Education importance
discussed at Rotary meeting

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Tom Brady believes he’s had a fulfilling professional career.
Brady spent 25 years in the U.S. Army before becoming a schools administrator.
"That’s the two most important things we do as a nation," he said of national defense and the education of children.
Brady talked about his latest endeavor — interim CEO of the School District of Philadelphia — at last week’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Frankford-Northeast Philadelphia.
The club meets every Tuesday at noon at Torresdale-Frankford Country Club. Next week’s guest speaker is Bob Kelly, the traffic reporter for CBS 3. The guests in August include David Oh, a lawyer and Republican candidate for an at-large City Council seat.
Brady, 57, is a New York native who received an education degree in 1971 from Niagara University, where he was a member of the ROTC. He served in the Army from 1972 to ‘97, retiring as a colonel. His final assignment was as commander at Virginia’s Fort Belvoir, which has more than 20,000 residents and an annual payroll of $660 million.
Before and during his Army career, he dabbled in the education field.
After earning his college degree, he taught social sciences for six months in a school in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Many years later, he served as president of the Hayfield (Va.) Secondary School Parent-Teacher-Student Association. He had the unique opportunity to lead a grassroots effort by parents to build a high school to alleviate overcrowding, then see the project through when he was assistant superintendent for facilities services and later chief operating officer of Fairfax County Public Schools.
Brady worked in Fairfax County, a highly regarded school district with 170,000 students, from 1999 to 2004. The experience was gratifying.
"It’s great working with kids," he said.
Next, he was chief operating officer for the District of Columbia Public Schools from 2004 to ‘07.
In March of this year, the School Reform Commission selected him as chief operating officer for the School District of Philadelphia. Then, with the departure of chief executive officer Paul Vallas, the SRC chose Brady as the school district’s interim CEO. He started on July 2.
Brady, a married father of five and grandfather of five who has settled in Society Hill, wants the job permanently, but the School Reform Commission is conducting a national search. The interim boss has one edge, and that’s a good working relationship with SRC chairman James Nevels.
Based on his experience as a parent in helping Fairfax County add advanced-placement courses and build a high school, he realizes that School District of Philadelphia leaders need to harness the passion of parents.
"The district needs more parental involvement in the decision-making process, and I intend to hear the parents’ voice," he said.
Also, Brady plans to empower principals and regional superintendents in the decision-making process and give principals the authority to remove problem students and place them in alternative education settings. His immediate focus is to provide stability to the district as it works through the leadership transition and deals with a $182 million budget deficit. He is working on a two-year solution for the deficit, explaining that he will make operations more efficient and try to avoid cuts that will directly affect classrooms.
School district students have shown greater proficiency in math and reading since 2001, and Brady wants to continue the trend.
The school district has an annual budget of about $2.4 billion, with half of the money coming from the state, 35 percent from the city and 15 percent from the federal government. Contracts expire for teachers and other unions next year.
"We don’t have all the money we need," Brady said.
That comment drew a rebuke from a man who noted that the budget provides for about $13,800 for each of the district’s 174,000 students.
Brady countered that a large portion of the funding goes to employee wages and special education programs.
Though new to Philadelphia, Brady knows enough about the city’s politics that he expects Democrat Michael Nutter to defeat Republican Al Taubenberger in the mayoral race. He’s appeared with Nutter at various forums and is happy to hear the former city councilman vow to be "the education mayor."
In the near future, Brady plans to meet with school leaders in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Bethlehem and other urban areas of the state to share strategy.
Brady also sounds like he’ll continue Vallas’ policy of working closely with some charter schools.
"Charters have a very, very important role in a K-12 setting," he said.
The largely business and education crowd at the Rotary meeting urged Brady to increase vocational education opportunities. The federal government recently approved $51 million in Perkins Vocational Education funds for Pennsylvania, and Brady indicated that he will put Philadelphia’s share to good use.
"Perkins funds are very important," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com