Ackerman's forced resignation sparked a wild session of the School Reform Commission on Wednesday, as a pro-Ackerman crowd of more than 100 booed and shouted. Speakers accused the board of "lynching" Ackerman.
The SRC members made no statement and answered no questions about paying Ackerman a $905,000 buyout, with $500,000 coming from the district and $405,000 from anonymous donors.
Efforts to contact Ackerman were unsuccessful. She has not responded to repeated requests for comment since her buyout was announced Monday. Her attorney also could not be reached.
Speaking to Education Week, she did not address criticism by union heads, government leaders, teachers, and students who have described a superintendency crippled by poor decisions and political missteps, topped by an inability to compromise and a management style that many took for arrogance.
She did shed new light on two incidents that helped speed her undoing.
In June, confronted with a disastrous $629 million budget gap, Ackerman warned parents that full-day kindergarten faced elimination. The mayor and other city leaders prepared to storm Harrisburg to win new money.
But at the last minute, Ackerman announced that she had her own plan to save kindergarten - undercutting Nutter's strategy with state legislators.
In the interview, Ackerman said the mayor had asked her to put all-day kindergarten on the chopping block because he wanted to use the potential loss of the program as a bargaining chip with city and state officials.
"I really didn't want to do it. I really didn't feel good about it," Ackerman said. "But I'm trying to play the politics here."
When the announcement was made that the program was endangered, she said, "I was approached by hundreds of parents about this. It didn't align with everything else that I was about."
