Norwich - The last time the Norwich Free Academy went through the accreditation process, inspectors told school officials that the officials were "too heavy on the praise and light on recommendations for improvement" in the school self-evaluation.

Teachers on the NFA steering committee preparing for this fall's accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges remembered that comment, said Karen Cook, head of the NFA social studies department.

The steering committee surveyed faculty, parents and students in writing the self-evaluation report and incorporated their comments and recommendations. The three steering committee members, Cook, history teacher Lorraine Dooley and Tirrell House Principal Ross Sward, presented a summary of the new self-evaluation last week to the school's Board of Trustees.

The new report still includes plenty of praise for the 2,400-student privately endowed regional public high school, but this time, the group has several recommendations calling for improved communication between administration and staff, funding for programs often left behind, and modernizing the school's mission statement.

The mission statement on the NFA website features a quote by academy founder the Rev. John P. Gulliver: "Since 1854, the mission of The Norwich Free Academy has been 'to return to our hamlets and our homes its priceless freight of youthful minds, enriched by learning, developed by a liberal culture, refined by study of all that is beautiful in nature and art, and prepared for the highest usefulness and the purest happiness.'"

The steering committee recommended using the school's new slogan "providing opportunities, preparing lives" as a starting point for an updated mission statement and said the statement should be updated periodically.

The committee said addressing the mission statement should precede work on a long-term school improvement plan. Under former Head of School Mark Cohan, the school launched NFA 2020; however, school staff said the plan provides direction but not action plans, budgets or timelines for implementing goals. The group called it "an excellent first step" in writing a more formal plan.

Members also hope to incorporate NFA's current work to redesign curriculum and redesign special education programs to be more inclusive. NFA faculty shares the love of the academy but also wants a greater role in writing and implementing plans, the committee wrote.

"Faculty wish to feel their opinions are valued and seek more active involvement in decision making at all levels," the steering committee report said.

The report will be given to the accreditation team assigned to NFA in August. The team will visit the NFA campus Oct. 2- 5, starting with a Sunday dinner with the Board of Trustees.

The committee will have one month to review NFA's self-evaluation report and will meet in November to discuss NFA's accreditation.

c.bessette@theday.com