LRP Media Group, parent company of District Administration, has acquired Atlantic Research Partners’ National Superintendents Academy.
The first cohort of the superintendent training program will launch in February 2019, with subsequent academies to be announced later, says Robert Avossa, senior vice president and publisher, education products, for LRP.
“We are excited to launch DA’s National Superintendents Academy” says Avossa, a former superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools in Florida.
“The curriculum has been refined and updated regularly for the past 20 years, and is largely responsible for the success of many of our nation’s most admired and effective school leaders.”
The academy provides a practical, hands-on supplement to traditional superintendent training and certification programs, says Pete Gorman, managing director of the academy and former superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.
“There is such a shortage of individuals who want to go into the superintendency that I believe we all carry the burden of needing to make sure that we have a ready group of individuals to take on the complexities and challenges of the superintendency” says Gorman.
Designed for and led by school superintendents, the academy focuses on the application of academic content—from the creation of a district entry plan to the nuances of working with a school board.
The program also dedicates six modules to “getting the job” including intensive coaching and support on how to research the right district; submitting applications, cover letters and resumes; practicing interviews; and understanding contracts.
The academy convenes three-day sessions each month over the course of three months, and is open to early career superintendents, top-level administrators and assistant superintendents.
Coursework, materials and meals cost $4,000, with District Administration Leadership Institute members receiving a $500 discount.
“Some superintendents might say, ‘Why would I want to do a program that’s going to train someone who’s going to leave me?'” says Gorman.
“In addition to training the next generation of leaders, the payoff for sending your people to a program like this is that the better they understand the work of a superintendent, the better they are in their ability to support the work right at that moment as it’s currently progressing.”
