NEWPORT – Nokomis Regional High School has just learned that its accreditation has been retained and, in a flip-flop from the last assessment that listed 61 deficiencies, was commended in 17 areas.

“We are very excited,” Principal Arnold Shorey said Thursday. “It took a lot of work.”

SAD 48 has been working with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges for the past three years toward ending its probationary status and attaining full accreditation.

Although most high schools strive to be accredited, colleges do not appear to be giving accreditation the weight it once had.

Of Maine’s 103 high schools, Nokomis was one of only two placed on probation last year; Penobscot Valley High School was the other.

From the 61 original failures on the NEASC’s assessment, there is a single one left: build a new high school or renovate it.

“That really is the only issue over which we have no control,” Shorey said.

The high school is 38 years old, has a population of 750 students and serves six SAD 48 towns and the high school students from Etna and Dixmont.

Shorey said the school’s accreditation was retained after NEASC reviewed the school’s five-year report and found that enormous changes have taken place in the past year.

Shorey has been principal at the school for a year and a half but modestly did not take credit for the success. “It has absolutely been a total team effort,” he said.

“We will need to file a special report by February 1, 2008, to update our progress on building a new high school or renovating the existing one,” he said. “This is the only item left.”

SAD 48 is undergoing a reorganization and the fate of Nokomis is part of that plan. Shorey said the state is going to hold all funding of new schools for one year to build up the funding pool and that when it recommences, Nokomis should be in the top three. “Should we get funded, a new school wouldn’t be completed for five or six years after that.”

Another option that SAD 48 is weighing is renovating the existing facility.

Areas of Commendation

New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ report commends Nokomis Regional High School in Newport for:

. Having a full-time nurse.

. Efforts to communicate with the SAD 48 communities on long-term facility needs.

. Assurances that all core classes were removed from portable classrooms.

. Development and use of a responsible learner rubric.

. Steps taken to include parents and families within the school.

. Use of student-led conferences to review student results on common assessments.

. Development and implementation of an adviser-advisee program.

. A mission to add a football program.

. Continued advancement of one-to-one laptop to student ratio.

. A partnership with the University of Maine and Unity College as professional development schools.

. Adoption of career and technical education Department of the Career Path way concepts.

. Development of a portfolio system in evaluation and supervision of teachers.