Effort to raise funds for Ackerman buyout falls short
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Effort to raise funds for Ackerman buyout falls short
The effort to raise $405,000 in private funds to help buy out former Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman’s contract has fallen short and as a result, the Philadelphia School District must pay the entire $905,000, officials said this afternoon.
District lawyers had been weighing whether to withhold the payout because Ackerman had publicly criticized a top district finance official despite the fact that her separation agreement prohibits her from making disparaging remarks.
But the school district decided to make the payment and keep the agreement intact, they announced in a six-paragraph statement. Today was the deadline for the district to pay Ackerman under the agreement.
Officials acknowledged that they were unable to raise all of the $405,000 in private donations that they initially said they had pledges for. They declined to be specific on how much was raised or who exactly had contributed.
They blamed the failure on public pressure against keeping the donors anonymous. State Auditor General Jack Wagner notified the district by letter last week that his office was auditing the buyout agreement. Among the objectives was to uncover the identities of the donors.
There was widespread speculation last week that one or more of the donors had backed out due to public scrutiny.
The district has asked Philadelphia’s Children First Fund, a non-profit that was collecting the donations, to return the money.
The payout brings to an end the just over three-year controversial tenure of Ackerman, who came to the district from an education post at Columbia University.
Ackerman’s attorney confirmed the buyout.
“The settlement has occurred. The checks have been deposited," said Dean Weitzman, the attorney.
After her resignation, Ackerman went on a media blitz, offering interviews to a radio station, television station and a national education publication. She ripped chief financial officer Michael Masch on WURD-AM (900) in talking about the district's $600-million-plus budget hole. She said she asked him to resign.
Ackerman’s separation agreement says she may not make public comments "or disseminate any private or confidential information" about the School Reform Commission or senior members of the district's administration that are "malicious, wanton, or reckless," or that are "reasonably foreseeable to injure their reputations."
District officials announced last week that they would review Ackerman’s comments to determine if they violate the agreement.
In a statement sent this evening, the School Reform Commission said:
"The SRC is aware that questions have been raised about recent statements made by Dr. Ackerman. As stated last week, the SRC disagrees with these assertions. We also believe that it is a better use of the School District’s resources to focus our time and energy on ensuring that this school year is as successful as possible.
Since the terms of the settlement agreement became public two weeks ago, there has been considerable discussion of the plan to supplant some public monies with contributions from private donors who requested anonymity as a precondition of donation.
From the start, the School Reform Commission sought to keep the public cost of this agreement to a minimum. But the public concerns about the use of anonymous private donations led almost all donors to withdraw their pledges to contribute to the Philadelphia’s Children First Fund. The SRC accordingly, asked the Philadelphia Children’s First Fund to return any donations it has received in connection with our request of it to accept funds on behalf of the District for this purpose.
As a result, the payment to Dr. Ackerman does not include payments from anonymous private donors. Instead, all funds to Dr. Ackerman are public dollars from the Philadelphia School District.
Yesterday, the District had a tremendously successful opening of schools and a great first day. We intend to move forward and return our focus to the important work before us of building a system of great schools for all of our children."
The Democrats brought this woman to power. The Democrats rewarded her with bonuses. The Democrats made sure she got her million dollar parting gift And the Democrats made sure it will be the hard working over taxed citizens will have to foot the bill for all of this.— RufusG- Translation: the criminals who previously agreed to their end of the kick-back and bribery scheme got cold feet because the paper trail coupled with the 600 million dollar deficit and an on going investigation might just wind up putting them in Federal Prison. If there was agreement there should have been something in writing identifying who these Shadowy characters are and force them to come out in the public light, because after all sunlight is the best disinfectant. The fact that they back out when questions were raised should raise even more suspicion. If the Mayor was not in on this scheme he should have not problem outing these so called anonymous donors for breach of verbal contract. How about it Nutter?— Speak-truth-2-power
- You are so right!! Thank you! — tholonet
where do i vomit?
she laughs at working philadelphia taxpayers every chance she gets.
where is the collective anger to hold our politicians and the SRC accountable?
i'm beginning to think she has done more damage to philadelphia than all the flash mobs who have scared away all the tourists.
detroit/camden here we come!
- any surprises....rendell got cold feet— frank1121
- The blatant incompetence of the SRC, city and Mayor make me ashamed to live in Philadelphia. No guts!!!!— chickletonian
Comment removed.- CleanupPhilly, you do realize your on Ackerman's side with your mantra? She is pushing vouchers and privatization of schools. That has always been her agenda, the fox managing the hen house. In other words, she made a troubled School District worse and you support her in that. Pretty blockheaded and pathetic.— tom-104
- I think it is time for a class action lawsuit brought by the property owners in the City of Philadelphia. We were apparently given a load of "bull" that "the city has no money" and needs the ADDITIONAL 3.8% tax increase (on top of the 9.9% tax increase) to fund the school district. Yet, they GIVE AWAY close to $1 MILLION to Arlene Ackerman, who should have been fired "for cause." I am tired of continually paying for this type of nonsense. They can send me my refund.— dee99999
- This is outrageous. She was incompetent and it was obvious within the first year, In a similar situation New York City fires their new Chancellor without giving her a massive raise and outrageous buy out. This needs an investigation with subpoena power.— poogie
- Fire them all. This is an outrage: when there is not enough money in the school budget to take care of the needs of the children they are going to buy her out? Force her to get back to work and sit in a basement somewhere, as they did to that teacher, and take away her cell phone. Let her spend her days sitting in dark silence but DON'T GIVE HER A PENNY1— farhorizons
- This is outrageous. Enough already! The taxpayers of Philadelphia are fed up with the incompentency of those educating our children. Summon a grand jury and let's get to the bottom of this.— aviator
- These are the dumbest blacks that money can buy.— WallyT
- There is a simple question that arises...Why would a potential donor withdraw his/her support of the PSD, (by means of a donation to offset an expenditure), because of a lack of anonymity? Sniff...sniff...not passing the smell test...— TomTheCork
- Comment removed.
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
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