Some of you may wish to contact Dr. Flatt....Below are exerpts
from correspondence with Dr. Flatt....I hope you will find it interesting in answering questions of how HLA kept their certification
from SACS...Dr. Flatt is not the Director for the State of Georgia... she has nothing to do with the 'Director' who authorized the infamous four friends that apparently gave their recommendation for re-accreditation..In answering these questions, she was not aware the school in question was HLA....
She seems honest and forthright in her answers...
Dr. Judy Y. Flatt
Associate Executive Director
Council on Accreditation and School Improvement
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
1866 Southern Lane
Decatur, Georgia 30033 USA
Email:
www.sacscasi.org, and see for yourself (name and contact information). Suggestions may be granted if the team as a whole meet the criteria: chair of team MUST be on the SACS CASI approved list; all/most of the remaining members must be from SACS CASI accredited schools; there should be no family connections to school personnel; team membership should possess collectively a variety of skills, background, education expertise in order to have a well-rounded team.
Can a secondary private school pass accreditation if they never have had a biology or
chemistry lab on their premises? I was told private secondary schools cannot pass
accreditation.
All schools must provide laboratory experiences for the students enrolled in those classes. Most, if not all, times that would be done in a school laboratory..Does this mean, the private schools are required by SACS to have a LAB, to be accredited..? There seems to be some wiggle room here.. Is there?
All schools must provide laboratory experiences that are appropriate - I cannot imagine how that could be done completely outside the parameters of a lab. If there were no lab at a school, the huge burden would be on the school to demonstrate how it can CONSISTENTLY and COMPLETELY offer the appropriate laboratory experiences for ALL students enrolled in the classes.
Can a private school cross utilize their teachers, even thought they are not degreed in the fields they are cross utilized in? I was told private schools cannot cross utilize
their degreed teachers in fields to which they were not degreed..the school would not be accredited by SACS.
Teachers must be assigned according to their credentials. If deviation from that must follow the SACS CASI guidelines, including having a letter on our letterhead stationary that states that based on the appropriate evidence presented to the SACS CASI office for examination the teacher may teach in specified subjects/grades at specified school. (This would be similar to "alternative certification" for public schools in many states throughout the USA.) Hypothetically, suppose a school does cross utilize arbitrarily, without informing SACS, then what happens..? Does SACS keep documents that are presented from these private schools to your office, to cross utilize...?
Hypothetically, I can set the rules for students not to cheat in my classroom but that does not always prevent them from doing so. Likewise, we have our standards for instructional staff. We have checks and balances in place, including online reporting and quality assurance reviews, but could a school "break the 'rules' and get away with it"? Only in the short run of things. Most of our schools let us know when they have an "emergency" situation and what they are doing about it (e.g., teacher leaves in middle of school year, school takes in extra students because of hurricane displacement, etc.)
Is SACS in agreement that long time friends, colleagues, employees of any owner of a private school, not be sanctioned to review ' that' private school for re- accreditation?
I, myself, would think this would not be sanctioned by SACS, because of conflict of
interest...Am I correct?
Conflict of interest is avoided whenever it can be noted in advance. Should someone be asked to serve in that type of capacity, he/she should refuse and give the conflict of interest reason. Should it occur anyway, the remainder of the team members, under the careful guidance of the team leader would be able to maintain the primary focus of the team.What happens if all four of the team members are
long time friends, colleagues,employees...there is no team leader, the relationship beteen the parties was not disclosed...? Or the relationship were apparent and it did not matter...Would the Director if SACS sanction it?
I cannot imagine this happening. The State Director is in charge of appointing/approving the chair of the team.
I appreciate your time and look forward to your reply.
