DCSS recommended for five-year accreditation renewal

ALBANY, Ga. — In what was likely his last School Board meeting, Dougherty County School Superintendent Joshua Murfree told the Board that an AdvancED External Review Committee had recommend a five-year reaccreditation for the District.

The AdvancED team (formerly known as SACS) spent three days reviewing the school system in September.

“This is an excellent report that helps our district outline direction for improvement for the future of our students,” Murfree, whose last day as superintendent is Dec. 18, said. “I am pleased that this team, although very aware of our biggest challenges and legitimate concerns, found evidence that our teachers and staff are focused on the academic success of our students.”

The purpose of the visit was to determine the extent to which observable evidence confirmed the system’s compliance with five standards of educational programming and district operations.

Reported in the findings are numerical scores for each standard and their specific indicators as determined by the seven-member review team.

On a four-point scale, learning environment sites received an average score of 2.586 with 2.9 being the highest and 1.9 the lowest ranking.

The process is intended to provide a road map to continuous improvement,” Murfree said. “The leaders in this district know how to put this information to work to build a better DCSS for our children.

Much of the board meeting was spent discussing the status of the district’s compliance with corrective action plans that were discussed in an unusual meeting with the Georgia’s Department of Education’s Audit Committee Last week in Atlanta.

At stake is nearly $20 million in federal programs funding in Race To The Top, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and Title I, Part A money.

The Board spent more than 90 minutes in executive session discussing personnel matters as a result of the Atlanta meeting.

DCSS Executive Finance Director Kenneth Dyer told the Board that the system had complied with all GaDOE demands and he said $3.8 million in unreimbursed federal expenditures should be released to the system sometime next month barring anything unforeseen.

“We don’t anticipate any cash flow problems with our funding,” Dyer said.