Philly’s superintendent defends $450,000 consulting contract, saying the work ‘requires intentional and strategic actions’

New School Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. spoke out Wednesday on a controversial $450,000 consulting contract for a year’s worth of transition services aimed at helping him quickly tackle the problems of the Philadelphia School District.

Watlington said he asked the school board to approve the contract without a competitive bidding process so he could “hit the ground running by Day 1” — June 16, his first day as superintendent.

The board ratified the contract in May, but Joseph & Associates, a Tennessee-based consulting company, began work in April, soon after Watlington was announced as successor to William R. Hite Jr.

» READ MORE: Some are questioning a $450,000 contract Philly schools gave a consulting firm to support its new superintendent

Yes, Watlington said at a news conference Wednesday, “it’s a big amount of money for the taxpayer, but it is not extraordinarily out of the norm for the kind of work that we need to do here in the School District of Philadelphia.”

Paul Reville, a Harvard University Graduate School of Education professor and former Massachusetts secretary of education, told The Inquirer the cost of Watlington’s transition services contract was “extraordinarily high.” He also said much of the work the board has hired the consulting firm to do is typically performed internally.

But Watlington said he was brought to Philadelphia to make the school system “one of the fastest-improving urban districts in the country,” and to do that “requires intentional and strategic actions.”

“I’ve asked myself why do 32% of the students read at grade level in the third grade and what do we do about that?” Watlington said. “I am crystal clear in my mind that there are some things that we have to do different.”

Watlington also suggested the capacity of the district’s central office was an issue.

While he has faith in his staff, “bottom line, I believe that [the central office] is pretty lean, as I understand it,” Watlington said.

Watlington has taken heat over not just the contract’s cost but the consulting firm itself. Shawn Joseph, the owner of Joseph & Associates, is a former Nashville superintendent who left before he had completed three years of work in that district. A former Nashville board member wrote the Philadelphia school board to warn against Joseph, saying of his tenure that she “never before or after experienced such corruption and dysfunction.” Joseph has said that Amy Frogge’s assertions were “patently false.”

Joseph won’t be the only consultant working with Watlington; the services of Betty Morgan, a former National Superintendent of the Year, are also included in the Joseph & Associates work, Watlington said. Eight other consultants will work on the contract, but Joseph and Morgan will take the lead, Watlington said.

Watlington said he knew both Joseph and Morgan, whom he said have “done some pretty significant work in school districts and in the national space in public education.” He knows Joseph through the Howard University Urban Superintendents Academy and through Joseph’s former work as a national Wallace Foundation consultant, “although I never paid him to be a consultant.”

Morgan, Watlington said, worked with Guilford County Schools in North Carolina, where Watlington spent years as an administrator.

The money pays for supports through three phrases of Watlington’s first year — a listening and learning tour, consisting of 80 sessions with various stakeholders, through September; a transition-team component that will launch its work soon and run through September, looking deeply at the district and at educational research and best practices around the country to make short- and long-term recommendations; and a strategic planning process to conclude next spring.

Joseph and Morgan, Watlington said, will bring together “a big tent” of local and national experts and on-the-ground district parents, students, teachers, and other staff “in a structured way to support our work. Getting lots of voices around the table can be messy, and so I’m seeking some support from people who do this to help with that.”

The consultants will also do a “deep data analysis” of the district’s academics.

“We want to do that as quickly as possible to identify the root cause of underperformance for a large group of students in the School District of Philadelphia,” Watlington said.

He said the consultants will “assess every facet of the School District of Philadelphia.”

The contract covers up to $10,000 for 100-day priority support; $113,250 for leadership assessment and coaching; $150,000 for transition-team development, implementation, and reports; $82,000 for consultant support; $12,000 for administrative and Board of Education retreats; and $75,000 for comprehensive strategic planning services.

But the contract total is a ceiling, Watlington said.

“We may not reach that $450,000,” he said. “It could be significantly lower. We might spend every penny. I just don’t know yet.”

The school board said in a statement it fully supported the contract, which it deems “critical” to Watlington’s and the district’s success.

“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,” the board said. “With the assistance of these advisors and the local leaders that will comprise the transition team, Dr. Watlington will be able to develop a plan that builds on Goals & Guardrails, and best delivers on this district’s promise of raising student achievement and positioning our children to compete globally.”