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Save This Page| DEBORAH JEWELL-SHERMAN |
| Hometown: New York City Education: (all degrees in education): doctorate, Harvard University (1995); master's, Harvard (1992); master's, Kean College, Union, N.J. (1981); bachelor's, New York University (1976). Experience: Taught in New York City; Newark, N.J.; and, beginning in 1981, in Fairfax County. Taught elementary, middle, high school and adults. Also served as guidance counselor, assistant principal and principal in Fairfax. Became a principal in Hampton in 1989. 1992: Named special assistant to the superintendent in Virginia Beach. 1995: Named associate superintendent in Richmond. January 1997: Named acting superintendent after Patricia Conn was suspended for 45 days and later fired in March 1997. July 2002: Named superintendent of schools, by the Richmond School Board. Her contract set specific benchmarks for improving student achievement as measured by the Standards of Learning test scores. |
Richmond School Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman announced this afternoon that she won’t accept an extension of her contract.
There was no indication an extension had been offered on the contract, which runs through June 2009.
“I can say with both humility and with pride, I have accomplished and in many instances exceeded what I set out to achieve,” she said in a midday news conference at City Hall.
There was no mention of the scathing audit the school system received last week. In it, the city auditor cited evidence of systemic financial negligence.
School Board Chairman George P. Braxton said he had been aware for months of Jewell-Sherman’s desire to leave. He said her pending departure gives the system ample time to find a replacement.
Jewell-Sherman gave no indication how long she will stay. She adamantly denied being in the market for another job.
The announcement caught several board members off guard.
B. Keith West, who represents the 7th District, had planned to call for Jewell-Sherman’s resignation at tonight’s board meeting. He said the announcement doesn’t change his stance.
“Somebody has to be held responsible,” he said. “We’ve known about some of these things for a long time.”
