THE ELECTION OF Eric Mar as San Francisco school board president sets the stage for a dramatic change in the way the board deals with Superintendent Arlene Ackerman. For the first time since she took over the top job at the San Francisco schools four years ago, Ackerman is going to be facing a board that won't rubber-stamp her agenda and will demand a high level of accountability. There's a great opportunity here: the board can allow and encourage Ackerman to continue the tremendous reforms and positive changes she's made at the schools – but put an end to the secrecy and poor management practices that have marred her record and damaged the credibility of the entire school administration. It's up to both Mar and Ackerman to make that work – and so far, only Mar seems to be making the effort.

Ackerman has never taken well to criticism. She's routinely isolated and ignored board members who challenge her, and she's threatened on numerous occasions to leave the district if she lost her solid board majority. In fact, last year she insisted on, and won, not only a big raise and a contract extension but also a clause that allows her to quit anytime she feels her "relationship" with the board isn't working – and still take 18 months' pay as severance.

That's a terrible attitude, but it's reflective of how Ackerman operates. She is notoriously hostile to dissent and has forbidden teachers and staff from speaking to the press without first notifying her office. She and her board allies have opposed putting the district under the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance.

The irony is, Ackerman doesn't need to be so secretive and prickly; in many ways, she's done an excellent job. Test scores are improving across the district. Some troubled schools are getting turned around. More and more parents – even those who can afford private schools – are looking at the public schools as a strong and credible alternative for their kids. And she's made tremendous strides in cleaning up the rampant corruption her predecessor left behind.

In the best-case scenario, Mar and his allies could set policies that force Ackerman to become more open and accountable, while supporting her efforts at improving the schools. And Mar is perfectly situated to take the lead on developing a positive working relationship: during the campaign, he was far more conciliatory than some of Ackerman's other critics.

But Ackerman is sending strong signals that she doesn't want to work with the new majority. She skipped the new board's swearing-in ceremony, then didn't even show up for the first meeting (at which Mar was elected). She has directed her spokespeople to tell the news media that she's not doing any interviews. The rumor, as Tali Woodward reports on page 13, is that Ackerman is preparing to take her nice comfy golden parachute and bail.

That would be a slap in the face to the teachers, parents, students, and board members who have stood behind her over the past few years. But if that's what she's going to do, she should quit hiding and announce her intentions now, so the board can get on with the (immensely difficult) business of finding a qualified replacement. In the meantime, the board should proceed with making some reforms that are critical no matter who is in the top job – starting with approving the measure board member Sarah Lipson put forth in October overturning the gag order and requiring the district to conform to all of the relevant parts of the city's sunshine law.

The new board can and should work with Ackerman, and we'd rather she didn't leave – but she needs to accept reality, stop acting like a spoiled child, and get back to work.