Newtown High School Principal Lorrie Rodrigue has received a letter notifying her the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has voted to award her school continued accreditation.

The letter is a preview of the anticipated report NEASC will share with the school in the near future, and it also specified the school's accreditation status will be reviewed when the committee considers the school's two-year progress report, due in October 2017.

"The Committee on Public Secondary Schools, at its January 24-25, 2016 meeting, reviewed the decennial evaluation report from the visit to Newtown High School and voted to award the school continued accreditation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges," the April 7 letter reads.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, informed the Board of Education about the letter at the board's April 19 meeting.

"This is obviously the executive summary of a much longer… report," Dr Erardi said. "We had felt it was important for you to have this information."

Dr Rodrigue, Dr Erardi said, does exceptional work, and the continued accreditation is a credit to all the educators at the high school.

"This is a huge confirmation to staff, to students, and to leadership at Newtown High School," said Dr Erardi, "that the accreditation review committee recognized all of that. And I'm just so pleased for all those folks at the high school."

Following a visit during the 2005-06 school year, NEASC placed NHS on warning status, mostly due to overcrowding. By March 2011, then-principal Charles Dumais received a letter announcing the warning status had been removed, thanks in large part to the completed high school expansion. A steering committee at NHS began working to prepare for this school year's visit in May 2013. NEASC representatives visited NHS in October.

Preparing for a NEASC visit includes a self-study reports and collecting data for seven standards. The standards include curriculum, instruction, assessment, school resources, culture, and leadership.

As Dr Erardi said at this week's Board of Education meeting, NEASC accreditation visits occur every ten years.

The letter to Dr Rodrigue from NEASC says its committee was "impressed with many of the programs and services" at NHS, including, "the dynamic, collaborative, and inclusive process used to create the core values, beliefs, and graduation standard, which reflect the specific character, values, and essence of the community"; the use of "varied and current educational research to drive the creation of challenging academic expectations… and targeted high levels of achievement"; and "the establishment of [kindergarten to twelfth grade] curriculum teams to foster curricular coordination and vertical articulation."

The letter highlighted ten other aspects of NHS that impressed the committee.

The letter also specified NHS's two-year progress report is required to be filed with NEASC by October 1, 2017. NHS school officials will be required to respond to any recommendations made by NEASC in its anticipated report, according to the letter.

"The committee congratulates the school administration and faculty for completing the first two phases of the accreditation program: the self-study and the evaluation visit," the letter reads. "The next step will be the follow-up process during which the school will implement valid recommendations in the evaluation report."