APPARENTLY THE
$905,000 in public buyout money wasn't enough.
Former Philly schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who was paid that queen's ransom to leave the city, applied for unemployment benefits this month.
The school district - which agreed in her August separation agreement not to fight any unemployment claims filed by Ackerman - confirmed her application yesterday.
Considering her nearly $350,000 salary in her tumultuous final year leading the district, Ackerman will likely be eligible for $573 a week, the highest weekly benefit provided by the state. Her benefits need to be approved by the state.
"I really think it's a joke, I'm laughing," said Michael Lodise, head of the union representing the district's security officers. "With all the money she got, she still wants unemployment?"
Lodise spent more than four months battling the district over wording in layoff warnings sent to about 190 per-diem officers in June that was keeping them from collecting unemployment.
The district finally changed the wording in the notices this month to say that the officers "may not return" to their jobs, and about 120 of those officers are now collecting unemployment, Lodise said.
Dean Weitzman, Ackerman's attorney, noted that she is legally entitled to the money. He also pointed to her past charitable giving, including donating her entire final year of salary back to the district.
"If you're a millionaire and you drop $12,000 on the ground, are you wealthy enough that you don't want to reach down and pick it up?" Weitzman said.
"For all I know, she's going to contribute those funds to a charitable cause."
Although Ackerman did pay unemployment taxes, the district is self-insured and will pay all of her benefits, said spokesman Fernando Gallard.
The news of Ackerman's application comes as advocates lobby Congress to again extend unemployment benefits.
Nearly 75,000 people in Pennsylvania, and 1.8 million nationally, could lose their benefits at the end of the year if Congress doesn't act, said John Dodd, of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project.
Among them will be some of the thousands of former district employees laid off in June as part of plans to close a $629 million hole that opened up under Ackerman's watch. Dodd worries that such a well-paid former public employee applying for benefits could "make people hostile to the program."
