Two school-district press aides laid off in personnel reorg

In a swift move that seemed to surprise the people involved, school district officials gave the pink slip to two top press aides, adding to the growing list of personnel changes under Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's administration.

Vincent Thompson and Felecia Ward, who worked in the district's Office of Communications, were laid off - effective immediately - on Friday, Thompson said when reached by phone last night.

"As an at-will employee, I've always understood that changes could happen and I worked at the pleasure of my boss," Thompson said.

Ward could not be reached.

District spokeswoman EvelynSample-Oates said that Thompson and Ward were victims of the district's plan to reorganize its public relations arm to be more in tune with Ackerman's school reform plan.

"It's not because of a cause or poor ethic or anything they did wrong," she said. "They were victims of reorganization."

She said she's not aware of lay-offs in any other district departments.

These are just the latest changes under the Ackerman administration.

In October, the district's chief academic officer, Maria Pitre-Martin, left the district after accepting a job with the North Carolina State Department of Education.

Later that month, Tomas Hanna, who used to be the district's school operations officer, was named chief of staff, the third person to hold the position under the current superintendent, which prompted a series of other changes among the district's top brass.

This was Thompson's second stint with the school after working under then-Superintendent Paul Vallas from 2003 to '06.

He left that year to serve as chief of staff of then At-Large Councilman Juan Ramos. Before then, he held public-relations positions with former District Attorney Lynne Abraham and the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Last night Thompson, 43, a Philadelphia native whose wife, Pamela, is expecting their third child in March, had nothing but good things to say about his former employer.

"I loved working at the district. I'm a professional and I believe in doing a good job and leaving a job for the next person," he said, before adding that he now has joined the roster of 16 million unemployed Americans looking for jobs.