State Board of Education Reinstates Adams School District 14 Accreditation

The State Board of Education had good news for Adams School District 14 on September 14.

He restored the district’s accreditation at the board meeting in Colorado Springs. The vote was 6 to 1, according to a district press release.

The board made its decision after hearing that the district was facing increasing challenges due to confusion over what loss of accreditation was encountering, according to a statement.

Education Commissioner Kathy Anthes recommends restoration. District officials told the board they are struggling to hire international bilingual teachers due to confusion over what losing accreditation means.

“A lot of people don’t know what accreditation means, and similarly they don’t know what loss of accreditation means,” Anthes said in a statement. “The district and local council have a long way to go to successfully implement their improvement plan. As they work with their partial manager and community to consider reorganization or other creative solutions, I don’t want any unintended consequences of losing accreditation to make this road any bumpier than it should be.

Education Commissioner Katy Anthes recommended that the board reinstate the district’s accreditation after hearing about the challenges the loss of accreditation seemed to create for the district. The district has reported difficulty hiring international bilingual teachers due to confusion over what losing accreditation means.

Board Chair Angelika Schroeder said the removal of accreditation was intended to underscore the board’s serious concerns about the district’s ability to make lasting improvements in student outcomes.

“The board never intended to make the district’s job of recruiting teachers and educating students any harder,” Schroeder said in the statement. “The State Board has decided to reinstate accreditation to help Adams 14 move forward and to encourage the District and local board to continue to work with the State Board and CDE staff on the improvement. But we still believe that the community reorganization review process must continue.

Superintendent Karla Loria called the decision “a great initiative for our students and our community.”

Adams 14 chief legal counsel Joe Salazar said that despite the ruling, the state board will proceed with the reorganization of the district.

“Little by little, the state board realizes that its brutal order has had unintended consequences for Adams’ 14 children,” he said in the district statement. “We are pleased with this recent development, and we hope it will build on a more positive relationship between the state board and Adams 14. We will oppose any effort to reorganize the district because we know it will not than harm the community.”

Adams 14 earned the lowest grades in the state accountability system in more than 10 years, according to a statement from the state Board of Education. The State Accountability Act requires the state board to lead actions to improve student performance after five years of low performance. The board revoked the district’s accreditation in May, approved the district’s partial superintendent, and led consideration of a reorganization through a community process.