ALTENBURG SCHOOL EYES ACCREDITATION BY NEXT FALL

ALTENBURG -- Tiny Altenburg Public School plans to meet Missouri's new guidelines for classification by next fall.

The district was among nine Missouri school districts rated "unclassified" by the State Board of Education last week, and the clock is ticking for the school district.

Under a new state law, students living in the district now have the option of attending a district that meets state accreditation standards in Perry County or an adjoining county. The Altenburg district is required to pay tuition and transportation costs for any student deciding to change schools.

Beginning with the current school year, districts that are unclassified or unaccredited for two consecutive years may be forced to close and their students will be assigned to other districts by the State Board of Education.

"The clock started to run Aug. 28," said Carl Sitze, director of classification and accreditation of schools. "The fact is, if Altenburg does not become classified by June 30, 1995, the school will close and the state board will have the authority to reassign students."

"We've got until 1995 to reach accreditation or the school district would be forced to close," said Superintendent Richard Hoffman. "We should be able to meet those qualifications by next August."

In March the state will evaluate Altenburg under a new system for classifying schools. The old system looked at quantitative measures, like how many library books a school has. The new system also takes things like test scores and student achievement into consideration.

Currently, the finishing touches are being put on a new building that will help the school meet some classification requirements.

Hoffman said the new building should be open before the Christmas holiday.

Sitze said major items that Altenburg must correct for accreditation relate to certification of staff. The principal and a couple of teachers are not properly certificated for their assignments. The state issues certifications for different speciality areas, including administration.

The school district has grouped three grade levels together in one class. The state requires that no more than two grades be assigned to a single teacher.

Also, teachers do not have the required planning time and the school does not have an adequate library.

Hoffman said the new building will allow him to divide the three-grade class. Also, some new staff members will be hired and other duties rearranged.

"We really don't anticipate any problems," he said.

Altenburg will come out a winner in terms of increased state funding under the new state law. But Hoffman said implementation of the increased funding takes three years to complete. The changes for accreditation must be finished in two years.

Hoffman said he doubts parents will bail out of the school district for this one year. "I haven't had anyone inquire about leaving," he said.

"The bottom line is, how well do our students perform?" Hoffman said. "Our test scores on the MMAT and other tests are really strong.

"As long as our public sees us as very viable and anticipating that next year we will be accredited, I don't thing it will be a problem."

The nine school districts are among the first to be evaluated by state education officials since the Outstanding Schools Act (Senate Bill 380) was enacted last May by the General Assembly. All the districts have been "unclassified" for several years.

Previously there was no penalty or sanction against schools districts that were unaccredited.