HOULTON, Maine — The official New England Association of Schools and College Accreditation report on Houlton Junior/Senior High School is complete and has been made available to the public.
The report, a 57 page evaluation, was created by the 12 person visiting committee, which came to Houlton for the four day period from March 9-12.
“The process of accreditation is one which helps us review everything that we do and how we measure up to the standards put forth by the New England association. It gives us the drive and initiative to get things done,” stated Principal Marty Bouchard.
Contained in the report is every aspect which affects Houlton Junior/Senior High. The information ranges from the town’s history to the school’s athletic teams, and includes every imaginable statistic in between. The report does not, however, tell whether or not Houlton High School passed its accreditation review.
“This same report goes to the national association, and they will review [the report] and then contact us about what category we fall into,” explained Bouchard.
HHS will fall under one of four status areas created by the National Association of Schools and Colleges. The levels are set as: full accreditation, warning status, probation status, and loss of accreditation. Bouchard believes he will be hearing from the associate director of the national board within the next few weeks to let the school know what its status is.
“I feel what they were hitting on was pretty close. I also felt they were a little harsh in some areas and I thought from visiting other schools, and from talking to people from our steering committee that were visiting other schools, that we were in pretty good shape for this report,” said Joseph Fagnant, chair of the Steering Committee, which heads up the entire accreditation process at Houlton High.
The report also included commendations and recommendations by the visiting committee. Commendations included the inclusion of many stakeholders in the development of the mission statement, school-wide writing prompts and science fair, and the school’s close relationship with the community. Recommendations listed by the visiting team involve fixing and maintaining the leaky roof, improving opportunities for developing teacher leaders, and reducing noise pollution in instruction areas. “There’s always strengths and weaknesses that we are looking at … and I knew we were spending a lot of time with the actual accreditation process, while we were looking also at when we would get time to work with curriculum or certain aspects of changes that the state has made,” said Fagnant.
The report created by the visiting committee can be observed by the public at the Cary Library. You can also find more information on the accreditation process at www.neasc.org.
The report, a 57 page evaluation, was created by the 12 person visiting committee, which came to Houlton for the four day period from March 9-12.
“The process of accreditation is one which helps us review everything that we do and how we measure up to the standards put forth by the New England association. It gives us the drive and initiative to get things done,” stated Principal Marty Bouchard.
Contained in the report is every aspect which affects Houlton Junior/Senior High. The information ranges from the town’s history to the school’s athletic teams, and includes every imaginable statistic in between. The report does not, however, tell whether or not Houlton High School passed its accreditation review.
“This same report goes to the national association, and they will review [the report] and then contact us about what category we fall into,” explained Bouchard.
HHS will fall under one of four status areas created by the National Association of Schools and Colleges. The levels are set as: full accreditation, warning status, probation status, and loss of accreditation. Bouchard believes he will be hearing from the associate director of the national board within the next few weeks to let the school know what its status is.
“I feel what they were hitting on was pretty close. I also felt they were a little harsh in some areas and I thought from visiting other schools, and from talking to people from our steering committee that were visiting other schools, that we were in pretty good shape for this report,” said Joseph Fagnant, chair of the Steering Committee, which heads up the entire accreditation process at Houlton High.
The report also included commendations and recommendations by the visiting committee. Commendations included the inclusion of many stakeholders in the development of the mission statement, school-wide writing prompts and science fair, and the school’s close relationship with the community. Recommendations listed by the visiting team involve fixing and maintaining the leaky roof, improving opportunities for developing teacher leaders, and reducing noise pollution in instruction areas. “There’s always strengths and weaknesses that we are looking at … and I knew we were spending a lot of time with the actual accreditation process, while we were looking also at when we would get time to work with curriculum or certain aspects of changes that the state has made,” said Fagnant.
The report created by the visiting committee can be observed by the public at the Cary Library. You can also find more information on the accreditation process at www.neasc.org.
