Philly to the new school superintendent: Get to know us before you start spending our money

This is Philly.

If the city’s new school superintendent hasn’t figured out yet exactly what that means, he had better go and find someone who’s from here and ask him.

When I moved to Philadelphia from Washington, D.C., back in 1991, I got to work side by side with journalists who had migrated here from around the country. They were a talented bunch. But it was the natives who had grown up eating water ice and Cheez Whiz on cheesesteaks who gave me the best insight into the city.

Now Tony B. Watlington Sr. is getting his own orientation into all things Philly. He officially started last week and has embarked upon a citywide listening tour to hear residents’ thoughts about what’s working and what’s not in the district. I hope he’s ready. He’s about to get an earful.

A whole lot of folks are side-eyeing the Philadelphia school board’s controversial decision to pay up to $450,000 for consultants to help on-board Watlington. That’s an awful lot of money that could have been used for so many other pressing things such as asbestos removal or hiring certified librarians and school nurses. Philadelphia schools are historically high on need and low on resources.

If Watlington polled classroom instructors around the city about what their most urgent needs are, they would give him a long list of things to help their students achieve. But hiring out-of-town consultants to come into the City of Brotherly Love to try to fix what’s wrong with the School District wouldn’t be on it.

Granted, sometimes it takes an outsider such as Watlington to come into a city and shake things up. Surely, that was part of Watlington’s appeal when he was selected.

And despite what some out-of-towners say about us, we’re reasonable. We understand that being superintendent of a district like Philadelphia will be a demanding job, as well as a huge increase in responsibilities for Watlington. The Rowan-Salisbury School District in North Carolina, where Watlington previously worked, educates only about 20,000 students. More than 100,000 students are enrolled in Philly’s district-operated schools alone. Philadelphians know that in the months ahead, the 51-year-old will come up against difficult situations the likes of which he never had to think twice about in the Tar Heel State.

But the school board’s decision in May to allocate up to nearly half a million to hire consultants to help him develop a strategic plan is off-putting.

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It’s shades of former Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., who spent around $600,000 redecorating his offices as students and teachers toiled away in dilapidated school buildings saddled with all kinds of deferred maintenance. I’m sure that was nice for him and the administrators who got to work in the 440 Building, but what about the students? They deserve the best. They are our future. They are our greatest resource. The city will get back what it invests in them now.

In a written statement, school board officials expressed support for Watlington’s decision to contract with Joseph & Associates, saying in part, “This type of transition support is used by leaders across all industries, and when you have a district as large and as complex as the school district, transition support is intended to provide an even deeper understanding of the individuals, families and communities this district serves.”

At a news briefing Wednesday, Watlington said he needs “the collective power of really smart people, locally and nationally, who can bring local knowledge together with the latest educational research and best practices across the country” to help him assess the School District and develop recommendations for sustainable improvement.

He’s right — the School District’s problems are deep and complex, and we need to dedicate great minds to solutions. But no one knows the district and its problems better than the people in it, and we have plenty of great minds right here who can come up with practical, sustainable solutions. We don’t need to pay out-of-state consultants (especially one with a troubled history) a whole lot of money for us to get there.

Watlington is conducting a total of 80 listening sessions between now and September, both online and in person. He says he wants to hear from students, teachers, and parents, but also from groups not typically engaged by the district.

He had better brace himself. City residents aren’t shy about telling people what they think, especially when it comes to their tax dollars. To sign up for a listening session, people can log on to philasd.org/100days and click on “engagement opportunities.” Let’s give Watlington an earful, and show him he doesn’t need to spend up to $450,000 on outside consultants.

In other words, let’s welcome him to Philly.