At the beginning of the year four teachers – Paul Quiggle, Patricia Cardona, Amber Dodd, and Ana Gutierrez – began the long process of getting Alisal reaccredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. WASC makes sure that an educational community, the general public, and other organizations and agencies have clearly defined objectives appropriate for education.

The school had just completed a six-year accreditation and was looking to repeat that feat. Gutierrez said, “We felt very confident going into the visit because we had met many times with the teachers and the classified staff and we had a sense of what we needed to grow on and what were our strengths. Now it was just a matter of the committee being able to see through our eyes what Alisal has been doing very well in and also what we may need some help on. It helped that our group was very organized with all the information.”

The WASC the committee was made up of seven members. Four were teachers, two were assistant principals and the chair/leader was a retired Principal. The committee members all came from different areas in California, like the Bay Area and the Central Valley. They came to Alisal in February and analyzed all the information and data that Quiggle, Cardona, Dodd, and Gutierrez had gathered. During the visit, focus groups met and talked to the WASC committee to see how the data and information was collected and also what the data reflected about Alisal. English teacher Mick Battaglini said, “It was very interesting talking to the visiting committee. They were very impressed with our school and what we’re doing, which is a testament to the whole staff and student body.”

After the whole evaluation was over, the information gathered by the committee got sent to a commission who looks over the report by the Alisal teachers, as well as the report created by the committee. The commission decided that Alisal should receive another six years. Universities and Colleges will continue to see Alisal High as an accredited school and accept any transcripts and documents from the school. Principal Ernesto Garcia said, “We are very happy about the reaccreditation. We are actually going to have a WASC accreditation party and it really shows how well Alisal is doing.”