CALAIS – Hard work and a determination by students and staff apparently succeeded in winning full accreditation for Calais High School.

In 1999, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges placed the school on probation. The school had been fully accredited since 1978.

The association, founded in 1885, is the oldest accrediting agency in the country, and it is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a reliable agency. An association accreditation committee that visited the school in 1998 issued a 51-page report expressing concern about a number of issues, from the curriculum to the condition of the school building.

As a result of a student-faculty effort, the association study committee earlier this month notified high school Principal James Underwood that the school’s accreditation would be restored Thursday.