David M. Warren/Staff Photographer
Activist Sacaree Rhodes (left) said Arlene Ackerman's duties had been given to Deputy Superintendent Leroy Nunery. At right is State Rep. Ronald G. Waters (D., Phila.).
By Kristen A. Graham and Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writers
Where is Arlene Ackerman?
The embattled school superintendent, widely rumored to be at the end of her tenure in Philadelphia, did not attend the School Reform Commission meeting last week.
She was not at a Monday news conference on possible state exam cheating in the Philadelphia School District.
And she was noticeably absent from Tuesday's Superintendent's 2011 Leadership Conference, an annual meeting that serves as a start to the school year.
The event's agenda listed Ackerman as a speaker from 8:45 to 9:10 a.m., but officials told the hundreds of principals and others gathered at Abraham Lincoln High School that she was absent because of circumstances beyond her control.
Assistant Superintendent Penny Nixon read a statement from Ackerman that said in part: "Three years ago I was blessed to be chosen to lead the eighth-largest school district in this country. It has been my honor. Although I could not be with you all today due to circumstances beyond my control, know that I am with you in spirit."
District spokeswoman Jamilah Fraser would not say why Ackerman missed Tuesday's ceremony, but said Ackerman appeared at many events this summer.
"The events that she's been able to go to that have been in her control, she's been able to go to," Fraser said. "When she's able to go, she does go."
Some Ackerman supporters have said she was being directed not to show up at events and was being marginalized.
At a raucous community meeting in Southwest Philadelphia Tuesday night attended by about 50 people, activist Sacaree Rhodes said she had just spoken with Ackerman.
"They have taken all her duties and given them to [Deputy Superintendent Leroy] Nunery," Rhodes said.
She said Ackerman planned to go to work on Wednesday, and supporters said they would walk her into the school administration building.
As Ackerman's supporters met, several sources said a deal was being worked on under which she would receive a buyout substantially less than that called for under her contract, a minimum of $1.5 million. A portion would come from the district and a portion from a private foundation to which donations could be tax-deductible and anonymous, sources said.
Two weeks ago, a prominent business executive active in civic affairs said he was approached last month by a board member from a charitable education group asking for help in raising money to contribute toward an Ackerman buyout. The executive, who requested anonymity, said he rebuffed the request.
Several of Ackerman's supporters emphasized Tuesday night that she had signed no deal.
District spokeswoman Fraser dismissed the talk of an Ackerman buyout as rumors.
At last week's SRC meeting, State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Phila.) said Ackerman was being frozen out of decision-making.
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said Ackerman's latest absence was symptomatic of a larger problem.
"There's just an instability in the district," Jordan said. "People don't know what's happening."
Robert McGrogan, head of the principals' union, called Ackerman's absence from Tuesday's principals convocation "conspicuous" and "surprising."
In previous years, Ackerman has been front and center at the three-day event - giving speeches, announcing awards, and hosting parties for principals. The conference agenda also has Ackerman scheduled to present publicly on Thursday afternoon.
Fraser said Ackerman would be at the conference at some point.
This is not the first time that Ackerman has been paid as a schools chief while staying apart from the day-to-day picture.
For the final five months of her six-year run as head of the San Francisco School District, Ackerman held the unusual title of superintendent emeritus.
Ackerman received her full salary while her deputy ran the district. She served as an adviser to the deputy and used sick and vacation time before departing with $375,000 in severance money.
At the end of June, Ackerman signed a document giving Nunery power to sign documents on her behalf. At the time, she said it was a routine legal document that she had signed in the past.
But now it is unclear whether Ackerman, who has publicly vowed to fight for her job, will be in place when school starts Sept. 6.
In recent months, Ackerman has come under fire for a budget gap of more than $650 million, a widening probe into possible cheating on state tests, and blindsiding Mayor Nutter with a plan to save full-day kindergarten.
Nutter and other politicians had singled out the threat to full-day kindergarten as the greatest danger from state budget cuts.
But the mayor was looped in on the plan just an hour before Ackerman announced it publicly. Their political relationship damaged, Nutter demanded and received an "education accountability agreement" signed by the SRC that provided an unprecedented level of city scrutiny of the district.
Nutter's spokesman said Tuesday that he could not speak about Ackerman's attendance at specific events.
Asked if Nutter still supported Ackerman as superintendent, spokesman Mark McDonald said "the mayor supports the district and its mission to provide quality education for Philadelphia children, and he supports the education programs that have produced improved graduation rates and test-score performance."
Asked again about Ackerman, McDonald said, "That is my comment."
Calls to School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and the other three members of the commission were not returned Tuesday. Neither was a call to Gov. Corbett's office.
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Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 215-854-5146, kgraham@phillynews.com or on Twitter @newskag. Read her blog, "Philly School Files," at www.philly.com/schoolfiles
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