Nutter appoints pair as his education team

Mayor Nutter yesterday selected as his education team the vice president for policies and planning of the Philadelphia Youth Network - the organization pioneering an effort to cut the city's dropout rate - and a Pennsylvania Department of Education adviser.

Lori Shorr, 44, of Chestnut Hill, becomes chief education officer, in charge of carrying out Nutter's education goals, including dramatically lowering the dropout rate and raising the number of city residents with college degrees. She will be paid $115,000 a year.

Sharon Tucker, 30, of Mount Airy, adviser to the state Education Department's deputy secretary of elementary and secondary education, will be her deputy. Tucker, who previously worked for the School District's policy and planning support office, will be paid $95,000 annually.

Nutter's announcement came at a City Hall news conference attended by dozens of education advocates, City Council members, and others. He called the appointees the "dynamic duo of education."

Shorr, who has a bachelor's from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, said she would aim to make city departments, such as social services, work more closely with the schools.

"I really hope our office will be known for coalition-building," added Shorr, who previously was a special assistant to state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak.

Shorr's children attended Philadelphia public schools, first Jenks School in Chestnut Hill for kindergarten to eighth grade and then Central High School, one of the district's academic magnet schools.

Nutter said he also would nominate Shorr to serve as director of the Office of the Public School Family and Child Advocate, a new position created by a charter change passed by City Council in June. Her nomination to that position is subject to Council approval. She would not draw a second salary.

Shorr's name surfaced as Nutter's appointee two weeks ago, and she unofficially started work last week as a member of the citizens' advisory committee interviewing finalists for chief executive officer of the district.

Both Nutter and School Reform Commission Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn, who attended the news conference, said the CEO search continued, but they declined to give a further update.

Nutter would not comment on either of the two finalists - Arlene Ackerman, a former San Francisco and Washington schools superintendent, or Leroy D. Nunery 2d, a former Edison Schools Inc. executive who runs a consulting company.

He said he had not endorsed any candidate. "The process is still open," he said.