The SRC: What went wrong?

By Christopher Paslay

Earlier this month, around the time the Phillies fell into their offensive funk, another local team found itself in trouble. The School Reform Commission, put in place a decade ago to help revive the city's struggling public schools, was beginning to implode.

Last week, two of the SRC's five members - Robert L. Archie, its chairman, and Johnny Irizarry - announced their immediate resignations. Along with a vacancy created by David F. Girard-diCarlo's departure in February, that forced the remaining members to postpone a meeting for lack of a quorum.

The turmoil came at a time when many were already questioning the commission's leadership. Last month, State Sen. Mike Stack (D., Phila.) proposed a bill that would replace the SRC with a nine-member board chosen by voters in a nonpartisan election. "The SRC has had 10 years and billions of dollars to turn things around," Stack said outside School District headquarters. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's not working."

In a recent editorial, The Inquirer called for the resignation of the entire SRC, and in a Daily News column, former interim School District CEO Phil Goldsmith wrote that the city needs school leaders with "character" who can rise above "petty politics such as who gets a job or what law firm or company gets the business."

Managing a large, urban school district such as Philadelphia's is not easy. But a few key flaws make it that much harder for the SRC:

Conflicts of interest: How is it that so many district officials are affiliated with organizations that have been on the payroll?

Archie's law firm, Duane Morris, has represented Foundations Inc., a nonprofit that has been paid millions to run failing district schools. Leroy Nunery II, now acting superintendent, is a former executive of Edison Schools, which also received millions to run failing district schools.

Girard-diCarlo is a former managing partner of the law firm Blank Rome, which the School District has paid more than $6 million since 2007. Pedro Ramos, who is awaiting state Senate confirmation to fill Girard-diCarlo's seat, was billing the district $325 an hour for legal work before his appointment by Gov. Corbett.