Philadelphia School District

Three Finalists Emerge to Be Philly's Next School Superintendent

The three candidates will visit Philadelphia next week to have town hall meetings with the community

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What to Know

  • Philadelphia is closer to picking a new superintendent of schools to replace Dr. William Hite, who will leave in August
  • The three men who are finalists are all longtime educators, though none have ties to Philadelphia
  • The district hopes to make a decision in March

Philly schools have named three people as finalists in their search for a new superintendent, the district said today -- none with ties to the city.

  • John Davis is now the chief of schools in Baltimore; he's also worked in Washington, D.C.
  • Krish Mohip is now the deputy education officer for the Illinois state Board of Education; he's also served as head of Youngstown, Ohio's school system.
  • And Dr. Tony Watlington is now the superintendent of Rowan-Salisbury Schools in North Carolina; he's also served as chief of schools in Guilford County, which includes Greensboro.

"Each have led major educational institutions or organizations," Leticia Egea-Hinton, vice president of the Philadelphia school board, said Friday. "And each has decades of experience working with, and within, diverse communities, and each is fully aligned with the priorities we stated around student achievement."

However, none of them is from Philadelphia, which is drawing mixed reactions from parents.

"I think a person who lives in Philadelphia or be in Philadelphia has more experience with the schools," said one parent. If not, "they don't know what's going on in Philadelphia."

But another parent, Nettie Flippen, said, "Fresh eyes may help."

"If it's somebody who has been there a long time ago, they are probably kinda set in their ways," she said.

The school board did try to emphasize local candidates, but determined these candidates were their top choices. "All these candidates understand they're going to have to make an effort to get to know Philadelphia," said Joyce Wilkerson, president of the Philadelphia School Board.

The three finalists will come to Philadelphia next week for town hall meetings with the community. The school district hopes to make a decision on the new superintendent later in March.

Dr. William Hite has been superintendent of Philly schools since June 2012, when he came to Philly from Prince George's public schools outside of Washington, D.C. Hite said in September that he would not renew his contract and would leave Philly schools this August.

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