Once a school earns its SAIS accreditation, it is required to remain in compliance for its five-year accreditation period and to provide confirmation of compliance at the two-year mark. SAIS takes very seriously any and all non-compliance inquiries and complaints against our member schools. Therefore, all inquiries and complaints are investigated to the level possible by SAIS.
SAIS has no legal authority over any of our member schools and only has authority as is defined by our accreditation process. The sole influence that SAIS possesses is through the insistence that the accreditation standards be maintained. It should be understood that SAIS has limited jurisdiction and is able to prescribe remedies to member schools based solely upon compliance with accreditation standards and membership criteria. This limitation, however, should not be interpreted as a lack of concern from the SAIS staff or Board of Trustees.
Upon receipt and verification of a noncompliance report, the school will be given an opportunity to respond to the inquiry. The inquiry, response, and any subsequent written correspondence on the matter may be made available to the accreditation visiting team chair on the next accreditation visit. However, an immediate investigative visit to the school may be undertaken if the response by the school is unsatisfactory or an accumulation of complaints indicates that a school’s response is inconsistent with a preponderance of evidence.
As is frequently the case, if a school’s practices are bordering on noncompliance, a discussion that is triggered by a non-compliance complaint is often a catalyst to remedy such practices. This is our first desire that a school be in compliance and any practices that may be deemed noncompliant be corrected. In the event that a school is not compliant, a series of actions will be undertaken with the school such as but not limited to: a request to remedy the noncompliance issue, placing the school on warned status or probation, and an ultimate action of dropping accreditation.
Noncompliance submission form
