Accreditation Team Visiting LCSD#1

A team charged with finding out whether local schools deserve state accreditation is currently visiting Laramie County School District #1.

Dr. Tracy Kinney, LCSD#1 Assistant Superintendent of Education, says the team includes at least 25 members from several states, including Kansas, Louisiana and Wyoming.

Kinney says the team has set the goal of visiting every single classroom in the district. She says if parents hear from their  kids about strangers visiting, they are likely talking about the accreditation team.

She says the team will look at five specific areas: a coherent course of study, stable governance, quality teachers, access to resources and a reliable system for assessing student learning.

Kinney says if the district were to fail to get accreditation "it would be a serious situation" requiring immediate action by the district. She says just one problem would be district students being admitted to colleges and universities, since those schools prefer students from accredited schools.

But Kinney says it's likely that the team would notify the district of any problems and allow the district time to address those issues, rather than flatly denying accreditation.