ready to gear up and hit the trail with district spokesperson Monique Braxton, or Deputy Chief [of Government and Community Relations Edwin] Santana, and we’re out and about. My perfect day would be to spend more than 50% of the day in schools, with teachers, principals, and students.

When I’m not in schools, during that 50% of the day that I’m out of the office, I’m engaging with other external stakeholders — everything from grassroots organizations, elected officials at the city and state level, and with our federally elected officials, and also with members of the philanthropic community. I believe strongly in this notion of “nothing for us without us.”

I want to see how well things are going, and get some real-time feedback. One thing I love about Philadelphia: you don’t have to guess what people think. We are a frank city.

On Mondays, myself, the deputy, and associate superintendents spend the latter part of the day into the evening in a cabinet meeting. I never get home in time for the 6:30 p.m. news, which I used to like to see as a teacher sometimes.

I try to eat a healthy dinner, get a good night’s sleep, and drink plenty of water.

Even though I’m an empty nester at this point, that’s the time to either get a quick phone call or check in with my family, including my three sons Tony Jr., Aaron, and Caleb, who love coming to Philadelphia.

By the time I get to the end of the week or the weekend, I’m ready for more of the robust things in Philadelphia, like cheesesteaks.

I have found so many places in Philadelphia for good food. Today, I had a chicken gyro from the Reading Terminal Market.

The other day, I went back to the first restaurant where my predecessor in Philly [William R. Hite Jr.] first took me to lunch, Talula’s Garden.

Now I’ve learned here in year four to just kind of wander around the city and so I’ve got a two-page list of restaurants. Everywhere I go, I’m always adding something new.

If there’s time, I try to be very intentional about being able to get out and cheer for the teams here. I am a frequent visitor to the stadiums, to see the Eagles, the Phillies, and the 76ers. The only team I’ve not actually been to a sporting event for yet is the Flyers. That’s on my list for year four.