School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Arlene Ackerman stepped down today. The school district statement is embedded below.

Ackerman took over as superintendent of the city’s public schools in June 2008 and her contract was due to run through 2014. Ackerman’s contract will be bought out for $905,000. Some $500,000 of that money will come from the School District and $405,000 will come from anonymous private contributions, according to a District statement.

Graham reports that a national search will be conducted for a replacement. More details about Ackerman’s resignation and the financial terms under which she left will likely be disclosed at the Aug. 24 meeting of the School Reform Commission.

Residents are still trying to sort what happened at the corner of 46th and Walnut last night at 9 p.m. when as many as 20 police cars responded to a vehicle stop. Witnesses allege that police used excessive force on a 21-year-old man who they say was partially blind. That man and two police officers were hospitalized, according to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Daily News reports that people began throwing bottles and flower pots at police from nearby windows and balconies. One bottle reportedly struck a police officer in the eye.

Both the police officers and Holloway were reported to be in stable condition this morning.

We are trying to get more information on this story and we will post it when we do.

Below is a video recorded on a mobile phone. The visuals are unclear, but the audio is clear and includes expletives.

UPDATE (Aug 16) : The boy was found sleeping inside a school bus around 3:30 a.m. He was later reunited with his parents. Police believe he had wandered onto the bus from the playground when no one was looking.

Police say a 5-year-old boy went missing this afternoon from a camp at Malcolm X Park (52nd and Pine Streets). One witness told police that he saw a man dragging the boy down 53rd Street at about 5:30 p.m., ABC6 is reporting.

The boy, Karyim Muhammad, was last seen wearing a grey sweatshirt, dark jeans and black shoes. Police are checking surveillance videotape from the area.

Anyone with information on Karyim should contact Southwest Detectives at 215-686-3184 or call 9-1-1.

Philadelphia’s new weekend curfew didn’t help a West Philly man who was attacked by a group of teenagers early Saturday morning near 47th and Walnut. Luckily, plainclothes police were able to help, catching all four teens before they could injure the man badly.

Police said four youths ages 14-15 ran up behind the man at about 12:40 a.m. and punched him. When he fell to the ground they surrounded him and demanded his belongings. Plainclothes officers from the University City substation were on the scene quickly and chased the youths down. All four face charges of attempted robbery, simple assault, wreckless endangerment and criminal conspiracy.

The officers had noticed the group of teens walking around the area earlier in the evening. But the group stayed clear of the West Philly section of the new curfew zone, which runs from 38th to 43rd, Market to Baltimore. The City implemented the 9 p.m. curfew in Center City and West Philly for youths under 18 following several beatings in Center City last month.

The line to register a student in grades 1 through 8 at the Penn Alexander School began at 7:30 a.m. today, more than 24 hours before registration begins.

As of 9 p.m. this evening about 20 people had set up camping chairs along the school’s fence along Locust Street between 42nd and 43rd. A clipboard hung from the fence near the school entrance. Several parents, who will spend the night waiting in line in hopes of getting a spot in the school’s crowded lower grades, had been in line by 5 p.m.

“I feel like an idiot,” said one parent, a Penn professor who recently returned from sabbatical leave to realize he had to re-register his 3rd and 5th graders at the school. “I can’t speak for everyone here, but personally I feel like an idiot.”

Several parents in the line faulted the school for its reluctance to address the overcrowding problem. Suggestions have ranged from starting a lottery for the lower grades to expanding the school’s capacity by erecting temporary trailers.

Parents have often waited in line to register children at the school’s kindergarten, but the line to register students in grade school is a new phenomenon brought on by word that the school would for the first time institute a cap on lower grade levels.

Registration is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow. School officials have already said that many who hope to register for the lower grades, particularly 1-3, will likely be turned away.
 

The tiny circus came to Clark Park this morning. Performers from the movement arts group Tangle strung a trapeze, hoop and long pieces of fabric called “silks” from a large tree between the bowl and playground and entertained dozens of people young and old.

The West Philly Tool Library supplied the ladder, a key piece of equipment when you do acrobatics while hanging from a tree.

You may have seen the tiny circus in this spot before. This time the performers were promoting their upcoming show “Ampersand” at Philly Fringe on Sept. 8-9 at Philadelphia Soundstages at 1600 N. 5th St. Ampersand combines “trapeze aerial rope and partner acrobatics with power narratives of belonging.”

Their Fringe shows are:

• Sept. 8 – 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 9 – 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Check out the slideshow below for more photos.