By Chris Wilson

Queen of Peace Catholic Academy (QPA) recently concluded a two-year effort to get the pre-K, elementary and middle school accredited by the Florida Catholic Conference. The school, which is located on SW 24th Ave. in Gainesville, is expecting to learn whether it is accredited early in 2008. In mid-November, QPA hosted a group of visitors who will make a recommendation about whether to accredit the school.

“Accreditation by the Florida Catholic Conference comes with a certain prestige for the school,”?says Sister Roberta Bailey, the chair of the visiting team. “It takes a lot of work to become accredited. All of the teachers have to be certified and all of the classrooms must be up to par.”

QPA administrators, staff and parents had spent the past 18 months preparing to host the visiting accreditation team.

The school had put together an incredibly thick binder of information about the school’s history, demographics and economic information. The book also included parent, student and staff surveys. Through this process, QPA administrators were able to analyze the school’s strengths and weaknesses to plan for the future. Programs that are being implemented at QPA to strengthen the school include bullying-prevention, cooperative learning and a host of foreign language programs, including Chinese, German and Spanish.

The binder and a power point presentation, which featured details about the school’s history, greeted the visiting team at a special opening ceremony that was held at the church.

The Singing Saints, QPA’s choir, sang both the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” in Chinese and also delighted the visitors with “Salve Regina.” The school’s band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The visitors and QPA students, parents and staff also prayed and enjoyed socializing after the formal ceremony.

“It’s hard to believe that only seven years have gone by and so much has been accomplished (at QPA),” says Patricia Bronsard, assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of St. Augustine.

QPA began with eight classrooms and opened for its first day of school on August 22, 2000. Through the years, the school has built traditions including a Young Authors Festival, Science Fair, Retreat Day and an annual Christmas Concert.

Middle school construction, including classrooms, a media center, athletic fields and a gymnasium, began at QPA during the 2004-05 school year and the middle school opened for the 2005-06 school year. New teachers, guidance counselors and a school nurse joined the staff. The school also soon had technology programs and science labs.

In addition to attending the opening ceremony, the visiting team spent more than two days at the school visiting classrooms, meeting with parents and students and gathering information about the true identity of the school.

“Accreditation is a measure of our students meeting all of the guidelines of the Diocese,” says Sister Nancy Elder, the principal of QPA.

Elder says the visiting team gave an extremely encouraging oral report prior to its departure and it will be the team’s recommendation that QPA receives accreditation. She expects to have a formal announcement from the Florida Catholic Conference in early 2008.

QPA is located at 10900 SW 24th Ave. For more information, call the school at 332-8808 or visit the school’s website at www.queenofpeaceacademy.org.