City schools receive re-accreditation

By Staff
Melissa Cason
The Russellville City School System recently received its accreditation renewal from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).
Curriculum Coordinator Susan Hall said the accreditation is not new for the school, but the process for re-accreditation was a new experience for the system.
"In the past, each school was reviewed for accreditation separately, but this time, we were given the opportunity to go district-wide," Hall said.
The new process began in September 2005 and wrapped up in February 2008. The new process meant that administrators, faculty and staff at all schools had to work together and be on the same level as one another which lead to a more meaningful evaluation process.
"It made everyone more appreciative of what everyone else was doing as well as understand what the other schools go through," Hall said.
During the review, a team from outside north Alabama spent time at the school and reviewed all the information presented to them including surveys completed by students, parents and community members.
When the evaluation was over, the system was not cited for anything but received several recommendations for improvement to better serve the students and the community.
"The important thing is that we were not cited for anything," Superintendent Dr. Wayne Ray said. "The recommendations are important because we want to improve for our students."
The recommendations were for the system to continue to work well with city officials, community leaders and businesses, to continue to serve a diverse demographic effectively, and to form an educational foundation to serve the school system and the community.
"Two of these were considered a commendation as well as a recommendation," Hall said. "They found that we were serving our diverse demographics well and that we worked well with city officials, leaders and businesses, and they wanted that to continue in our schools."
The system will have to work on the recommended items over the next two years and they will be evaluated at that time. The system will be up for re-accreditation in five years.