Arlene Ackerman was forced from her job as superintendent of Philadelphia schools by a school board frustrated with her corruption and arrogance. However, being members of the same privileged social class, they had mercy on her and promised offered her a $905,000 golden parachute.
Even under normal circumstances, this would seem a ridiculous amount of money for a school district to spend just to get rid of their dead wood, but in today’s climate of budget shortfalls it is not only obscene, but difficult to imagine where a district could dig up such a sum.
The school board somehow managed to finagle $405,000 from anonymous donors, which eased the pain and made the board look a little less complicit in Ackerman’s corruption. However, the donors got spooked by public outrage over the arrangement and demands that their names be revealed, compelling them to bail out of the deal at the last moment, according to Philadelphia Daily News.
Thus, Philly was back on the hook for the full $905,000, a sum that has already been paid to Ackerman, according to her attorney Dean Weitzman.
Modern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/09/philly-residents-forced-to-pay-nearly-1.html