A novel choice for school panel

A Philadelphia novelist, teacher, and arts advocate is the newest School Reform Commission member.

Mayor Nutter on Monday named Lorene Cary to the five-member governing body of the Philadelphia School District - a group dogged by controversy in recent months for backroom deals and a $629 million budget gap.

Cary, 54, is the critically acclaimed author of three novels and a memoir. She is a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and executive director of the Art Sanctuary, a nonprofit group that highlights African American art.

Her appointment is a departure for a commission typically heavy with lawyers, businesspeople, and those with clear political ties.

Cary said she expected to be sworn in by Oct. 26, the SRC's next scheduled meeting. She said she did not yet have a list of priorities.

"I'm going to focus and learn and be totally present," Cary said. "I am needing to really run hard to get up to snuff."

Cary's Arts Sanctuary runs North Stars, an after-school program for city teenagers.

"The arts have a wonderful ability to help people think and feel at the same time," Cary said. "There are so many children who are dealing with so many challenges and difficulties. The arts are great for them to get at their intellect."

Cary's appointment fills the SRC, which has had one or more vacancies for months. Former SRC Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and Commissioner Johnny Irizarry resigned last month, and David F. Girard-diCarlo resigned in February.

In addition to picking Cary, Nutter also recently named Rutgers-Camden chancellor Wendell Pritchett to the SRC. Gov. Corbett named Pritchett interim chair until Pedro Ramos, his nominee, is confirmed by the state Senate. Mayoral appointments need no confirmation.

Cary said she had been discussing the position with the mayor for nearly a week. When Nutter asked her to consider serving on the SRC - a time-consuming, unpaid job running a $2.8 billion organization - Cary said she was surprised and a bit unsure.

"It is a big job," Cary said. "I always want to try to check my capacity. I'm not an independent actor. I have a family."

Nutter, in a statement, hailed Cary as a "tremendous asset" to the SRC.

"Lorene Cary is a nationally recognized writer, she has a tremendous education background, but for me what is truly outstanding is that she has an incredible passion for the well-being of children. She cares very personally about parents, and she's very much focused on supporting teachers," Nutter said.

Nutter has signaled that he plans to be much more involved in district and SRC matters.

After a rough few months of deep budget cuts, secret political deals, and ugly public battles over district leadership, Pritchett and acting Superintendent Leroy Nunery II have said it's time to heal and regain trust.

Public confidence was especially shaken after the release of a city ethics report that revealed behind-the-scenes maneuvers by Archie and State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.) over who would run Martin Luther King High School.

"I can't go backward," Cary said. "You can't fix what happened before. You can only go forward."

Lori Shorr, Nutter's education secretary and newly installed executive adviser to the district, said in a statement that "Lorene brings a spirit of openness and energy to everything she does, and her skill sets and commitments will nicely complement those of the sitting members."

Cary, who lives in East Falls, was born in West Philadelphia and attended Lea Elementary. Lea was an integrated public school, and Cary's mother petitioned its principal for special permission so her daughter could attend. Her parents were district teachers.

After her family moved to Delaware County, Cary attended junior high school there, then moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., where she would later spend time as a teacher.

Her experience as one of just a handful of black students at the boarding school was the subject of her first book, the 1991 memoir Black Ice. Cary's novel The Price of a Child was the first One Book, One Philadelphia project.

Cary is married to an Episcopal priest and is the mother of two daughters. Her younger is a high school senior at William Penn Charter School, whose campus backs up to the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd rectory, where the family lives.

Her daughter also attended Greenfield Elementary, a Center City public school. Both children attended a mix of public and private schools, she said.

Shelly Yanoff, executive director of the nonprofit Public Citizens for Children and Youth, said Cary will be a "wonderful" SRC member.

"She exudes intelligence, calmness, and caring," Yanoff said. "She has broad interests, and among those interests clearly are the children of the world. This is great."

Gerald Wright, district parent and a founder of Parents United for Public Education, said he was dismayed that there was no public input in selecting Cary and Pritchett. While he said he had read Cary's books, he knows nothing of her involvement in the education community or her philosophies on public schools, Wright said.

But at least it seems as if Cary is a new kind of SRC member, Wright said.

"Her livelihood has not been derived on any level from political participation," he said. "That is a step in the right direction. She has the opportunity to come in and say, 'I want to move on something because I believe it's right, and I have no particular ties to any firms who might get a contract.' "

Age: 54

Position: Author; senior lecturer in creative writing, University of Pennsylvania; founder of Art Sanctuary, a nonprofit that highlights African American art.

Books: Memoir Black Ice (1991); novels The Price of A Child (1995), Pride (1998), If Sons, Then Heirs (2011)

Education: University of Pennsylvania, B.A. and M.A. in English; Sussex University (England), M.A. in Victorian literature.

Residence: East Falls

Family: Husband, the Rev. Robert C. Smith; two daughtersEndText