Vallas: New Orleans is a breeze

Reforming the hurricane-ravaged New Orleans school system has proven an easier task than running the schools in Philadelphia, former city schools chief executive Paul Vallas said here yesterday.

In his first appearance in the Philadelphia area since leaving in June, Vallas said that there are no union contracts tying his hands in New Orleans and that there is more funding than he had in Philadelphia. He has extended the school day to 4:30 p.m. and the school year into July.

He said those are the benefits of rebuilding from scratch the 26,000-student New Orleans Recovery School District - less than one-sixth the size of Philadelphia's 167,000-student system.

"If I can't turn this district around, believe me, it's because of my incompetency and not because of any obstacles," Vallas told about 70 educators, students and policy makers attending an education symposium at Cabrini College in Radnor.

Vallas, 54, left Philadelphia at odds with the School Reform Commission over a budget deficit and management style. He spent five years at the district's helm.

In an interview, he praised the selection of Arlene Ackerman - a former San Francisco and Washington superintendent - as Philadelphia's new schools CEO.

"She is someone who I as a superintendent would not hesitate to call for advice," Vallas said.

He also said some in the district have told him that state Budget Secretary Michael Masch, a former member of the School Reform Commission, is in line to return to the district in a leadership position. Gov. Rendell floated Masch's name for a possible new position of managing director.

With the departure of interim Chief Executive Officer Tom Brady to head the Providence, R.I., schools, Brady's former position of chief operating officer becomes open. No decisions have been made, said Heidi Gold, an SRC spokeswoman.

"Dr. Ackerman was just approved by the SRC. It really is premature to talk about this. She's working on assembling her own team," Gold said.

Barry Ciccocioppo, a spokesman for Rendell's office, said Masch would continue to work as budget secretary, which includes helping the state-run school district with its budget struggles.

Of Masch, Vallas said: "He'd be an excellent choice. He solidifies that link with the state."

Several former Philadelphia administrators have joined Vallas in New Orleans, including Gwen Morris, who used to head district discipline, and Nilsa Gonzalez, an academic executive.

In New Orleans, Vallas said, he has employed some lessons learned from Philadelphia. He has moved more quickly to modernize classrooms, something he wishes he had done in Philadelphia early on. And he has focused on quality teacher training.

He has tapped heavily into graduates of Teach for America, which takes college graduates with non-education degrees and puts them in classrooms for two years. Vallas said his 26-year-old human resources manager and some principals are graduates of the program, which also has supplied teachers to Philadelphia for years.

While there are critics of programs that make teachers of those without education degrees, Vallas said he has found the Teach for America workers ready to solve any problem: "There's no substitute for intelligence, energy, work ethic, content mastery, for optimism."

New Orleans is more deeply impoverished than Philadelphia and faces greater student transiency, he said. There are more students returning to school older than the average for their grades, and more students failing state tests. "I have freshmen reading at the third-grade level," he said. "So it's a real challenge."

But the job, he said, has proved less stressful. He's lost 30 pounds and no longer pulls his eyebrows out, he said, showing off the bushy crops. With his wife and sons living in Chicago, he can focus on the job 24-7, he said. He visits his family at least once a month, sometimes more often, he said.

Vallas said he has committed to staying in New Orleans for two years and then may consider another run for Illinois governor, a position he sought before coming to Philadelphia. "You never say never," he said.