That didn't take long. One day after word leaked of a school district draft plan to change the way children are selected for magnet schools, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman squashed it like a bug. "This is totally off the table," Ackerman told the
Inquirer Thursday (March 18). She said she had no knowledge of the plan until called by a reporter to comment on it and added she did not -- in any way, shape or form -- support it.
"I don't understand why you have to fix something that's working," she said. The proposal would have changed the way children are selected for the district's magnet schools from a process controlled by the schools to one controlled by the district, via a lottery system that would take into account not just academic achievement, but also zip code and income. Had it gone forward, it would have met with a firestorm of parent anger -- which is he last thing Ackerman needs. Next, listen carefully for the sound of heads rolling inside district headquarters.
