By LEONARD GRAY

Managing Editor

LULING – The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools met with St. Charles Parish schools and after a meeting Sunday, officially awarded the school district the review team’s recommendation to award accreditation.

“This accreditation validates that St. Charles Parish Schools is a quality school system,” Superintendent Dr. Rodney Lafon commented after the announcement.

“Our success is the result of the passion and dedication demonstrated by all employees, committed to placing the education of our students as the top priority.”

Although more than 500 Louisiana schools have earned the distinction of district-wide SACS (Southern Association of College and Schools) Regional Accreditation, there isn’t a school system in the state that has reached national accreditation.

The St. Charles school system has now changed that.

Toward that goal, theyinvited an eight-member team from SACS to St. Charles Parish for a four-day visit – a necessary step in the evaluation process.

Multiple interviews, starting with the superintendent, took place on Monday. Then the team visited the schools on Tuesday, she added.

“We don’t look at ourselves as individual schools, we look at ourselves as a school ‘system’ – all working together as a team, speaking the same language,” school district spokesperson Rochelle Cancienne said. She added that the schools felt very confident that they would get the OK from the SACS Team.

Cancienne noted that the St. Tammany Parish School System is also in the same process of accreditation at this time. A different SACS Team is visiting their administration and schools.