Letters: What's really going on with the Audenried High School transformation in Philadelphia?

RE THE OP-ED

"Who Says the New Audenried Needs to be 'Fixed'?":

If the figures are correct, there's something going on here. Has there been a deal between Ms. Ackerman and the organization headed by Mr. Gamble to run Audenried as a Renaissance School?

I trust someone will sit down with Hope Moffett and all the dedicated teachers at Audenried to learn what is really happening before an improving school is sabotaged. Parents and students should also be included in these talks.

I hope the teachers don't lose their jobs for standing up for their students.

Anna Marie H. Forte, Philadelphia

What does Arlene Ackerman do to warrant a $348,000 a year salary, plus a $100,000 bonus, with an automatic 3 percent raise every September? Isn't this way more than the president of the United States makes in a year?

Diane McDowell, Philadelphia

I was pleased to see that Ms. Ackerman offered to defer her bonus - but if she's really serious, she wouldn't take the bonus at all.

If the district and Ms. Ackerman were doing what they were supposed to, and if she wasn't so overpaid, maybe our situation would be better, not solved, but better. I assure you, her reward would be greater than just making the Philadelphia School District a better place.

I agree with Helen Gym (forgo this bonus), and Mr. Cruz (send her back to Chicago unless she shows us a real change).

K. Rhoads, Philadelphia

nolead begins

Re Solomon Jones' recent column on the protests in Egypt:

As a Vietnam vet, I did participate in fierce battles fighting for somebody's democratic rights. I have participated in peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests in the streets of America.

But not once while watching the Egyptians on the news did it ever remind me of any incident that's happened recently here in America.

Why would he try to compare Egyptian civil rights with a bombing at a black church in Birmingham, Ala.? I understand it's Black History Month, but some writers should just stick to their "feel-good" articles.

Robert A. Dott, Philadelphia