The Alexandria City School Board has appointed Dr. Lois F. Berlin as interim superintendent for Alexandria City Public Schools while it conducts a nationwide search for a permanent superintendent.
Dr. Berlin served as superintendent of Falls Church City Public Schools from 2004 to 2011 and has a long professional history with ACPS.
As part of her 40-year career as an educator, she was associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction for ACPS, principal of George Mason Elementary School for six years and principal of Jefferson-Houston Elementary School for four years prior to it becoming a pre-K – 8 school. She also served as assistant principal at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology for four years.
Dr. Berlin is currently the executive director for the Washington Area School Study Council, a group of current and retired superintendents from Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland who meet to discuss topics relevant to their practice. She has also been an executive coach and trainer for principals in the Washington D.C. area.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Berlin join ACPS at this important time to help support the on-going rollout of the ACPS 2020 Strategic Plan while we continue our search for a new superintendent. Dr. Berlin brings 40 years of educational leadership experience to this role, as well as background knowledge of ACPS through her past administrative positions across the school division. We are confident she is the right person to lead ACPS at this time,” said School Board Chair Ramee Gentry.
Prior to working for ACPS, Dr. Berlin spent five years teaching middle school students at the Camphill Rudolf Steiner Schools for children with special needs near Aberdeen in Scotland. On her return to the United States, she became a teacher of students with special education needs with ACPS, before joining Cora Kelly School for Math Science and Technology as a magnet school coordinator and later assistant principal.
In 2002, Dr. Berlin was appointed associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction for ACPS and in 2004 she was appointed superintendent of the Falls Church City Public Schools, which she continued to lead for seven years.
Dr. Berlin has a master’s degree in early childhood/special education from George Washington University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Virginia Tech. She has received recognition from the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in Education, the Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leadership Award, the Phi Delta Kappa Key Award and the highest award presented by the Education Law Association, the McGhehey Award.
Dr. Berlin will join ACPS on July 24 to allow overlap time with Superintendent Alvin L. Crawley, who leaves to become a member of the faculty at George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development. She will officially begin in her role as interim superintendent on July 31.