It's a bad omen when the news coming out of Philadelphia public schools is about adults squabbling, not kids learning.
At a recent School Reform Commission meeting, Chairman James Nevels called an unscheduled vote to name an interim CEO to fill in for the departing Paul Vallas. That got member Sandra Dungee Glenn so upset she left the room.
The three remaining members chose Thomas M. Brady, who joined the district in March as its chief operating officer, as Vallas' temporary replacement. Vallas will leave Philadelphia next month to lead the New Orleans school system.
Some say Nevels didn't put this on the agenda because Glenn was holding out for Pennsylvania budget secretary Michael Masch, a member of the old school board as well as a member of the original SRC, to become interim CEO.
Masch knows numbers and he knows the Philadelphia schools; he'd be a strong candidate for the permanent CEO post. But, for now, he's stuck in Harrisburg, working on the state's budget challenges. The district can't afford a leadership vacuum as it slogs through closing a deficit of at least $37 million in a $2.2 billion budget.
So there was good reason for Nevels to push for an interim appointment right away.
That said, communications among the parties could have been much better. Now, a lot of flak is flying about who told what to whom and when, in regard to the Brady appointment. It's impossible for an outsider to sort it all out, and hardly worth the trouble.
Point is, the children who attend city schools benefit from strong relations among the governor, mayor and SRC. And they are the ones most likely to be hurt when adults quarrel.
The city and state, after all, are the ones being asked to close the deficit by pitching in more funds. It's hard enough to pry money for schools out of Harrisburg; when the governor is peeved, it doesn't help.
What's most distressing about last week's ruckus was it served as another sign that unproductive political tensions are beginning to swamp the district.
The SRC was at its best early in the state takeover. Members worked together pretty well to support Vallas, the man they'd chosen to lead the district. They focused on the broad issues of district goals and policy, and held Vallas' team responsible for its performance. And elected officials from Philadelphia didn't seem to be actively trying to undermine the SRC.
Now, politics are bubbling inside and out. In recent months, Street and some Democratic candidates for mayor made noises about it being time for the city to take back control of the district. Divisions on the SRC became louder and deeper.
In the backdrop were elections that put Democrats in control of the state House of Representatives, which meant a Nevels' supporter, Philadelphia Republican Rep. John Perzel, lost his position as speaker. And Glenn's dramatic exit may have been partly fueled by that week's mayoral primary. In it, one of her main allies, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Phila.), lost a race that many had expected him to win.
All this spatting and conspiring is only going to make it harder to get the money the system needs to maintain its educational progress. That progress is real, but fragile. It could unravel if support from the state fades, if the district is badly managed.
There are some good signs. City Council last week moved toward increasing permanently the city's share of funding to the district.
Democratic mayoral nominee Michael Nutter showed up at a hearing to support that bill. Street opposed it, but hinted he would not veto it.
That increase would be a good-faith gesture from the city, of the kind long demanded by Harrisburg. It should encourage Rendell and legislators to provide the dollars to maintain the reforms they have so praised.
Everybody needs to calm down and put education before politics and personalities.