Two Oakland officials have been offered top jobs and top salaries to help turn around the District of Columbia's stricken public schools, sources told The Examiner.

Kimberly Statham, the state administrator for the Oakland Unified School District, has been hired as the chief academic officer, D.C. State Superintendent Deborah Gist told The Examiner.

"She's a real rock star," Gist said. "She's really, really strong on school turnaround. And that's something we're focused on."

Statham will be paid $170,000 per year, Gist said.

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Robert Bobb, president of the D.C. board of education and a former Oakland official, said Statham's hiring was "great news that we have someone on board with such a depth of experience."

Oakland special education coordinator Phyllis Harris has been offered $200,000 to serve as schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's special education "czar," two other education sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Harris hasn't accepted the position.

Harris is on vacation abroad and couldn't be reached for comment. Statham didn't respond to a call seeking comment.

Both women come from a school system in distress. The Oakland system is in state receivership and Statham, a former top academic official there, has been charged with monitoring that system for California. In July, she uncovered a $260,000 forgery scam in the school district.

Harris has had a rocky time in Oakland. Last winter, parents and special-ed teachers circulated a petition complaining that classes were too crowded and that staff psychologists and other workers were stretched too thin.

She is known to be close to Rhee. She worked with the new D.C. chancellor when Rhee was in charge of a nonprofit group that specialized in recruiting young teachers for poor school systems.

Oakland focuses on keeping its special education students within the public schools, something that has become a top priority for D.C.'s leadership.

D.C. spent $160 million in the 16 months between October 2005 and February 2007 to send some 2,200 children to outside schools for special education.

According to sources, Harris was actually Rhee's second choice. Rhee initially reached out to Santa Monica-Malibu special education executive Tim Walker, but the talks fizzled over salary and the amount of control he'd have over the system.

bmyers@dcexaminer.com

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com