Salem School Superintendent Alan Seibert has been picked to join a group of Virginia educators who will visit India next month. Here’s a release from the city of Salem, followed by one from the state superintendents’ association:

When Alan Seibert was growing up in Woodstown, New Jersey his Boy Scout troop taught him to be prepared for anything.
One of the merit badges he earned on the way to achieving Eagle Scout status in Troop 38 was in
“Personal Management.”
Now, Salem’s School Superintendent is taking the lessons learned in personal finance and applying them
9,000 miles from Salem.
Seibert, Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris and twelve other Virginia school division
superintendents will visit businesses and schools in India from November 28 to December 8 to learn
about how India’s economy is tied to Virginia’s and what they can do as education leaders to help
Virginia’s students become more globally competitive.
“I just truly think that technology will allow Salem’s children to compete, participate and succeed in the global economy from right here in the Roanoke Valley,” says Seibert.
“I just think it is incumbent on a school system to be looking for and then communicating those
opportunities to young people.” The trip is totally funded by forty different companies that have
offices in the Commonwealth.
The Salem Rotary Club and an anonymous Salem business leader stepped up and contributed the funds to
make the trip possibe for Seibert.
“By and large the school’s division investment is of our time and expertise,” says Seibert.
“The lodging and airfare and other travel costs are all covered by these donations from businesses.”
Seibert will visit a Rotary club in India, some of India’s schools and universities along with several
businesses, but the biggest highlight is a scheduled visit with the prime minister of India,
Manmohan Singh.
“He really holds Virginia in high regard, especially since Virginia, under Mark Warner’s administration, was the first state to bring a contingency over,” he says.
“Now we’re the first state bringing a group of educational leaders to India.” Seibert plans to
interact with students back in Salem while he is away from the central office with a daily blog that
will beapplicable to elementary, middle and high school students.
The trip begins on November 28th and continues through December 8th.

And here’s a separate release from the Virginia Association of School Superintendents:

SUPERINTENDENT DR. H. ALAN SEIBERT JOINS THIRTEEN EDUCATION LEADERS TO LEARN HOW INDIA’S ECONOMY EFFECTS VIRGINIA

Charlottesville, Virginia (October 24, 2008) – Dr. H. Alan Seibert, Superintendent of Salem City Schools, Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris and twelve other Virginia school division superintendents will visit businesses and schools in India from November 28 to December 8 to learn about how India’s economy is tied to Virginia’s and what they can do as education leaders to help Virginia’s students become more globally competitive.
The superintendents were selected to participate in a program that is totally funded by forty different companies with offices in Virginia, and organized by the University of Virginia and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS).
Their selection in the UVA-VASS India as a Global Partner Program was based on their commitment to attending sixteen hours of classes at UVA prior to travel, to making presentations in their schools and communities on what they learned, and to developing international partnerships with the schools they visit in India. With the current fiscal crisis, the classes at UVA have been timely in their focus on the interdependence of international economies and the skills that students will need to be competitive in the global market.
The education leaders have listened to presentations by business and education professors, Indian entrepreneurs who own technology businesses in Virginia, the President of the U.S. India Business Alliance and the Washington Bureau Chief of the London Financial Times and author of In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India. While in India, the Virginia delegation will travel to Mumbai (Bombay) and Delhi where they will visit several companies that conduct business in Virginia and the United States. They will also have the opportunity to visit and speak with faculty and students at the India Institute of Technology in Mumbai, one of several universities that are the Indian equivalent of MIT. In addition, they will tour several elementary and secondary schools to learn about education in India and how Indian students are being prepared for success in the global economy.

The education leaders selected for participation in the privately-funded UVA-VASS India as a Global Partner Program include:
* Al Armentrout, Superintendent of Schools, Wythe County
* Lois Berlin, Superintendent of Schools, Falls Church City
* Roger Collins, Superintendent of Schools, Nelson County
* Janet Crawley, Superintendent of Schools, Charles City County
* Jack Dale, Superintendent of Schools, Fairfax County
* Sharon Dodson, Superintendent of Schools, Henry County
* Elaine Fogliani, Superintendent of Schools, Westmoreland County
* David Gangel, Superintendent of Schools, Amelia County
* Melody Hackney, Superintendent of Schools, Charlotte County
* Tom Morris, Secretary of Education, Commonwealth of Virginia
* Fred Morton, Superintendent of Schools, Henrico County
* Alan Seibert, Superintendent of Schools, Salem City
* Patty Taylor, Superintendent of Schools, Frederick County
* Elizabeth Thomas, Superintendent of Schools, Grayson County