Golden resigns as Philadelphia schools' safety chief

James B. Golden Jr., the Philadelphia School District's chief safety official, abruptly resigned Tuesday, saying he was leaving for another opportunity.

Golden's resignation came amid growing concerns that Superintendent Arlene Ackerman had not consulted him enough on major security issues, district sources said.

Golden, a former Philadelphia police captain who had held his post for more than five years under three superintendents, was said to have felt ignored when Ackerman did not consult him on the decision to pull eight security officers out of South Philadelphia High School last school year after racial unrest there, the sources said.

The district also moved forward with the emergency purchase of 126 security cameras for the school without seeking his opinion.

Golden declined to comment on those reports.

Ackerman disputed the reports, saying that Golden had been fully consulted on South Philadelphia High and other security matters.

"That is a patent lie, a total untruth," said Ackerman. "He was involved in South Philly from day one."

Golden said he was leaving the district for another "opportunity" that he declined to identify. He said he had been considering resigning since the end of last school year, but acknowledged that leaving the same day as his resignation letter "is rather abrupt, but the other thing that I'm looking at has reemerged rather suddenly."

Brendan Lee, also a former Philadelphia police officer, is taking over deputy chief of school operations for safety.

Golden, 60, who worked in the Philadelphia Police Department for 26 years, had become increasingly concerned that his expertise was not being utilized, the sources said.

"I'm not going to be negative," Golden said. "It's a decision for me to move forward and do some other things in my career."

When asked how the district could improve safety, Golden said: "I would like to see the district rely on the office of school safety and its expertise, especially the high level of cooperation and partnership we have with the city police. . . . We have to appreciate the fact that the expertise - when it comes to violence, whether school violence or violence in general - resides in the office of school safety."

District officials praised Golden's work. "Jim has done a great job for the district," said Lisa Mastoon, a spokeswoman. "The district was glad to have him."

Mastoon said Ackerman would meet with her leadership team Wednesday to discuss the district's next moves "to make sure that security for the start of the school year is as excellent as it can possibly be."

Golden's office, with a $40 million budget, oversaw 265 schools.

Violence fluctuated during Golden's tenure. He previously said violent incidents had dropped nearly 30 percent over the last two years. Union leaders questioned the numbers.

In 2008-09, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 12,486 reported incidents of misconduct, including 1,318 assaults on a staff member, 616 instances of students bringing a weapon to school, and 907 acts of vandalism.

Michael Lodise, head of the school police officers' union, said that although he had worked with Golden for five years, they often clashed.

"He was someone who wasn't very sympathetic to the officers' problems."

Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, praised Golden.

"Jim has always been receptive to listening to the concerns and to investigating whatever complaint we made and had worked on a resolution," Jordan said.

Golden said the district was preparing to roll out improvements in school safety that he and Lee had worked on along with their team.

The moves, which include changing the way police officers are deployed, will make safety efforts more "effective and efficient," he said.

Ackerman, in a statement, said: "We are now in conversation with Police Commissioner [Charles] Ramsey and the city on how we together might provide more supports and strategies for addressing improved school safety."