The accreditation process can be painful, but Old Rochester Regional High School Principal Mike Devoll is determined not to make it equivalent to a four-letter word.

The 10-year cycle is evaluated by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and the current cycle began in 2006 when Devoll was a teacher at ORR.

“I feel like we checked a lot of boxes in those years,” he said.

Changes, however, were at a minimum.

The school was supposed to respond to the initial evaluation with a two-year report followed by a five-year report.

“Somewhere after 2006 we jumped the tracks as a school with our accreditation,” said Devoll.

The two-year report was never submitted, but Devoll said the school is back in the “good graces” of NEASC.

Teachers and staff are beginning to work on the next steps of the process, including an evaluation of the core values for the school. Working with the community will also be a major part of the evaluation process.

The school has been granted two extra years as well due to a bottleneck on NEASC’s end. That puts the evaluation at 2018. In the meantime, the staff is moving forward, and it will ultimately be a positive for the education offered at ORR.

“There’s some work to be done and it’s all good work,” said Devoll. “The products are all worthwhile.”