Remember way back when, when Chaka Fattah was a leading candidate for mayor?
Back in those giddy, and soon to evaporate, days for the Poverty Candidate, Fattah was saying something interesting and unexpected about Philadelphia school reform.
As other candidates echoed the sound bite that, as mayor, they'd bring the district back under city control, Fattah demurred.
Such governance issues, he purred, flashing his Cheshire cat smile, were a distraction. He'd be happy to let the joint city-state control embodied by the School Reform Commission continue, just as long as he as mayor felt he had real input.
This was interesting, because Fattah had been one of the loudest critics of the takeover as it happened back in 2001.
Perhaps we now know why.
Perhaps the fix has long been in for Sandra Dungee Glenn, the SRC member who is a long-time Fattah protege and ally, to become the new SRC chair, replacing Jim Nevels.
Gov. Rendell made that move this week, after last week gently but firmly edging out the Republican Nevels, the only chair that SRC had ever had.
Fattah probably thought there was no point in wasting the energy and chits he'd have to use to wrestle the school district formally back under city control, gven all the input a Mayor Fattah would have for free with Glenn running the shop.
Funny thing happened on the way to the dream, though.
"Mayor" Fattah became Fourth Place Fattah.
None of this is denigrate Glenn, a hard-working board member with considerable expertise.
But it reminds us how different the landscape looks today, with Michael Nutter as presumptive mayor, than it did late last year, when all the smart money was on a Fattah romp in the May primary.
Michael Nutter, meanwhile, still talks about wresting back control of the schools.
He should take a cue from Fattah, and not waste the energy.
Rendell is setting up the SRC to be a full and willing partner in any mayoral education strategy.
The question now is whether that strategy will be an innovative step forward, or a depressing step backwards towards the old political arrangements of the disastrous, pre-takeover status quo.
-- Chris Satullo
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Mystery solved?
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Great Expectations is a civic engagement project brought to you by The Inquirer and the University of Pennsylvania. Check out the Great Expectations Web site.
Chris Satullo is an Inquirer columnist and former editor of The Inquirer's Editorial Page. He was a founder of the Great Expectations project, which focuses on civic engagement and the issues in Philadelphia's 2007 mayoral race.
Tom Ferrick, a former Inquirer reporter, worked on the Great Expectations project throughout 2007 and into 2008.Other members of the Editorial Board will be weighing in on the blog, as will Harris Sokoloff and Jodie Chester Lowe, members of the Great Expectations team.
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on August 14, 2007 6:54 PM.
The previous post in this blog was The on-time deadline duo.
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Comments (1)
Dungee Glenn? What was Rendell thinking?
Posted by WhoKnows | August 16, 2007 8:25 AM
Posted on August 16, 2007 08:25