Karen Heller: After Ackerman, school district needs a new type of leader
Pamela Williams of Family Networking for Peace exhorted a small gathering of supporters… (CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer)
Forget 2014. Imagine 2012. Or, even, September 2011. Imagine the city school district with a new chief, a fresh start.
Embattled Superintendent Arlene Ackerman -embattled now part of her name - is surely going and most likely soon.
She's got barely a friend in Pennsylvania. A pariah in Harrisburg, which provides a majority of the district's funding, she's lost most local supporters, primarily Mayor Nutter, who penned a lengthy public rant during June's budget debate.
A recent anemic support rally, with uniform professional signs, showed the handiwork of her overpaid communications staff. How overpaid? The communications chief earns $170,000, and three deputies