Ackerman

A personal PR team.

Two knowledgeable sources tell City Paper that former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman ran a School District communications team dedicated to promoting and defending her personally, and which coordinated and assisted public rallies in her favor, communicated regularly with private supporters, and spent taxpayer time and money on various kinds of "propaganda," including protest signs and a farewell tribute video. Since Ackerman's departure after negotiating a nearly $1 million buy-out of her contract, one source says the same team continues to manage Ackerman's antagonistic public relations campaign against Mayor Michael Nutter and others.

The three Communications staffers who allegedly orchestrated a personal public relations campaign for Ackerman — former Director Jamilah Fraser, and staffers Shana Kemp and Elizabeth Childs — resigned last Monday, the same day that Ackerman's buyout was announced. According to one source, the three were told they would be fired if they did not resign because they had gone rogue, spending the majority of their time working for the Superintendent even as she was headed for the door.

These sources say that Jamilah Fraser and her two deputies were dedicated to protecting and promoting Ackerman above all else. (Fraser and her two deputies were hired in November 2010, 11 months after two staffers were fired in the wake of a highly critical Philadelphia Magazine cover story titled "Queen Arlene.")

"The Communications office was running a PR support operation for Ackerman," says one source with detailed knowledge. 

"It was a Communications office for the Superintendent, not for the District. It was like a personal PR team," says a second source." Around the District, "the Communications office was seen as the propaganda department for Dr. Ackerman."

Ackerman, frequently criticized for high central office salaries, paid top dollar to the three people directing her message machine: Fraser received a salary of $170,000 and Kemp and Childs made $135,000 each.*

Acting Communications Director Fernando Gallard would not respond to specific allegations laid out by these sources.

"We are currently focusing on the work ahead, and we're busy making sure that we have a successful school year starting this September 6. That is going to be the only focus of my office here and I'm not going to comment on any allegations regarding the past work done here in the District Communications office."

Fraser and Kemp declined to comment for this story, and Childs did not respond to repeated interview requests.

The team directly assisted in production of pro-Ackerman events.

As criticism of Ackerman grew louder, the superintendent echoed allegations made by activists that she was unfairly targeted because of her race and sex. According to CP's sources, the Communications office, under Fraser's direction, was in touch with the same small group of African-American activists, coordinating and making posters for a July 22 rally in support of Ackerman.

"They made posters and then handed them out to 15 or so supporters," says the second source.

One sign asked, "What About Our Children?" Another defended Ackerman's signature school turnaround initiative, reading "Keep Promise Academies" with a picture of a crying young African-American boy.

Pamela Williams, a District security guard and outspoken Ackerman supporter, was in and out of the Communications office both before and after the July 22 protest. (The District later opened an investigation because Williams was out of work on disability at the time.)

Emmanuel Bussie, an outspoken pro-Ackerman activist and regular sight at SRC meetings, allegedly coordinated his activism with the District communications team.

"They organized rallies in support of the superintendent," says the second source, "They had been working with Emmanuel Bussie, and he was, I guess, their contact person to get people to come to rallies."

At an August 3 SRC meeting, he compared Ackerman to Rosa Parks and called for her to stay.

"We've got your back," he told her at the hearing.

Bussie, an ally of Sharif Street, son of former Mayor John Street, recently voiced national political ambitions on his Facebook page ("Family and Friends, I think I am ready to elevate NATIONALY (go to that next level) what do you think? Am I ready?, he wrote on August 22").

Bussie told CP, "I'm in communication with everybody, and it was never about coordinating our actions."

"We just absolutely adore this woman for what she stands for," saying that Promise Academies delivered resources to students most in need, particularly long-underserved African-Americans.

"Even if I was a regular visitor to the Communications office, and I wasn't a regular visitor to the Communications office, it was to ask for data."

And he does not see a problem with the District spending money to support Ackerman.

"As a matter of fact, I think they should have spent more money and more resources to retain Dr. Ackerman."

The PR war goes guerilla.

According to CP sources, during Ackerman's last week in office, Jamilah Fraser and her deputies fought a rear-guard guerilla public relations war, beginning with a sensational August 18 appearance at a principal's meeting. Ackerman entered to Sade's "Is It a Crime?" and recited the Maya Angelou poem "And Still I Rise."

She asked, "Is it a crime to stand up for children instead of stooping down into the political sandbox and selling our children for a politician's campaign victory?" And then, she dared the SRC to fire her — knowing full well that her departure was already being arranged. Indeed, she was negotiating it.

The District-produced video tribute.

The team's final offensive was mounted last Monday, as word of Ackerman's imminent departure spread: a well-produced video tribute to Ackerman emerged on the District website as an overlay, so that users had to click through it to access the rest of the website.

About an hour later, the video was gone — removed by angry District officials. The video is now on Ackerman's brand-new personal YouTube channel (though "Adding comments has been disabled for this video"). Set to a maudlin classical score, the video describes the sorry state of Philadelphia public schools before Ackerman took the helm in 2008, and features inspiring testimonies from teachers, principals, students and parents testifying to the success Ackerman oversaw.

But the clips edited into the video were compiled from a variety of sources, and one featured principal was surprised to hear that her interview was used to promote the Superintendent.

"That was, to my knowledge, something in-house, maybe to be shown on the School District channel in the future," says John Webster School Principal Christine Connor.

Connor told CP that her interview was filmed in May to mark Webster's graduation from Empowerment School status.

Both sources consulted for this story confirm that the video was produced by Fraser and Kemp, working on the taxpayer dollar.

Still going.

Ackerman's message machine is still at work, says the first source, coordinating an increasingly aggressive media strategy that has included sharp-tongued interviews with Ed Week, Fox 29 and 900AM WURD.

During the WURD interview, Ackerman said the communications staffers "were ushered out like criminals."

Indeed, Ackerman seems to be turning up the heat with each interview: last Thursday on WURD, she urged parents to "vote with their feet" and take their kids out of Philadelphia public schools. And in a major surprise, she voiced support for school vouchers that would deliver public education funds to private schools--a controversial pet project of State Senator Anthony Williams, an Ackerman ally. She now plans a series of workshops for parents to, she says, "help them navigate the system."

At last Wednesday's tumultuous School Reform Commission (SRC) meeting, the activists that the communications team cultivated over the past year shouted in protest, and one person even accused black SRC members of "lynching" Ackerman. Shana Kemp was reportedly in the room.

* NOTE: An earlier version of this story said that Jamilah Fraser's $170,000 salary was higher than Mayor Michael Nutter's. In fact, Nutter's current salary is $171,525.

Illustration: Evan M. Lopez

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