The Philadelphia School District's search for a CEO is down to two finalists. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

With Temple University dean Kent McGuire dropping out of the running, Arlene Ackerman and Leroy D. Nunery II are the two finalists for the top job in the Philadelphia School District. Although a 45-member citizens advisory chose Ackerman and Nunery from 37 applicants, Governor Rendell and School Reform Commission Chairwoman Sandra Dungee-Glenn have made it clear that the search will remain open until the district has a capable CEO.

Here are some pros and cons of the two finalists:

ARLENE ACKERMAN

Arlene Ackerman has an EdD from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. She currently serves as an education professor at Columbia University's Teachers College. She started her career as an elementary and middle school teacher, and spent six years as the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, and three years as the Superintendent of D.C. Public Schools; she was named superintendent of the year for 2004-05 by the National Association of Black School Educators.

Pros:

Experience. Ackerman has nine years experience as a superintendent in urban school districts.

Student Achievement. There was a steady rise in student achievement during her tenure in both San Francisco and Washington DC.

School Funding. In DC, she created a fairer funding formula for public schools.

Community Involvement. During a Q&A session in front of a 45-member citizens panel at district headquarters,

Ackerman pledged to work hard to involve social services, mental heath, and other community agencies to improve schools.

Parents. Ackerman also pledged to address low parental involvement with schools.

Cons:

Although she negotiated pay increases for teachers in DC, she supports paying teachers at different rates based on performance.

In San Francisco, Ackerman had a history of butting heads with school board members.

COMMENTS

Ackerman has the experience, which is important. She’s run urban school districts in Washington DC and San Francisco, and has had some success there. Another big plus is her pledge to get more social service and mental heath agencies involved with schools, and to work with the community of Philadelphia to improve the learning environment. Also, she plans to address the issue of low parental involvement—a subject that tends to get overlooked by many administrators.

On the flip side, it appears Ackerman can be controversial at times. Although I don’t speak for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, I can only imagine the PFT will have a problem with “performance-based” pay (we fought against this in the past). Performance-based pay is unfair because the methods administrators use to evaluate teachers are inconsistent and often times unreliable.

There is another issue of controversy that I discovered in an article in The San Francisco Chronicle. According to a story by Heather Knight, Ackerman bickered with members of the San Francisco Unified School District school board “on a variety of issues, including Ackerman's Dream Schools initiative, which aims to overhaul low-performing schools by giving them a more rigorous curriculum, longer hours and Saturday school, but also by requiring all teachers at the schools to reapply for their jobs to signal their commitment to the revamped program.”

I don’t think requiring teachers to reapply for their job to show their commitment would go over well in Philadelphia.

LEROY D. NUNERY II

Leroy Nunery has a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania. He currently works for a Philadelphia-based education-consulting company. Nunery also worked for Edison Schools for two years, overseeing charter schools which included two dozen low-performing schools in Philadelphia. In addition to Edison, he worked with the National Basketball Association as vice president for business development and human relations, and as vice president of business services for the University of Pennsylvania.

Pros:

Management experience. According to his profile on the Pennsylvania Business Tax Reform Commission, Nunery’s division at Penn was the major commercial enterprise arm of the University with total revenues of approximately $200 million and 900 employees.

Strategic Planning. Also according to the profile, Nunery was heavily involved in strategic planning and implementation of Penn’s renowned West Philadelphia Initiatives, particularly the inclusion of local minority/women/disadvantaged entities in doing business with Penn.

Education Consulting. Nunery has a strong background in education-consulting.

Cons:

No experience as a superintendent of a large urban district. Running a school district as big as Philadelphia’s is a lot more involved than running a for-profit education consulting company.

Edison’s questionable track record. Depending on who you talk to (or what report you look at), Edison Schools aren’t keeping their promises. When Nunery was involved with Edison, the 20 schools in Philadelphia didn’t make any significant gains.

COMMENTS

Nunery has the business experience to help the Philadelphia School District run more efficiently. He looks like he’d be strong handling the budget, and managing resources.

However, there is more to running a school district than balancing a budget. A capable superintendent must be much more familiar with education at the classroom level than Nunery seems to be. Granted, he’s done some educational consulting—and has a doctorate in education—but in my opinion, this experience won’t transfer into the kind of knowledgeable leadership needed to improve Philadelphia’s public school system.

THE SEARCH GOES ON

According to Chuck Ardo, Gov. Rendell's spokesman, the governor is willing to keep the search for Philadelphia School District CEO open.

"We might be down to two finalists, but the process remains open," Ardo told the press on Friday. "He is willing to consider any and all comers."

This might not be such a bad idea.