Antioch in ‘Reform Governance in Action’ program  

The governance team of the Antioch Unified School District will spend the next two years honing its leadership skills at training seminars provided by the nonprofit Center for the Reform of School Systems and largely paid for by the Eli and Edyth Broad Foundation.

Antioch’s trustees and superintendent were among five teams—and the only one from California—chosen by the Broad Foundation to participate in the program, called “Reform Governance in Action,” training organizers said in a statement.

“Modeled after the Harvard Kennedy School’s training for new mayors and new members of Congress, Reform Governance in Action specifically trains school board-superintendent teams to establish effective policies and processes that will improve board operations, strengthen management oversight and directly improve learning opportunities for students,” organizers said.

School board President Walter Ruehlig, Vice President Claire Smith and members Gary Agopian, Joyce Seelinger and Teri Lynn Shaw—along with Superintendent Deborah Sims—began their training in late July. They joined teams from New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

The Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation will pay 80 percent of the $320,000 cost of the training, which will bring the five teams together in four cities around the country to watch how model school boards there conduct business. A consultant will also come to Antioch for 10 1½-day sessions to guide its governance team in putting its training experience into practice in the 21,000-student district.