LSHS undergoes accreditation

Each high school in the state of Washington must be accredited every six years in order to ensure the school is adequately preparing students for college. Beginning in the fall of the 2015-2016 school year, LSHS Associate Principal Lezlie Ivelia and LSHS teacher Suzanne Kerker have lead the school throughout the entire accreditation process thus far.

The accreditation process entails four stages. First, both quantitative and qualitative data are gathered from students, staff, and parents of students and used to identify issues within the school. Once the data is collected, it is then thoroughly analyzed. Upon finding trends in the data, an action plan is created. Finally, the accrediting board visits the school and the final draft of the school’s action plan is finalized and presented to a panel.

The accrediting board, which included previous LSHS Principal Bob Estes, visited LSHS on April 28. When the next step, which is presenting the school’s action plan to a panel in Olympia, is concluded, LSHS will again be officially accredited for the next six years.

“The staff did an impressive job of keeping a level head, delving into and identifying where we as a whole school could improve, and knowing that whatever we do, it needs to relate directly to better helping our students.  It was an easy process, because LSHS teachers are quick-witted, understand the big picture and where they fit in that picture and want to see our system be the best it can be,” said Suzanne Kerker.