Arlene Ackerman, Ex-Philadelphia Schools Chief, Receives Full Buyout From District, Donors Back Out

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia school officials say private donors reneged on nearly $405,000 in pledges toward a severance package for the superintendent, leaving the district on the hook for the entire $905,000 buyout.

The money was paid Wednesday, about two weeks after Arlene Ackerman's tenure ended. Her leadership saw increased test scores and graduation rates but also clashes with community members, the teachers' union and elected officials.

The district said in a statement that the private money was withdrawn because of public concern over the donors' anonymity.

Ethics and education experts had criticized the unusual public-private buyout. They said the lack of transparency created questions about whether the donors expected the favor to be returned.

Officials said they were trying to minimize taxpayer liability.

The state auditor general is investigating Ackerman's severance arrangement.

Comments

[El Chingaso]

11:49 AM on 09/13/2011

HP Eds., let's move on from this story. It's been up for an eternity...

[Bridgett Bell]

10:06 PM on 09/10/2011

I'm not sure if Dr. Arkerman did a good job or not. Rising test scores and graduation rates certainly sounds like a good job - although there are so many factors that go into that. But there is something so unsettling with paying people thousands of dollars to leave, when there is no budget to keep good teachers in the classroom and no budget to help us identify tools that will tell us who the good teachers are. And test scores are not a good tools to determine teacher effectiveness. My guess is that the majority of teachers are doing a good job. It is a fact that there are a few bad apples in every bunch, but on the whole I believe in the abilities of teachers. And what about the school support staff who are being dismissed in large numbers? But if we have to let people go, we should not have to pay them to go. Writing huge contracts with superintendants that allow them to have to be paid to leave, sounds like yet another place where reform is needed.

[nuppup]

03:30 PM on 09/10/2011

.

[maester]

12:58 PM on 09/09/2011

Isn't this the woman who walked into a public meeting with theme music playing and also berated a TFA teacher for questioning whether her initiatives were really in the kids' best interests?

I wouldn't pay her one cent.

We've gotten to a point where we're not only paying superintendents like professional athletes, we're expecting them to solve problems that are largely out of their control--such as test scores of urban students which are influenced by dozens, if not hundreds of factors outside of the school's control (not the least of which are the anti-education mindsets that they often bring with them).

Sadly, many of these urban superintendent are also doing little more than pushing trend-of-the-day education fads--many of which have already been discredited by serious education researchers.

People like Ackerman are not worth what they're paid, and it's ridiculous that a school district should have to spend nearly $1 million to get them to leave. I've never heard of a teacher being paid that kind of money to leave his or her job, and frankly they're a lot more important than Ackerman ever was.

[SF TKF]

01:08 PM on 09/08/2011

This woman has made a career out of failing and then being paid to go away. *shakes head* Teachers are NOT the problem; administrators like Ackerman (and Rhees) clearly are.

[poeticjustice4all]

05:14 PM on 09/08/2011

You are very confused. Are you at all familiar with this situation? Or are you just knee-jerking over to your usual side? Because -- once you actually know the story, I'm sure you'll be in for a surprise. Arlene Ackerman has never said teachers were the problem.

[tgcayman]

09:32 PM on 09/08/2011

Under her leadership test scores and graduation rates increased. What part of that didn't you understand? That's failing?

[Tobie Kingdom]

05:39 PM on 09/10/2011

Is she helping blacks too much for these white people? So, this is a proven case that whites do not want blacks to achieve anything but SSI, and government help.