Events

Official Announcement: March 30, 2020

Dear Diocese of Albany Catholic School Community Members:

We first would like to thank all members of our school community for your support of our schools during the 2021-2022 school year.  The last three school years have been inundated with unprecedented challenges, which were met with the grace and dignity that we would expect from our community members. 

We are writing today to inform everyone that we are hosting an accreditation engagement review visit next week and want to share information related to the visit.  The Diocese of Albany Catholic Schools achieved system accreditation from AdvancED in 2016.  In November 2018, AdvancED changed its name to Cognia as a result of a merger.  Currently, our twenty-one Catholic schools fall under the umbrella of system accreditation through Cognia and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.  This designation serves as an acknowledgement that our schools meet a certain standard of quality worthy of accreditation.       

A team of volunteer school administrators from around the country has been organized into the Cognia Engagement Review Team that will be working with us during the visit.  The visit will take place Sunday, April 3, 2022 through Wednesday, April 6, 2022.  Our process in preparing for the visit has included the administration of surveys that you likely participated in, regular engagement with our Diocesan Accreditation Steering Committee (DASC), reviews and updates to annual improvement plans at both the school and diocesan levels, and a variety of other activities that have contributed to us being prepared for this visit.  You should also be aware that all schools have at least one representative on the DASC and an individual improvement plan outlining the needs of that specific school community. 

The review will be occurring virtually due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions at the time that we scheduled the visit last summer.  While our visitors will not be able to walk the hallways and visit the classrooms in our schools, they will have ample time to meet with students, parents, teachers, community partners, administrators, and diocesan officials. 

The visit is scheduled to conclude on April 6, 2022, and we will be notified of the status of our accreditation several weeks after the visit.  Aside from the determination on accreditation, we anticipate that the visit team will provide us with valuable feedback on what we are doing well, as well as improvement priorities.  We hope to utilize this information in the development of our next set of improvement and strategic plans to prepare us for the next chapter in our history.     

We thank you in advance for your prayers, support, and assistance as we have navigated through our accreditation journey.  We are grateful for the support of Bishop Scharfenberger, the Diocesan School Board, our principals, pastors, and the Catholic School Office staff throughout the process.  We are particularly appreciative of the members of the DASC, who have been consistently working on accreditation for the past five years.  It is safe to say that we would not have achieved the level of preparedness that we have without the contributions of the DASC.  Our office will follow up with school community members once we receive the outcomes of the visit from Cognia, which we anticipate arriving sometime in May. 

Dr. Giovanni Virgiglio, Jr                                              Dr. Christopher Bott

Superintendent of Schools                                          Associate Superintendent of Schools