Christ the King School recently became the first elementary school of the archdiocese to become accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Walter B. Matthews, chairman of the Committee on Accreditation of the Georgia Elementary Committee, received the school into the association, at its annual convention at the Marriott Hotel in Atlanta this month.

The Archdiocesan Synod held in 1966 decreed that all elementary schools of the archdiocese become accredited by the Southern Association by 1972.

Christ the King School, although previously accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission, is the first school to meet the Synod’s decree, and did so a full year ahead of schedule.

Christ the King School was opened in 1937, and is presently staffed by eight Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, and eight lay teachers. This year 445 students are enrolled in grades 1-8. St. Mary Margaret O’Hara, GNSH, is the principal.

The program of accreditation for elementary schools of the archdiocese was inaugurated in 1966 by the Archdiocesan Synod, upon the recommendation of the education sub-committees of the Sisters’ Congress and Lay Congress. It was initiated in 1968 by the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which said that all schools would become affiliated with the association in September of that year.

Affiliation is the first of 10 steps leading to accreditation. Other steps include a self-study by the faculty and parents, an evaluation by a visiting committee chosen by the association, and then a final recommendation by the group’s state committee.

Four more elementary schools are expected to be accredited next fall, and nine others by the end of the 1972 school year. Two schools apparently will be unable to meet the official date, but will continue to be affiliated with the association until they meet all of its requirements. All three of the high schools of the archdiocese have been accredited since they began.

According to Father Daniel J. O’Connor, secretary of education for the archdiocese, accreditation is worth the increased operating costs that it demands.

He commented: “Accreditation is necessary to insure the quality of education in our schools. Cutting class size, hiring more highly qualified teachers, increasing library and audio-visual budgets, paying higher salaries and offering our faculties and staff necessary fringe benefits are bound to increase costs. But accreditation gives our parents the assurance that we are meeting professional standards drawn up by an independent educational association. Even by becoming affiliated we saw a dramatic increase in the quality of our schools’ academic programs over the past three years. I don’t believe that our parents would except anything less today. I don’t think they should.”

Msgr. John Stapleton is rector of the Cathedral and Mrs. Wilson Mitcham is chairman of the Board of Education.