Chairman Of School Board to Step Down

Alexandria School Board Chairman Claire M. Eberwein has announced that she will leave her post this month, a year before her term expires.

Eberwein, 52, who pushed to oust Rebecca L. Perry as superintendent, joined last week with a unanimous board to hire Perry's successor. Eberwein said she will be moving to Vienna, Austria, this summer because of her husband's career. Her term would have expired June 30, 2009.

Eberwein said yesterday she regrets that she will not be on the board when Morton Sherman takes over Alexandria's 10,600-student system in August. Sherman, 58, a superintendent in Tenafly, N.J., is respected among education leaders, she said.

"I think with a well-funded system like Alexandria and a leader like that, we should be able to reach the ranks of the top school systems in the nation," Eberwein said. "There is no reason not to."

The board's vice chairman, Charles H. Wilson, credited Eberwein with getting the panel to continue its search for a superintendent after a first attempt ended in April. The board had narrowed the search to three finalists when it decided to start over.

Perry left in January after the board ended her contract five months early. The board will elect a new School Board chairman July 1 from among its members, and a special election will be held over the summer to fill the vacant seat.