St. Viator Parish School in Las Vegas hosted a team of accreditors from the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA). They visit every six years, and Principal Tracy Brunelle finds the process beneficial.
Fr. Richard Rinn and students prepare to process in at the beginning of Catholic Schools Week.
“We truly believe that continuing evaluation and improvement of the curriculum is essential to the development of an effective educational program that promotes a lifelong love of learning,” Mrs. Brunelle says. “The accreditation process is a collaborative, results-oriented school improvement process that serves as the underpinning of an effective school.”
St. Viator School is the only fully inclusive Catholic school in Nevada.
School officials are awaiting a Report of Findings from the committee, but this much they know: their visitors were impressed.
Right from the top, the committee described St. Viator Parish School as “an exceptionally strong educational ministry of St. Viator Parish.”
A wordle that students designed to describe their school.
“The mission, philosophy, core values, and SLEs (specialist leaders of education) are embodied in school,” they said, “and are evident to a high degree in the classrooms, on campus and within the parent community.”
Mrs. Brunelle summed it up this way: “The Visiting Committee witnessed a loving, nurturing, and caring community focused on faith formation, academic growth and the needs of students. Its members are confident the school has the resources and personnel to accomplish all of its future goals with implementation based upon strategic and ongoing action planning.”
“The results were very positive,” she added. “It was a highly rewarding experience.”