Ackerman is out

The Arlene Ackerman era is over.

After a summer of speculation, the colorful, controversial superintendent is out of the Philadelphia School District, bought out of her contract for $905,000, some of which will come from private, anonymous donations.

If the School Reform Commission signs off on Wednesday, the district will pay $500,000, and $405,000 will come from unnamed donors whose contributions will be funneled through a nonprofit foundation.

Leroy Nunery, who had been Ackerman's deputy, is now acting superintendent. The district will conduct a national search for a permanent replacement.

The news came on Monday, announced by School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and Mayor Nutter in a statement that praised Ackerman for her "personal commitment to demonstrating that given the right systemic reforms, all of our children can achieve."

Ackerman, who often said she was an educator and not a politician, lost the support of both the SRC and Nutter during a painful spring of wrangling over a $629 million budget gap.

The SRC first approached Ackerman in June about buying out the rest of her contract, which ran through 2014, a source close to the negotiations said. Though Ackerman publicly vowed to fight for her job, in private, she immediately began talking about a financial settlement, making no real effort to extend her tenure.

From that point on, the mayor was working to find a replacement.

"Ever since the budget, her career has been unraveling," said Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, chair of the education committee. "She may have been an educator, but she's in a political environment, and anyone in her position has to accept that."

Nutter acquiesced to the SRC's plan for the buyout, but in conversations with each of the SRC members, the source said, the mayor insisted that the board set a ceiling on public funds going toward the settlement.

"The mayor took a quick look at it and said he didn't want to see more than $500,000 in public funds spent," the source said. "That set the tone for the subsequent negotiations."

Under her existing contract, Ackerman was already entitled to accumulated vacation and sick days and a $100,000 retention bonus. Six months of severance pay, viewed as reasonable by Nutter and the SRC members, would have gotten her most of the way toward the $500,000.

Ackerman's initial claim was for $1.3 million to $1.5 million, based on the amount she would receive if she served out the rest of her contract to 2014, the source said.

Her base salary was $348,000.

The private fund-raising, in which Nutter himself participated, making what he described as "a couple of calls," helped close the gap.

Nutter's press secretary, Mark McDonald, said the private contributions toward Ackerman's settlement would be made through the Children First Fund, a non-profit with close ties to the School District.

Ackerman did not appear in public Wednesday, and did not return phone calls seeking comment.

But in a farewell letter to Philadelphians, she listed 22 of her "significant accomplishments" and urged people to "stay the course" to continue her reform plans.

"When I accepted this superintendent's job three years ago, I did not imagine just how difficult an assignment it would be," Ackerman wrote. "However, I take great pride and satisfaction in knowing that I am leaving the District better than I found it for thousands of young people."