Accreditation Update

As you hopefully know, several weeks ago we received a visit from the Florida Catholic Conference. The visit was successful and we will maintain our Accreditation status. It is always rewarding to have outsiders come and evaluate our school community--validating the awesome things we have been doing! Below is a recap in each of the four domains listing strengths and recommendations:

Domain A - Mission and Catholic Identity

As I would hope, the visiting team found ample evidence of our Catholic faith and Salesian spirit. From the exit report, "Upon entering the school building, one immediately feels the presence of God." That is something I hope translates into the actions of our school community even when they leave the campus.

One recommendation was for school leadership to provide additional opportunities for parents to participate in service activities. While we know the success of our different food drives cannot be done without parental service, we want to increase the opportunity for parents to participate in authentic service, just as we do for our students. We have created a new position with the PTC to address this need and look forward to providing those opportunities next school year.

Domain B - Governance and Leadership

As a parish school, the committee evaluates how well the leadership team (school administration, Fr. Len, and the School Advisory Board) guides Christ the King towards fulfilling our mission. According to the visiting team, the leadership team "...articulates a clear mission and vision for the school and engages the school community to ensure a school culture that embodies the mission and vision." The team also noted that the "...mission and vision are continuously forming the foundation for all decisions."

The team did recommend that the school develop a five-year strategic plan for maintaining enrollment, personnel, budget, and operation reserves. It was from the last strategic plan that the decision for the new school was made. We will begin our latest planning sessions this summer. If you are interested in serving on that committee, please let me know. Who knows what will come out of this planning session...a gym?

Domain C - Academic Excellence

One of the distinctions of Christ the King Catholic School is that we offer an education that promotes academic excellence as well as spiritual enrichment. The visiting team saw this and commended "...the pastor, administration, faculty and staff to their dedication to the Catholic education of their students." It was also clear that "Faith, love and care are evident in all that they do."

Some of the recommendations included additional integration of technology to core classroom instruction. In addition to what students are learning in computer class, classroom teachers should incorporate more activities to build 21st century learning skills. This would also include more use of small group differentiated instruction.

We are taking steps to address these needs in our creation of the Makerspace and Elementary STEM lab over the summer. The main goal for the teachers of these classes is to incorporate what is being taught in the math and science classes and help students put it to use to create solutions to real-world problems. In addition, we will have additional school-wide professional development on differentiated instruction to help teachers provide the appropriate level of challenge to all students in their classes.

Domain D - Operational Vitality

In this area, the site team evaluates the practices of our admissions and advancement department. As you would expect, they could not stop singing the praises of our team. Here are just some of their comments: "Their research and practices are outstanding." and "We feel the office is doing a tremendous job researching, implementing and evaluating best practices."

The only recommendation by the site team was to create and publish a formal enrollment plan and calendar. This would be beneficial for succession in those positions--not that I am letting Mrs. Welsh or Ms. Campbell go anywhere!

Overall, I was pleased with the results of our Accreditation visit and thankful for the feedback. I am excited to create a strategic plan that will help guide Christ the King over the next five years, and I am even more excited to be the one leading the school into that future.