Annette John-Hall: Another public-relations problem for Ackerman

I don't think anybody would deny that Arlene Ackerman is a smart woman.

Everywhere she's been, she's tested off the charts as a gifted and talented reformer with an impressive record of leaving struggling, big-city school districts better off than they were before she arrived.

Yet, after watching her make a shambles of the suspension and possible firing of Audenried High English teacher Hope Moffett - the latest in a series of public-relations disasters - I'm convinced that when it comes to dealing with people, Ackerman is developmentally delayed.

And I'm not talking about just in Philly. Look at her track record in Washington and San Francisco. Both cities gave her controlling management style a big, fat F.

They described the superintendent as an autocrat. Alienating. Controlling. Even her closest allies have told her to tone it down.

Well, a lot of good that advice is doing.

I honestly thought after the South Philadelphia High fiasco that we'd see a kinder, gentler, more understanding Ackerman.

During a three-hour conversation in November, Ackerman insisted that she had learned a lesson, conceding that her delayed, seemingly unsympathetic handling of the beatings of Asian students had blown up in her face. Her staff was late to tell her of the severity of the matter, she'd said.

Now her image is taking another beating, this time from a 25-year-old idealistic English teacher who got her message out before Ackerman could even muster one up.

Three weeks ago, Moffett, a popular teacher at Audenried, was tossed into teacher jail, and later recommended for firing. Her crime? Giving students SEPTA tokens to go to a protest against the plan to turn Audenried into a charter school, thereby compromising their "health and safety," according to the district.

Which brings us to another word to describe Ackerman: unapologetic.

In a call to me Thursday, Ackerman expressed her frustration over the Moffett coverage, which she said had been framed as a freedom-of-speech issue rather than focusing on the fact that the teacher compromised the safety of 53 of her students.

"She gave children tokens, she encouraged them to leave school, and she didn't tell the parents she did it, and the principal didn't know," Ackerman said. "I was terrified. . . . If something would have happened to them, we would be having a completely different conversation."

Fortunately, nobody got hurt. Couldn't she have taken less draconian measures?

Why remove a good teacher, especially before critical PSSA testing?

It is about the kids, isn't it?

"I don't care if she is a good teacher," Ackerman replied. "She used poor judgment. And she hasn't apologized to anybody, because she doesn't think she's done anything wrong. In any other district, this would be a fireable offense. But she did it here because she thought she could get away with it."

Good to finally hear directly from the superintendent, but why is she always tardy for the party? She said she was away when the story broke and her staff didn't immediately explain why Moffett was removed.

Now it doesn't matter. Public opinion is already on Moffett's side. Heck, even the NAACP is has spoken on her behalf.

"It seemed like overkill," says NAACP head Jerry Mondesire, who broke racial ranks to support Moffett, who is white. Usually a staunch Ackerman ally, even he said her actions smacked of "royal vengeance."

So once again, Ackerman, despite her award-winning educational skills, emerges as her own worst enemy.

That's a shame, because one-on-one, she's warm, witty, and intelligent. And not every superintendent would make it a priority to regularly visit students' homes and give parents her cell-phone number.

I'd be the first to say Ackerman's taken her share of unfair media hits. Some of it was petty, like lambasting her for taking vacation days or accepting a bonus she was contractually entitled to.

And the thought has occurred to me that, as a woman, Queen Arlene gets blasted regularly, but a forceful male, like, say, Gov. Christie - King Bully if ever there was one - is considered amusing, even celebrated by some.

OK, so we could be kinder. But so could she.

The ABCs of toughness with grace can be mastered.

And what is it that we always try to teach our kids? Learn from your mistakes.