By Marie Mulvenna

Two more Catholic elementary schools in the archdiocese have received the coveted accreditation of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Accreditation was awarded to St. Joseph’s School, Marietta, and to St. John’s School, Hapeville, at the 77th annual meeting of the organization held recently in New Orleans.

The Southern Association is a voluntary, non-profit, non-governmental regional accrediting organization, one of six in the nation. It is composed of public and private universities, colleges, occupational institutions, secondary and elementary schools and has more than 9,000 member and affiliate institutions.

The actual process of accreditation at the elementary school level is done by state elementary school committees consisting of volunteer educators representing elementary schools, higher education, and state departments of education whose main interest is school improvement. Their findings are reported to the Commission on Elementary Schools’ Delegate Assembly, the group which accredits institutions annually.

Father Daniel J. O’Connor, Secretary for Education for the archdiocese, said he was pleased at the addition of two more schools to the accredited roster, now bringing the total to six. Father said the Priests’ Senate had voted in 1966 that all elementary parochial schools work toward accreditation and that this accreditation is the current aim of all the 15 elementary schools within the archdiocese. He explained that all the schools are affiliated with the Southern Association and are presently striving to achieve the accreditation status.

In addition to the two new schools, the Southern Association has renewed the accreditation of four other elementary schools in the archdiocese. They are: Christ the King, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption and Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur. All four Catholic high schools in the archdiocese are fully accredited.

Attending the New Orleans session were Sister Madeline Roddenbery, director of elementary education for Atlanta; Sister Martha Mary Whalen, R.S.M., principal of Our Lady of the Assumption; Sister Susan Bradley, S.N.D., principal of St. Thomas More; Sister Zita Helene Stimson, C.S.J., principal of St. Joseph’s, Marietta.

Sister Zita Helene said the school was “very happy” with the accreditation and said much hard work by the faculty and her predecessors at St. Joseph’s, where she has been assigned just this past year, “really did pay off.” Sister added it was a difficult task to meet all the requirements and the final results were “much appreciated.” St. Joseph’s is staffed by four sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet order, plus 11 lay teachers, and has a student body of 409 in grades K through eight. The school, which opened in 1953, is also a member of the Georgia Association of Independent Schools.

St. John’s School in Hapeville is staffed by four Sisters of Mercy of Philadelphia, plus the principal, Sister Rita, and has six lay members on the faculty. The school, which opened in 1954, has an enrollment of 250 students.