Officials say the three schools are unlikely to lose accreditation Three Utah County schools have been warned of accreditation problems, but officials say there is no danger of any schools losing accreditation.

In a recent report, the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools placed Liberty Academy in Salem and Meridian School in Orem on "advised" status, while the Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy was given a "warned" status."

In Utah, schools offering grades 9-12 must be accredited in order for students to graduate, but none of the schools are likely to lose accreditation, said Georgia Loutensock, state accreditation specialist with the Utah Office of Education.

"They are still accredited, but their rating with Northwest is 'advised,' " she said.

Loutensock said the schools know what problems led to the rating and are working to resolve them.

There are schools with the same rating every year, but Loutensock said this year is an anomaly in that most of the schools did nothing wrong.

At Maeser, the rating was received because their paperwork was not turned in on time, a result of a teacher doing double duty as an administrator during a transition period. Loutensock said the administrator was understandably swamped with necessary work and the paperwork for the ratings was not turned in by the deadline. Officials discussed whether to keep the school on a "warned" status under the circumstances, but had few options.

"For us, we didn't want to, but you're stuck between the rock and the hard place, and you've got to follow the rules," Loutensock said.

Meridian School received the poor rating because of licensing problems with some teachers, but Loutensock said NAAS has been aware of the issue and is working with the school.

Although most teachers are licensed with the state, others are professors at local universities and teaching a few hours at the school.

"Their teachers are not certified with the state Office of Education, though they are qualified," she said.

The school has been working to gain accreditation with the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools, which does not require licensing with the state where the school is located. In the meantime, Loutensock said NAAS will continue to accredit Meridian and will accept the PNAIS accreditation when it is received.

Kris Crowther, director of public relations for Meridian School, said the rating was expected and is not a problem for the school. The school has been accredited with NAAS for several years, until the association began requiring teachers to have state certification.

"We've been 'advised' for the last couple of years, ever since they changed their accreditation requirement," she said.

Crowther said the school decided to switch to PNAIS because it did not have the same requirements, and officials felt their teachers from Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University were too important to the school.

"We stand by them, we support them," she said. "We feel that they are valuable enough to our students and our school that we don't want to lose them," she said.

Loutensock said Liberty Academy was also a unique case because it no longer offered a ninth-grade program. The school had a ninth-grade program last year and debated whether to stay accredited when the program was dropped, as kindergarten through eighth grades do not need the accreditation.

The school was still in the process of making the decision when it turned in the paperwork, which was incomplete without nin9th-grade data.

Rob Muhlstein, managing director of Liberty Academy, said school officials decided to focus on fully preparing students through eighth grade before offering high-school courses again. The ninth and 10th grades will be added again next year, and he said officials were not prepared for the reaction to an "advised" status.

"It has more of a negative connotation than we expected it to be," he said.

After reports surfaced of the rating, Muhlstein said students and parents were concerned, wondering if the school would be shut down. Most did not realize the school does not need accreditation without the high school grades.

"We've probably had 10-15 [parents] call and say, 'What does this mean?' " he said.

To save some trouble, Muhlstein said school officials will likely draft a letter asking NAAS to remove them from accreditation this year. They will then reapply when the ninth- and 10th-grade programs are added. Despite the negative attention the rating has brought, Muhlstein emphasized that the school is not in trouble.

"Our K-8 is fine," he said.

Loutensock said the ratings are not intended to be a "gotcha" for schools, but to point out areas to improve. Schools may remain at an "advised" or "warned" status for several years as administrators work to improve. NAAS officials watch for improvement in schools and work with them to get better.

"The bottom line is, we really do try to look at each school individually," she said.