Nunery: second in charge

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

In an evening press briefing, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman clarified that Leroy Nunery, the District’s new deputy superintendent named Wednesday afternoon, is the District’s "second person in charge" but added that "we haven’t decided what the structure is going to look like yet."

Nunery assumes his deputy role immediately, and there has been no change in his salary.

"What I saw after two years is that it’s very difficult to be that engaged in the day-to-day operations. I need some help there," the superintendent said.

Ackerman explained that she had more than 20 people reporting to her and "the structure wasn’t one that was working for me and wasn’t effective to get the work done."

She added, "People who are reporting to me need a lot more interface with someone, and I wasn’t able to give it to 20-something people every day."

Ackerman said more changes might be coming once she and Nunery discuss the District leadership structure. "We will come back when we’re ready to discuss that," she said.