Wiscasset High School is ready for an important review it faces beginning May 5,  Principal Deb Taylor said.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges will have a panel in town, conducting a four-day evaluation the school needs in order to stay accredited.

“Obviously there's anxiety when you have folks coming in to evaluate, but there's also some real excitement to have them see the good work that we're doing here,” Taylor said April 26.

“I feel very confident we are ready,” she said.

No state or other funding hinges on accreditation. However, the evaluation will yield an objective look at the school's practices and could provide ideas for improvements, Taylor said.

Accreditation also helps the school's graduates get into competitive colleges, Assistant Principal Susan Poppish said. Wiscasset High's current, 10-year accreditation runs out this year.

Poppish has been closely involved in preparing the school for the evaluation.

Much has changed for the school in the past decade, including an enrollment drop from 389 students in 2003 to this year's 217, Poppish said. Meanwhile, the portion of the school's students who get free or reduced-cost hot lunch has nearly doubled, from 26 percent 10 years ago to 50.1 percent in 2013, she said.

Those changes are consistent with other Maine high schools, Poppish said.

Sixteen educators will comprise the visiting committee from the association's Commission on Public Secondary Schools. The group will spend four days meeting with teachers, administrators and other staff, touring the school, and even shadowing students.

“Our purpose in visiting Wiscasset High School is not to criticize it but to assist the faculty in its pursuit of quality education for its students,” the visiting committee's chairman, Falmouth High School Principal Greg Palmer, said in a Wiscasset High press release.

Taylor predicted the association will re-accredit the school, probably over the summer, she said.

Regional School Unit 12 is spending roughly $15,000 to prepare for the review and cover the visiting committee's costs, Taylor said.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com