Ackerman sees schools in new 'Renaissance'

School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman yesterday launched what she considers a significant first step in revitalizing some of the district's failing schools, a key element of her five-year school reform plan.

The 50-member Renaissance Schools Advisory Board met for the first time yesterday with the goal of helping the district identify 25 low-performing schools.

Dubbed by Ackerman as "Renaissance Schools," these schools will then be put on a path to improvement.

The superintendent said that these low-performing schools will not be judged based solely on traditional data such as attendance and dropouts rates but on social ills as well.

"How many students come from abusive backgrounds?" she asked.

"How many families are receiving mental-health service? All that has an impact on what happens in a school."

Ackerman named Mayor Nutter's education chief, Lori Shorr; Patricia Coulter, head of the local Urban League; and Robert Peterkin, from the Urban Superintendents Program at Harvard University, as its co-chairs.

Leroy Nunery II, founder of PlusUltre, will oversee the entire process.

Flanked by Ackerman and her co-chairs, Shorr expressed her optimism over the strategy.

"It gives you hope that we can do something about an issue that many people have stopped believing that something can be done about," she said.

Over the next two months, the board - divided into three subcommittees - will define criteria and the process for how to identify and run Renaissance schools.

Feedback from the community will be a key part of the decision-making process, said Ackerman.

The selected schools may be converted to charters, or managed by outside companies.

The district's goal is to convert the first 10 schools by fall 2010.

Ackerman noted that none of the schools selected will be closed or consolidated.