Rochester City School District
Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, July 29, 2019
Editor Contact:
Carlos Garcia
585.262.8351 (o)
585.435.1296 (m)
Superintendent and Board Members to Attend Leadership Program at Harvard Business School
First-of-its Kind Professional Development Program
(July 29, 2019) Rochester City School District Superintendent Terry Dade, School Board President Van White, School Board Vice President Cynthia Elliott, and Commissioner Natalie Sheppard will travel to Harvard Business School in Boston to participate in a professional development program focused on strong and effective school board governance.

The Accelerating Board Capacity (ABC) Institute has been custom-designed for the Council of the Great City Schools by a team of Harvard University faculty members and will run July 28-31. The Rochester City School District is one of 75 urban school districts that are members of the Council.

School leaders in 18 big-city school systems from across the country will receive faculty instruction from professors from Harvard Business School, as well as the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The program will include several classroom sessions each day using the Harvard Business School case study method, along with smaller-group sessions and discussions on issues such as the Roles and Responsibilities of the School Board and Incorporating Family and Community Voice in Decision Making.

The Council collaborated with Harvard Business School to create the first-of-its-kind professional development program designed to leave participants with tangible tools for improved governance in their respective school districts and lead to increased student achievement outcomes and improved relations between the school board and the superintendent.

Superintendent Terry Dade said, "I am committed to changing the narrative in the Rochester City School District. This trip to Harvard is a wonderful opportunity to illustrate that we will operate as one family. As family members, we will support one another to make sure our students get what they need."

At the end of the program, participants will receive a certificate of completion from Harvard Business School and the Council. 

Superintendent and RCSD Staff Attend Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard

(July 15, 2019) Superintendent Dade and members of his executive cabinet team met at Harvard the week of July 8 - 12 as part of the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP). This program will help the District refine its theory of action, and also sharpen its skills and craft when it comes to educating students, parents, teachers, and staff.

The Rochester City School District was accepted into the PELP program in 2018. Over the next two years, the District will be participating in this project, and each summer will be adding to the team to include parents, teachers, and students. In fact, this year's team representing the District was entirely different from the one that represented the District in 2018.
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