Print Issue: May 16, 2002

Our Lady Of Victory Receives Initial SACS Accreditation

Principal Sallie McQuaid at Our Lady of Victory School, Tyrone, is all smiles with first-graders Will Rheingrover, left, and Tori Kinamon after learning the school has received its initial accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. (Photo by Mary O'Conner)

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

TYRONE - Our Lady of Victory School, one of three archdiocesan elementary schools to open in 1999, has received its initial accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The process takes a minimum of 18 months so the accomplishment by 2002 brings glows to the faces of the staff, students, faculty and parents. OLV has a student body of about 300 students in pre-K through eighth grade.

"When I first came on board I felt (seeking the accreditation) would give direction for the school. We immediately began on it and established how we wanted to go about it," said Sallie McQuaid, principal.

There are 13 standards and 140 objectives that have to be met in order for a school to receive the initial accreditation.

A final step is a school visit by a SACS team of educators, which took place in mid-April. During the day, the team visited every area of the school, met with parents and grandparents and with interested community members, including the Home and School Association president, ate lunch with the students and talked with them, and visited classrooms.

The team informed McQuaid at the end of the visit that the school had met all the standards. Formal accreditation is expected to come about at the fall meeting of SACS.

In a six-page report of commendations and recommendations, the team said "the students were neat, they were happy, they were respectful, they were enthusiastic, they were friendly and very supportive of their school," McQuaid said.

The report commended the school's media center, which she said reflects on the technology that was built into the new schools by the archdiocese and the way the school was laid out. The media center opens onto a computer lab. There are also computers in the school library.

"I believe the archdiocese went the extra mile in equipping the schools," she said. "We have many, many computers and we are incorporating them into learning, thanks to the archdiocese who equipped us. It provides the students with the very best . . . It's exciting."

Judith Mucheck, superintendent of Catholic schools, said the initial accreditation "signifies the transition from a new school to an established school" and "validates all of the efforts which go into Our Lady of Victory on a daily basis."

Most of the work of the accreditation process is a self-study done by the school community to understand the characteristics of the students, the school and the community.

"You keep logs, you take surveys. You write everything down and put it in a binder," McQuaid said. "You're defining your student population."

Once that is done, the self-study assesses instructional and organizational effectiveness, establishes goals for student learning, and develops a meaningful action plan to improve student performance. The visiting team evaluates the self-study and action plan.

The entire process is designed "to improve planning, to improve instruction, to improve curriculum, to improve collaboration in every area of teaching," McQuaid said.

"OLV is so proud to have worked through the 18 months of accreditation and come through with flying colors. It is an example of the solid commitment of the administration, faculty, staff, students and wonderful OLV families."

Fifth-grade teacher Wayne Gregory, who served on a steering committee for the self-study, said he gained a key insight about "being able to see things through other people's eyes," especially parents, regarding events at school. He came "to understand how key it was to maintain really, really clear lines of communication" between the families and the school and between the feeder parishes and the school.

"It's definitely a rigorous process and it is worthwhile," he said of the accreditation. "The chief benefit, we're just now beginning to reap. Now we have a vision and some objective processes and goals to work toward for the improvement of the school. We are a lot more focused."

Rosalie Mullin, the grandmother of a third-grader, said she told the committee how pleased she and her husband have been with the school.

"We've been here since year one. We donate a lot of time here," said Mullin, who brings her granddaughter from Coweta County to OLV. "I think this is absolutely wonderful. The school deserves that (accreditation). We've had a great three years here."

McQuaid, who came out of retirement to become principal of OLV, will now retire June 30. A search committee has chosen her successor, Craig Mousseau. Mousseau has been the director of the upper school at the Academy at the Lakes Day School in Land O'Lakes, Fla. He will start July 1.

"I never dreamed I would come back and do an initial accreditation with a new school," McQuaid said, adding that she is now looking forward to spending time with her grown children who live in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Albuquerque, N.M.