Lisa Haver: The Mysterious Hiring Practices of the Philadelphia School Board

Lisa Haver is a retired instructor and prominent advocate for the general public schools of Philadelphia. Those people public schools have been subject matter to condition takeover, privatization, and just about every other failed reformy tactic. She hoped that those negative old times had been around. They are not. The new board employed an inexperienced superintendent who essential the assistance of a substantially-criticized consulting organization at a value of $450,000.

She expressed her irritation in this posting.

Right after many years of soreness and irritation that integrated the closing of community educational facilities, privatization pushed by standardized checks, crumbling infrastructure, and more than one particular debacle, the people of Philadelphia were psyched for new management in the university district.

The doorway to new priorities seemed to open with the arrival of Tony Watlington as the future superintendent.

But that doorway slammed shut before his tenure experienced even begun with the information that he’d brought in a Tennessee-primarily based consulting firm to assist him navigate his initial 12 months in the career. In May well, the Board of Schooling voted unanimously and devoid of deliberation to approve a a single-calendar year deal with Joseph & Associates. Price tag: $450,000. The board authorized this deal — the past on a list of 92 official products — in the vicinity of the finish of an 8-hour assembly.

According to a latest Chalkbeat post, the board hired the consulting organization to support Watlington “connect with people today,” aid in assembling his transition group, and build a 5-year approach for the district. Watlington said he requested for the deal so he could “hit the floor working by Day 1,” in accordance to The Inquirer.

Seemingly, Watlington made a decision the district’s latest management of 16 division chiefs and 15 assistant superintendents could not aid him do that, and that folks from Tennessee could educate him about the district’s historical past and needs improved than the people who reside and operate in Philly.

The Alliance for Philadelphia General public Colleges, the group I co-started, has claimed on and analyzed the investing priorities of the district due to the fact 2012. We intended to inquire the board specifically why they employed Joseph & Associates, but all five Apps customers who attempted to signal up to talk at the June conference ended up denied.

Last wintertime, in public city halls held for the 3 superintendent finalists, Watlington explained to parents, students, and educators he experienced a approach and required to fulfill with district stakeholders to hear their fears. He didn’t say he could only do that by employing an out-of-city consulting company at a price better than his own $340,000 salary.

The first official act of the new administration indicators a continuation of all those just before him: employing consultants and outsourcing get the job done that must be performed by district staff. Sending sources into classrooms stays on the again burner.

The scope of the Joseph & Associates deal raises worries for family members and general public education and learning advocates for a selection of causes. Watlington mentioned he would like the consultants to help him evaluate how the district can best fulfill the board’s “Objectives and Guardrails” — a established of priorities centered on standardized test knowledge. This tactic does not lend by itself to imaginative studying or teaching. The Watlington administration really should commit to funding confirmed reforms: lesser class measurement, extra aid team, and reinstating university librarians.

But it is the last phase of the Joseph & Associates deal that really should seem the alarm for defenders of community education: the compilation of a 5-12 months “strategic plan” for the district. A lot of recall what occurred a 10 years back immediately after the previous very long-vary system from an outdoors firm, the Boston Consulting Group: school closings and extra privatization of neighborhood faculties. Any plan that determines the foreseeable future of the district and its ramifications for households and neighborhoods really should be talked over and formulated in public conferences — not the non-public boardrooms of an out-of-state consulting firm.