A high school’s accreditation, often involving several years of preparation, is one of the most important and time-consuming processes for administration and faculty. Required once a decade, it is a grueling and eye-opening experience to undergo.

Orono High School recently went through that process. A team of accreditors from around Maine and New England spent four days (three school days and one over the weekend) at our school seeing what we had to offer. Equality, gauging whether all students have equal access to everything in school, was high on the accreditors’ list.

Orono High School Principal Cathryn Knox said the accreditation standards are intended to improve teaching and learning and create a school environoment where all students can succeed.

“The purpose of accreditation is actually very simple,” explained Gary MacMullen, a Biddeford High School teacher and member of the accreditation team. “We look for seven major points in a school: The curriculum, school resources, leadership capabilities, community interaction, the general instruction of the students and teachers, the mission for learning and the assessment of students.”

Accreditors assessed all of those points during their visit to Orono High. They were shown student work, community service projects as well as a 100-page report prepared by teachers, giving their assessment of what has and has not been achieved.

While they were at Orono High, the team spent much time with students. They often shadowed them and sat in on classes to observe teachers. The accreditors said this gave them a better sense of how the school was run, rather than just walking around the halls.

“It showed us how close the students and teachers were,” Chris Conroy, an accreditor and teacher at Westbrook High School, remarked. “I was so amazed just to see how open all the students were in the classes, even while I was there.”

The team interviewed students and teachers.

“The accreditation is actually very interesting, it lets us [the faculty] look at how other people view our school and teaching,” English teacher Tamra Philbrook reflected. “With the information they tell us, we should be able to find what we need to do to brighten our school.”

The accreditors spent a lot of time tapping students’ views.

“It was absolutely amazing!” said Conroy. “Every student I talked to, their favorite subject was English. I have never seen any school with students so passionate about writing. “The Simpsons” is my favorite TV show and for the first time this week I got to watch it. I turned it off so I could read Inside, the high-school newspaper.”

“Orono High School is amazing, the teachers don’t give themselves enough credit as to the impact they have on the students,” Stephen MacDougall, the team’s chairman, noted during the final meeting between the school staff and team.

Nevertheless, even with such great comments from nearly every accreditor, Orono High still was found to have serious building limitations. In general, the consensus was that the structure is dragging down Orono. With a larger, more diverse building, the high school could make a much greater impact, drawing more students.

A school’s quest to become accredited takes months to complete after the team has come and gone. Time will determine what’s in store for Orono High.

Student Union is written by students at Hampden Academy and Brewer, Old Town and Orono high schools. The weekly column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This week’s column was written by Orono High School sophomore Ian Babbitt.