Accreditation and long-term planning were among topics of a mid-year retreat Wednesday for administrators and principals from Gainesville City Schools.

Gainesville Superintendent Merrianne Dyer said one goal of the night was to "revisit where they are now and lay the foundation for next year."

A group of principals huddled around a table at the Frances Meadows Aquatic and Community Center to share goals for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which Gainesville is preparing for this December.

The accreditation process, in which a quality review team evaluates school documentation and observes classrooms, comes every five years.

"Gainesville is one of the few in the state that does districtwide accreditation," Dyer said, adding that the alternative is for SACS to evaluate
individual schools.

Districtwide accreditation allows school districts to set educational standards across multiple schools.

"Why we did that is because we wanted to stop working in buckets of schools and wanted to leverage our work together," Dyer said.

The principals discussed their beliefs and goals for education, which will be used to draft a vision statement. Some beliefs included "learning is a shared responsibility" and "using assessment to drive instruction."

Members of the Gainesville City Schools board also met Wednesday and continued a discussion from a previous board meeting.

For months, the board has worked on new plans for the charter leadership team, which was formed three
years ago.

The team is made up of members of the community, parents and principals who meet three times a year and provide recommendations to the superintendent about such issues as policy and regulations. They also act as community ambassadors and share what they learn from the district.

The team recently expressed a desire to provide more help, which led the board to consider revising its roles.

One idea is to allow the team to act as an information support system for board members to help them come up with district solutions, board member Maria Calkins said.

"It would be a great, informal opportunity for groups to get together and share information," she said.

The board also discussed adding additional members to the group to create more diverse opinions, such as individuals involved in the business community.

The board plans to discuss the team further at its next board meeting.