The Wake County Public School System will retain its full accreditation while having until November 2011 to address required actions received from AdvancED, the accreditation division of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The results of a review by the accreditation agency were presented this morning to Wake County Board of Education Chair Ron Margiotta, Vice Chair Debra Goldman, and Superintendent Tony Tata.
"I welcome this input as I continue my listening tour of Wake County. We are already attacking many of the recommendations and intend to aggressively implement all of them," Tata said.
Being placed on "accredited warned" status, the school system will work over the next eight months to implement the action steps. In November, a review team will conduct another visit to monitor progress.
The seven action steps required by AdvancED are:
• Create and implement a strategic plan to guide the future work of the school system.
• Analyze and revise the "node" system of assigning students to schools to ensure objectivity, transparency and consistency.
• Establish and implement an agenda setting process to ensure that every member of the Board of Education and key system leadership are well-prepared for each Board meeting.
•Define in policy the purpose and role of adopting resolutions as a governance practice.
• Provide ongoing cohesive and consistent training to all members of the Board of Education regarding their roles n, responsibilities and strategic direction of the school system.
• Institute a policy review, revision, and adoption process that support related board policy development.
• Ensure that policies and procedures guiding the work of the system are in alignment and support of the newly formed mission, vision and core beliefs.
In February, following a two-day visit by a review team, Superintendent Tata requested that the findings of the report be expedited, so he could incorporate them into his work plan for his first 90 days as superintendent.
On March 8, 2011, Tata announced the formation of a Student Assignment Task Force to develop the next long-range student assignment plan. The plan is expected to be presented to the Board of Education in the late spring.
"I think AdvancED has provided us a thorough analysis that we can incorporate into the strategic planning that is already underway on the next student assignment plan," Tata said. "As a learning organization this input will help us shape the thinking of the task force as well as improve how we perform as a district."
"We are pleased that our accreditation remains intact and we have not been placed on probation," said Margiotta. "We had a constructive meeting with AdvancED officials this morning and while we may disagree with certain opinions expressed in the report, especially unfair characterizations of individual board members' motives, many of the actions which they recommended are currently under way," he said.