Category Archives: Dual Accreditation

Pursuant to state law (O.C.G.A. § 20-3-519) in order to qualify for the HOPE Scholarship, a student must attend a school that is accredited by SACS (AdvancEd) or The Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC).
Since 2013 board reps have been feeling the heat from Terry Nall (Dunwoody City Councilman), parents and taxpayers to obtain a secondary accreditation from GAC.  A long time resident of South DeKalb told me it is a commonly held belief in her area that GAC/dual accreditation is somehow seen as a first step in a process to break off into smaller school districts.  In a contentious debate at the 07/01/2013 DeKalb Schools Board Meeting, the board approved an action item for DeKalb Schools to pursue dual accreditation.
State Of The System
Last week school superintendent Michael Thurmond gave the State Of The System speech where he read through this document and provided commentary. He discussed the following timeline for GAC accreditation.  DeKalb’s high schools could have dual accreditation as early as March 2015.
September 11, 2014 – Met with a GAC Consultant to discuss plans for moving forward with the accreditation process in our district.
September 24, 2014 – An internal group of district leaders consisting of senior team members and department heads met to brainstorm strategies for providing district documentation to our high schools in support of the accreditation process.
October-January – District leaders will assist our high schools with compiling evidence of standards compliance in preparation for GAC school visits from January 26-28, 2015.
March, 2015 – GAC Board of Commissioners meeting in Macon, at which time, the DeKalb accreditation application will be on the meeting agenda and DeKalb will receive the final decision on our high schools’ accreditation application.