School chief signs for $905K in public, private money

The tumultuous and sometimes-turbulent reign of Dr. Arlene Ackerman as Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District came to an abrupt end on Monday, concluding with a public relations specialist handing out a group statement to reporters who had gathered at the school district building expecting fireworks.

Instead, a joint statement from Mayor Michael Nutter, School Reform Commission Chairperson Robert L. Archie Jr. and Ackerman was released, confirming that the terms of a contract buyout for $905,000 had been reached.  The SRC will authorize $500,000 of that money, and $405,000 will be funded through anonymous private contributions.  According to Ackerman’s attorney, she insisted that a lump sum of the buyout go to her favored project, the Promise Academies.

Ackerman, ironically, had her contract extended through June 30, 2014 back in February.

“Today, the School Reform Commission and Superintendent Arlene Ackerman have agreed that Dr. Ackerman will step down as superintendent and CEO of the nation’s eighth largest school district effective immediately,” Archie said in the statement. “We have collectively made great strides, but we have much more work ahead.  The School Reform Commission and Dr. Ackerman are in agreement that the work begun by her requires us to focus our mission and resources on building a system of great schools for all children.”

The SRC named longtime Ackerman aide Dr. Leroy Nunery as acting superintendent. Nunery previously served as deputy superintendent for the school district and has indicated he’d like to be considered for the permanent position. Almost two months ago, Nunery signed papers granting him authority to make decisions in the event that Ackerman was not in office, right before Ackerman went on vacation.

Since then, it had been widely peculated that the SRC had stripped Ackerman of her authority. In an attempt to reduce a new $35 million budget gap, the SRC slashed the budget for Promise Academies by $17 million. The district had planned to open eight more Promise Academies, but will now open just three in the fall.

During her tenure, which began in 2008, the school district saw its string of steady improvement in standardized test results rise for a ninth straight year.  Most resent results from the 2010 PSSA tests indicated that the Promise Academies had shown greater improvement across the board – 10 percent in math and 6 percent in reading – than the overall district.

However, suspicious test scores from the 2009 PSSA have left 13 schools under investigation for potential cheating.

Also under Ackerman, the district experienced a 29% decline in violent crimes, and experienced a 7% gain in the six-year graduation rates.

Conversely, Ackerman came under intense scrutiny for her slow response to allegations of racial harassment of Asian students by African-American students at Southern High School in 2009.

She appeared to come under the most pressure when she interceded in the awarding of a $7.5 million contract for the installation of security cameras in city schools, also in 2009. Ackerman felt that minority contractors had been overlooked in the process and awarded the contract to a small minority-owned firm, IBS Communications. The contract had been previously given to Security Data Technologies, Inc.

A school district investigation determined that “no evidence of wrong-doing” by Ackerman had taken place.

Ackerman was not without her detractors, though, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ union boss Jerry Jordan was at the forefront of her opposition. Jordan was furious when layoff notices went out to more than 1,500 teachers as Ackerman and the district tried to narrow the $629 million budget gap.

In recent weeks Jordan called for Ackerman to be fired.  Shortly after the news of Ackerman’s departure got out, Jordan released a statement that indicated he thought it was the right move.

“In the wake of the biggest budget deficit, the most significant program cuts and the largest employee layoff in more than 30 years, a change in leadership is a step in the right direction and is welcome news to the teachers and support staff who have been disregarded and disrespected repeatedly by this administration,” Jordan said.

“I hope,” he continued, “that with new leadership we will see a new attitude throughout the administration and at the School Reform Commission – one that understands the needs and concerns of students and their families, values the contributions and opinions of teachers and staff and genuinely wants to include all of education’s stakeholders in formulating the best route forward for public education in Philadelphia.”

The anticlimactic ending to what had turned into the city’s biggest melodrama left many in the community shaking their heads.

“I think that it was handled really badly,” said popular radio host Bill Anderson of WURD 900 AM.  “I think the public is owed some comment as to what has taken place here. I think the mayor, the governor and the SRC should be answering questions about specifics. This kind of generic statement that they issued, ‘Thank you very much for your achievement but now we’re going to part ways,’ doesn’t begin to answer the questions that people have. I think it’s disingenuous.”

Staff writer John N. Mitchell can be reached at (215) 893-5745 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.