The Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) school board and superintendent are among five school-board/superintendent teams nationwide chosen to participate in the Reform Governance in Action program, a two-year national training in school board policy best practices. 

AUSD Board President Walter Ruehlig stated via e-mail, We are committed to changing the landscape of our system from good, with some pockets of excellence, to great. If we are to provide the kids of Antioch the world-class schools' they deserve, we can't be wed to the status quo.

That means unflinching principal, teacher and student accountability.

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 a wide range of efficient and effective policies and processes that will improve board operations, strengthen management oversight and directly improve learning opportunities for students.

Just as teachers are increasingly relying on best practices in the classroom to reach students, more and more school boards nationwide are now also using best practices in policy to directly improve student achievement, said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which sponsors the program. We are proud to support these five school districts as they work to put in place approaches that keep their focus on student achievement.

Participation in the program is by invitation only. AUSD superintendent Deborah Sims and school board members Gary Agopian, Walter Ruehlig, Joyce Seelinger, Teri Lynn Shaw and Claire Smith were chosen to participate based on their demonstrated strong leadership and willingness to work collectively and rigorously to improve learning opportunities for students.

For more information, visit www.crss.org.