Mark Petersen, Superintendent of McDuffie County Schools, was recently notified by the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (CASI) of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) of receiving recognition as a school district that has all eligible elementary, middle and secondary schools accredited.
The McDuffie County School District is considered a "2005-2006 Super System for Quality Schools‚" and was congratulated for its accomplishments and continued success in improving educational opportunities for the young people it serves, according to a press release. For 2005-2006, there were 549 school districts in the 11-state SACS CASI region that qualified for this honor, with only 81 Georgia school districts qualifying.
"I think it goes back to 1981 that the Thomson school system first attained SACS accreditation; and we've been able to maintain that every year by meeting the SACS standards that they have," said Dr. Barry O'Neill, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for McDuffie County Schools.
Dr. O'Neill said McDuffie County will be applying for District Accreditation in April of 2007. Only quality systems are permitted to even apply for the newly developed "District Accreditation" status.
"Next year...the process we will use is called District Accreditation, which is a newer tool and process to use for accreditation...it's more involved across the board...the district will provide the leadership for the schools," Dr. O'Neill said.
The press release said the McDuffie County BOE is pleased to have been pre-approved to complete the Guided Self-Study next school year.
