Facing Challenges, Phila. Board Assumes Higher Profile

By Ann Bradley

The Philadelphia school board is pursuing an ambitious reform agenda that, along with a recent court order, could bring wide-ranging changes to the nation's sixth-largest school district.

The board currently is facing three major challenges. It must hire a superintendent to replace Constance E. Clayton, who held the post for a decade; negotiate a new contract with the teachers' union; and respond to a court ruling that the district has treated its minority students unfairly.

In tackling these tasks, the board has assumed a higher profile than in the past, when it tended to take a back seat to...