Philly superintendent search, Day 3: Tony Watlington, who leads a small N.C. school district, talks to the community

Why does Tony B. Watlington Sr. want the job as Philadelphia’s next school superintendent?

There’s something profound about education in the place where the United States began, said Watlington, the superintendent of a 20,000-student Rowan-Salisbury School District in Salisbury, N.C.

He wants to make sure “that all of our students have access to an absolutely excellent education, because that’s the unfinished work of the Declaration of Independence,” Watlington said Wednesday, noting that Black and brown children, who make up the majority of Philadelphia’s 120,000 students, “are often the furthest from justice.”

Watlington — who also worked as chief of schools in the Guilford County, N.C., public schools, a system of about 70,000 students — said he’s long kept his eye on Philadelphia, even before it became public that William R. Hite Jr. would depart in June the post he’s held for a decade.

“It’s inspiring to me that you keep your superintendents, and I really like a lot of the work that he’s done here,” Watlington said of Hite, hailing Philadelphia as “a very fine school district.” He also said he thought the superintendent position was “one of the most important jobs in the United States of America.”

Watlington was the third and final candidate in town for a series of meetings with parents, students, teachers, and the community. He’s vying to replace Hite as superintendent, as is Baltimore chief of schools John Davis and Illinois State Board of Education Deputy Education Officer Krish Mohip.

» READ MORE: Day 1 of Philly’s superintendent candidate meet-and-greets starts with Baltimore’s John Davis

Many of Philadelphia’s 215 schools are struggling; Watlington said the way to move the lever to improve student performance is through strong teaching. (He has experience as a teacher himself; Watlington also worked as a bus driver and custodian, a principal, and a central-office administrator over 28 years in education.

“We can’t remediate or tutor our way to excellence,” Watlington said. “The No. 1 ingredient to improving academic performance for all of our students is recruiting high-quality teachers, developing, supporting, and retaining those teachers.”

» READ MORE: Krish Mohip, 2nd finalist for Philly superintendent job: ‘Your kids are why I want to be here’

Watlington vowed to rebuild trust in the district, promising transparency and open communications, even when the communication is around mistakes made. “Great organizations don’t hide problems,” Watlington said.

“I’m one of those leaders that likes to put my cards on the table face up,” he said. “Trust is the cumulative act of small acts.”

In a district where midyear teacher resignations are up dramatically, in a profession battered by public opinion and a pandemic that forced large-scale reimagination of how the work is done, Watlington said he understood that educators feel burned-out and battered by shifting obligations. He vowed to listen.

“I will lead with this notion of nothing for me without me,” Watlington said. “Any time there’s important decisions to be made, I think it’s really important to engage teachers and have teacher voice, and not be token teacher voice.”

Is he ready for the heat that would come with assuming a high-profile role in a big city?

“When you engage with the public, particularly parents, at that kind of level, sometimes it can be a little messy,” Watlington said. “I’m not at all bothered by hard and tough questions.”

Watlington said he would order a forensic audit of district Individualized Education Plans for special-needs students, not because he doesn’t trust teachers and principals, but because such documents deserve a second set of eyes.

“I think we could do a much better job to make sure that IEPs are meaningful and we meet our children’s needs,” said Watlington.

He also expressed an interest in expanding the teacher pipeline and the pipeline of Black and other teachers of color with programs that identify would-be teachers as early as middle school, then supporting them.

“We ought to pay their way to go to the university of their choice, and in response to having their college paid for four years, they agree to work here in the School District of Philadelphia for four years,” Watlington said.

He also said he thought the district should have a similar program to recruit and retain Black male teachers.

The district Watlington now leads is North Carolina’s only “renewal” school district, given special flexibility in budgeting, calendar, curriculum, and personnel. It has seen literacy gains, a dropout-rate reduction, and improvement in academic performance for every group of students, Watlington said.

“It takes time, it takes energy, and it takes strategy,” said Watlington.

Watlington, in interviews with parents and students, expressed an interest in exploring some nontraditional concepts if hired in Philadelphia. He raised the possibility of competency-based education, which prioritizes students moving through material at their own pace rather than spending 180 days in one grade before moving on.

“Does a school year have to be 180 days? Who’s to say it shouldn’t be longer? Maybe it should be shorter for some students,” Watlington said.

Watlington also said teacher pay should be revamped.

“I think teachers ought to be paid significantly higher salaries to be in the schools where they’re needed most,” he said. Guilford County paid hefty $20,000 recruitment bonuses and retention bonuses. (Philadelphia has some retention pay — it will offer teachers who work at some hard-to-staff schools $5,000 over two years.)

Coming to Philadelphia, a union town, would represent a major shift for Watlington, who has spent his entire career in North Carolina, a right-to-work state. He said he wasn’t daunted by that prospect.

“Whether you’ve got five unions, 10 unions, or no unions in a right-to-work state, we still can bring people together to the table to have ... discussions and be centered on improving student outcomes,” said Watlington, who added, “I view unions as a good thing.”

You don’t have to lead a district Philadelphia’s size to have the ability to lead a district Philadelphia’s size, Watlington said.

“Good teaching is scalable. Good practices are scalable. Experience matters, and I think we’ve seen that time and again across the country,” said Watlington, who said he knows “how to bring out the best in people. I have a knack for bringing diverse groups of people to work around big, tough problems.”

Watlington, who has three children, the youngest 17 years old, said his quest to improve students’ education is personal.

“I was a free-and-reduced lunch kid, a poor kid,” Watlington said. “I had good teachers, and I had the opportunity to go to some of the best colleges and universities.”