Corruption In The School District Of Philadelphia

The seeds of corruption that have plagued the School District of Philadelphia for years had long been secret taboos that only those of influence knew about. With the dismissal of Dr. Arlene Ackerman and her friend, Estelle Matthews who gave several of her friend’s undeserved raises totaling $82,000 it finally sheds light on the truth that every School District Employee already knew. Making matters worse as if stealing this kind of money was not bad enough Matthews hired her son to two positions that he was neither qualified or prepared to do. Such crimes should lead to Matthews arrest. However, I am sure that like Ackerman she will find a way to weasel her way out of these charges.

Dr. Ackerman is not innocent in this either. The woman ran the School District of Philadelphia for a handsome salary of nearly half a million dollars and at the same time had no problem issuing layoff notices to thousands of loyal District employees some who had served the system for nearly twenty years. When the School Reform Commission released her of her duties, not only did this woman get close to $905,000 in severance payments and donations she had the audacity to apply for unemployment benefits. The question is how can this woman who was making a couple of thousand dollars every week live with herself knowing thousands of Paraprofessionals, Teachers, and other support staff were out of work due to her mismanagement of the system. What is even more interesting is while she was about to collect close to six hundred a week in unemployment benefits members of The School Police Officers Union were fighting for their unemployment. To me this is just another sign of the corruption that has been so apparent here for years.

As a former School District of Philadelphia employee, I personally can attest to the level of greed and dishonesty that ran rampant in just about every school and school district headquarters. From school secretaries who chose not to code themselves when they took off sick to support staff that fudged numbers and stole school supplies to line their own pockets it is a wonder the system had not gone completely broke by now.

What I find most interesting during the Ackerman legacy is the amount of racism that she blatantly expressed and made known with her various actions. This individual saw her job as one in which she felt she could do what she felt like. She truly regarded herself as royalty. It was a well-known fact here in the District that Dr. Ackerman referred to as Queen Arlene ran this system according to her own personal agenda.

On a final note I would also like to mention how the tables were turned on me when I retired.You see when you leave work here in the system you are supposed to be paid one hundred percent of your unused personal leave days which when I left I had 21. In all reality, I should have received a check for over $2000 but instead received a mere pittance of $545. Of course, making matters worse I had been informed by the so-called teacher’s union that I had been a member of for twenty years that nothing could be done and to call payroll. The bottom line I want to make known here is that not payroll, the union or anyone else for that matter felt that I was jilted out of my personal days. My opinion is that they had to pay for the lavish lifestyle that Ackerman and her friends needed to live. If you agree with me or like to voice your opinions please let me know what you think. Take a moment and answer my survey questions.