SACS puts DeKalb County School District on probation

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (http://www.advanc-ed.org/) has determined that DCSD will be on probation until December 2013.

Here is the official announcement from DCSD:  Today members of the DeKalb County Board of Education, along with the Superintendent and Senior Team, met with AdvancED and Dr. Mark Elgart, President and CEO of AdvancED. During this meeting, Dr. Elgart reviewed the Special Review Team Report from the October 17-19, 2012 visit. As a result, the District is now being placed on Accredited-Probation until December 31, 2013. The District has received this information and will work collaboratively to review the findings and begin to address the required actions. The District still remains fully accredited and students’ academic status remains unchanged.
 

The full announcement from Dr. Mark Algart can be viewed here:
SACS puts DeKalb County School District on probation - CBS Atlanta 46

There are eleven items that must be resolved and are listed in the video announcement.  Seven of these were previously brought to the attention of DCSD and have not been sufficiently resolved.

The four new items are:
1) Need for comprehensive plan to unify the Board of Education
2) All actions and decisions of the Board of Education must be of the collective board and not individuals
3) Appropriate separation of the Board of Education from the administrative offices of DCSD
4) Fiscal responsibility within the financial means of the school

What is SACS accreditation?
http://www.advanc-ed.org/what-accreditation

What does it mean to be on probation?  
Here is the definition from the SACS website:

Probation – Failure to correct deficiencies or failure to make satisfactory progress toward compliance with
the Principles of Accreditation, whether or not the institution is already on Warning, may result in the institution being placed on Probation.  An institution may be placed on Probation for the same reasons as discussed above regarding Warning if the Commission’s Board of Trustees deems noncompliance with the Principles to be serious enough to merit invoking Probation whether or not the institution is or has been on Warning. Probation is a more serious sanction than Warning and is usually, but not necessarily, invoked as the last step before an institution is removed from membership.  Probation may be imposed upon initial institutional review, depending on the judgment of the Board regarding the seriousness of noncompliance or in the case of repeated violations recognized by the Board over a period of time.  An institution must be placed on Probation when it is continued in membership for Good Cause beyond the maximum two-year monitoring period (see section on “Good Cause” below).   The maximum consecutive time that an institution may be on Probation is two years.

What happens if they don't fix the issues?
DCSD will lose accreditation.

Why does accreditation matter?

Accreditation is designed to help educational institutions boost their ongoing performance efforts for the benefit of their students.  AdvancED insists on a relentless pursuit of excellence – for itself and for the institutions it accredits. This ethic of excellence ensures that institutions will find rich benefits from accreditation and that parents can confidently make informed decisions about their children’s education, knowing their child’s school is accredited. Accreditation matters because our students deserve the highest level of educational excellence possible.