Tara Keilberg, a founding board member for the Shining Rock Classical Academy, has resigned from her post as chairwoman on the board of directors to become the charter school’s new business manager.

The entire staff was called into the Shining Rock Classical Academy’s board meeting Monday afternoon to hear the news — the charter school has finally secured a location for the next five years.

Operating a new charter school can be a learn-as-you-go process, and the Shining Rock Classical Academy board of directors is already adjusting to the expected growing pains as it moves into its second month of classes.

Shining Rock Classical Academy’s continued hunt for somewhere to temporarily house the fledgling charter school come Jan. 1 has inevitably landed on the doorstep of the Folkmoot Friendship Center, a seemingly natural choice since the Folkmoot Center was originally an elementary school. 

Shining Rock Classical Academy, a new charter school in Haywood County, has not given up on the idea of building a school in the Francis Cove area of Waynesville, despite a groundswell of opposition from residents in the community.

With only three days of school under their belts, students attending Shining Rock Classical Academy were already settling into their routine on Monday morning.

Shining Rock Classical Academy was sent back to the drawing board Monday night on its proposed location, continuing a nearly three-month saga on where the new charter school will go.

Despite resistance from surrounding landowners, Shining Rock Classical Academy is moving forward with plans to set up Haywood County’s first charter school on the corner of Raccoon Road and U.S. 276 in Waynesville.

The guessing game of how many students will jump ship from Haywood County Schools to attend a new charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, won’t be known until the first day of school next week.

I’m sure the founders of Haywood County’s new charter school — Shining Rock Classical Academy — never imagined a week like the one they just had.

Not only was our newspaper challenging them on what we feel sure were violations of the N.C. Open Meetings Law, other media were giving ink and air time to problems at what may become the new location for their school. Seems surveys done at the property damaged the corn crop of the farmer currently leasing the site. Lawyers have gotten involved, meaning the site acquisition process just got more complicated.