Guv, Nutter to reveal picks for School Reform Commission

After more than two months of backroom deliberations, Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter are scheduled this morning to introduce the people they have selected to fill four expired terms on the School Reform Commission.

The 11:30 a.m. announcement at the School of the Future in Parkside will usher in the largest personnel change on the five-member commission since the state took over the Philadelphia School District in December 2001.

Rendell and Nutter have been tight-lipped about whether they would renew the terms of the current members since their terms expired in January, but others close to the two leaders have been dropping names of likely appointees all week.

Attorney Robert L. Archie Jr., a partner with the firm Duane Morris, will be chairman of the reform commission, replacing Sandra Dungee Glenn, sources said.

The other likely appointees, according to sources, are:

* Johnny Irizarry, a leading education advocate in the city's Latino community and director of La Casa Latina, the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Hispanic Excellence.

* Al Taubenberger, Nutter's Republican opponent for mayor in 2007 and president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

* Heidi Ramirez, director of the Urban Education Collaborative at Temple University, will be reappointed to her first full term. Rendell appointed her in March 2008 to complete an unexpired term.

The fifth member, Denise McGregor Armbrister, is serving a term that expires in 2012.

Leaving their unpaid posts are Sandra Dungee Glenn, who was appointed to the reform commission in January 2002 and elevated to chair by Rendell in August 2007, and Martin Bednarek, who was appointed in 2003.

The other commissioner had been James Gallagher, former president of Philadelphia University, who left when his term expired in January.

Rendell and Nutter will each fill two of the expired terms, but Rendell's picks will have to be confirmed by the state Senate.

Dungee Glenn said she wants to help make the transition smooth for Archie and the other new members, who are inheriting the tasks of negotiating contracts with five unions, closing an academic achievement gap and implementing a five-year strategic plan.

Dungee Glenn has said that she's hoping to remain long enough to vote on the more than $3 billion 2009-10 operating budget.

Archie, 64, practices in the areas of municipal finance, real estate and corporate law for nonprofit corporations, according to a biography provided by his law firm.

A graduate of Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law, Archie is a board member of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which oversees the city's finances.

Those familiar with the likely incoming commissioners said they are prepared for the job.

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr., who interned at Archie's former law firm, Atkinson & Archie, said: "He's not just a good lawyer. He is a mentor, a fraternity brother and a friend."

"His leadership is needed at this particular time and I believe he will provide great leadership," said state Rep. Dwight Evans, who has known Archie for 25 years.

Irizarry was named director of La Casa Latina in January 2007. In that role, he leads curricular, cultural and social programs for Penn students with a focus on Latino culture.

"I think he's a very exciting addition to the School Reform Commission," said attorney Pedro Ramos, a former city managing director and president of the former city school board. "He's smart, earnest, a good listener, devoted to young people, devoted to education and a very righteous dude."

Sources have said that Al Taubenberger, a graduate of Northeast High School, would be a good choice for the board because he is a well-known Republican who would give balance to the other appointees.

Taubenberger has said that he would be honored to serve, but last night claimed that he had not been selected. *