Dear Editor:

Interesting that organizations involved directly with school programs, including and especially those that can use the tax-exempt status of the district, are said by the system not to be required to be under the control of the school administration.

Accreditation in the regionally accrediting Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) includes school administration oversight and authorization among its standards. In addition to PTAs and Booster Clubs, even student activities such as cheerleading, senior class trip coffers, and the like must be under the supervision of the school administration. And it's easy to do — just a monthly report of income/expenditure to the principal with a school assigned-person being a co-signer on each activity check does the trick.

But, of course, that is not the regional accrediting agency for the Boothbay region schools. The standards of The New England Association of Colleges and Schools must be different. The SACS standard is intended, by the way, to not only to prevent unauthorized use of funds but also to assure that expenditures are within those acceptable to the school.

Take it from a head of school for over 30 years, and chairman of over two dozen school accreditation committees, without that control, you’d be surprised what some of the monies earned by school groups go for. Many of which have little or no bearing on the actual activity expected of the program or acceptable to the school.

Dennis C. Brown

Villa Rica, Georgia,

and Boothbay