7 Utah schools face accreditation woes
Warnings ยป Some schools improved status, others declined.
By Lisa Schencker
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 01/02/2009 07:47:49 PM MST
Seven Utah public and private schools face serious accreditation problems, according to a report the Utah State Board of Education will discuss Thursday.
The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS) and the Utah State Accreditation Committee are recommending accreditation for the vast majority of Utah schools this year and want to place six on "advised" status, meaning they have problems that threaten their accreditation. They're recommending "warned" status for one other school, which is one step closer to losing accreditation than "advised."
High schools must be accredited in order for the credit they give students to be considered valid. Accreditation status is based on a number of factors including curriculum, counselor to student ratio and assessment.
In all, of 293 schools that applied for accreditation, 169 Utah schools were recommended for approval and 116 were recommended for approval with comments about areas to be improved. Many of the comments criticize schools for giving teachers excessive class loads.
Four schools that were placed on advised status last year -- Granger High, Hillcrest High, Provo High and Navajo Mountain High -- improved this year and will likely move back to regular "approved" or "approved with comment" status.
This year's report noted that Hillcrest and Provo made "good progress in reducing teacher loads."
Schools that will be recommended for advised status this year include: Rich High School; charter school Liberty Academy; the private
Meridian School; and residential programs
Renaissance Private Academy,
Triumph Youth Services and
Hightop Ranch School.
Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, a charter school in Lindon, is being recommended for "warned" status. Schools that receive two consecutive "warned" ratings face loss of accreditation.
Maeser was given "warned" status because it didn't submit an annual report by a certain date, according to the report. Maeser headmaster Justin Kennington said the school has worked to comply with all other accreditation standards and parents shouldn't be concerned.
"It just boiled down to a question of getting the report in given the fact we were still reshuffling our administrative team," Kennington said. "We're doing everything else that needs to be taken care of."
Rich High was given a recommended "advised" status because its report was received late. Attempts to reach the school's principal Friday were unsuccessful. Charter school Liberty Academy received "advised" status because its report was "incomplete and difficult to understand," according to the report.
Liberty Managing Director Rob Muhlestein, however, said the school got advised status because it had a ninth grade last year but doesn't have one now. Only schools with grades nine and up are required to become accredited through the NAAS.
Muhlestein said the school decided to apply for continued accreditation anyway because Liberty leaders might still add a ninth grade next school year. The school now includes grades K-8.
"It's pretty hard to be accredited for 9-12 when you have no students," Muhlestein said.
Meridian School, which is private, earned a recommended advised status because it has "
19 underqualified personnel," according to the NAAS report. Attempts to reach school officials Friday were unsuccessful, but the school's director of public relations said last year, when the school received a similar status, that all its K-6 teachers are state-licensed. Some teachers in the middle and upper grades, however, were not licensed but had advanced degrees or significant experience in the fields in which they taught, she said.
Meridian is also listed as a candidate member of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools, another accreditation organization.
Hightop Ranch School Director Justin Sorenson said he was surprised by his school's advised status recommendation and wasn't aware there were issues.
Hightop was placed on advised status because of an incomplete report, and for failing to submit a staff list and credit policy, according to the report.
Attempts to reach the Triumph Youth Services director of operations and
Renaissance Private Academy officials on Friday were unsuccessful. A state board of education committee will likely review and approve the recommendations at the board's next meeting on Thursday.
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