May 14, 2005 -The official notice of re-accreditation to one St. Thomas high school has anticipation rising at a second island school. The principal of the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School says she learned that her school has also won back its accreditation status from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, but she is still awaiting official notification.
On Friday Eudora Kean High Principal Sharon McCollum-Rogers explained she received word of the re-accreditation second hand, when newspaper reporters told her they picked up the status change from an Internet Web site run by Middle States.
"Well, it's official, so to speak. What I'm waiting on is for the official certificate to arrive," she said.
Earlier this week the principal of the Charlotte Amalie High School, Jeanette Smith-Barry, appeared in a newspaper photo holding up the certificate from Middle States, declaring her school had successfully retrieved its accreditation status.
Charlotte Amalie had its site inspection in October, she said. Kean followed in November, "So there would be a delay in receiving the certificate," Rogers said.
Accreditation is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which also recognizes Middle States as the agency with authority to confer that status on public and private schools.
After applying for candidacy, school officials declare goals and implement the plan as declared to Middle States. Several months later an accreditation team conducts a site inspection, which tests whether school officials are meeting the goals they have set for themselves.
Rogers was assigned as the principal of Eudora Kean High after the school lost its accreditation under principal Lydia Lettsome. On Friday, Rogers expressed satisfaction. "This has been an incredible experience for the school," she said.
But as is the case with Charlotte Amalie, Rogers said the school is expecting to receive a limited, three-year reaccredidation, instead of the usual seven years. She said continued improvements would have to be shown by the time site inspectors return to the campus before 2008.
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