Shining Rock votes to end high school instruction
Shining Rock Classical Academy's K-8 instruction will not be affected, for now.
Lily Levin photo
The Shining Rock Classical Academy board at its Feb. 25 meeting voted unanimously to end grades 9-11 instruction effective June 30, 2026, and to close grade 12 after the fall 2026 semester, in front of an audience of more than 100 people. The high school had been consistently running a deficit, and the board argued that it has a fiduciary responsibility to move the organization in the right direction.
“We cannot continue operating the high school grades without jeopardizing the long-term financial stability of the entire organization,” said Chair Alyson Weimar in a Feb. 26 press release.
The board also announced the non-renewal of its rental contract with the Dellwood campus, where grades K-8 were held before the acquisition of the Russ Ave building and where high school instruction has taken place since 2022. The 10-year lease on the older property, owned by Lake Junaluska Assembly, is set to expire by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, the Dellwood campus has been increasingly expensive to operate, and its buildings have already reached the end of their lifespan, said Weimar last Wednesday.
Before the vote, she took some time to explain to attendees why financing the high school has become unsustainable and how actions of former board members inadvertently led Shining Rock into its recent trend of annual deficit.
Shining Rock in 2022 obtained roughly $21 million in bonds through 2057 consisting of $19.5 million in land and construction fees for the Russ Ave building and $1.7 million of debt owed to the Dellwood facility. No feasibility studies were conducted at the time of bond acquisition.
Weimar said there had been warnings of unrealistic enrollment projections by one finance committee member as early as 2019, and financial advisor CSP further underscored the need to reach enrollment figures in 2022 or else face operational consequences. When the school entered the bond agreement in FY2023, it had $2 million in savings and loan funds outweighed debt to the Dellwood property.
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But by the end of FY2024, it had weathered a loss of $400,000 dollars and was far from reaching its projected enrollment. The school continued to operate at a loss in FY2025 and 2026, losing roughly $200,000 annually. Plus, even with four full grades of high school in FY2025, enrollment stagnated at just over 100, far lower than initial expectations of 160 students.
“[FY2025 was] the first year that we really realized with all four grades in place, the high school was not producing sustainable student staff ratios. We're a school of choice. People chose other things,” Weimar said.
Board meeting notes from September 2025 show that Shining Rock’s Debt Service Coverage Ratio was 0.86, while bondholders require 1.10. Any score above 1 indicates that an organization has surplus funding to cover its debts, while a score below 1 indicates insufficient funding.
The most common repercussion, according to the document, was that “an independent monitor may be engaged by bondholders to ensure this doesn't happen again.”
Nonetheless, minutes show that board members expected Shining Rock to have a 1.03 FY2026 debt ratio, shifting its status out of the red. And in mid-December 2025, the organization seemed on track to achieve this number, writing that “our ratio is staying consistent at 1.04.”
But on Feb. 19, Shining Rock reported $220,000 in deficit, risking falling short of its coverage ratio and being in technical default — in other words, violating the terms of the bond. It was then that board members first discussed winding down the high school and Dellwood campus.
Weimar told attendees at the Feb. 25 meeting that the school’s financial outlook was clarified when Shining Rock undertook a self-study with financial advisor CSP in fall 2025 and reported the results in January to the board.
Currently, Shining Rock’s fund balance is $1.2 million, 60% of its total four years prior, though Weimar admitted recent local crises — Hurricane Helene and the closure of Pactiv Evergreen in Canton — likely also played a role.
Optimistic public comment
During the public comment period at the top of the agenda, the majority of speakers held onto hope, urging the board to be proactive, keep the school open and let the next few years play out.
“Would you rather say we are going to have a rough few years while we fix and rebuild our vision, or say we are shutting down high school and only going to have about 400 kids K-8? Because those would be the numbers you are looking at once the high school is gone, maybe less if you do not fix the larger issue,” said Anna Eason, Shining Rock parent and former board chair.
After the final public comment, Jeffrey Delannoy, parent of two Shining Rock students, announced from the audience that he’d like a chance to speak.
“No, we are going to call our policy tonight, and we needed to sign up for public comments. We're going to move on. I'm sorry. We do have public comment at every board meeting,” Weimar responded, directing the board to report on the school’s clubs and participation in the latest science fair.
When committee reports concluded a half hour later, Delannoy once again spoke up from the audience.
“I have a question,” he said.
“I'm sorry. I'm not going to start this. I have officers here. They will remove you. I'm— not here, not going to start this. Officer Reeves,” Weimar said.
Delannoy was indeed removed from the meeting. In the lobby area, he told The Smoky Mountain News that he’d tried to sign up for public comment the day prior but was told he’d have to add his name immediately before the meeting. He arrived three minutes late due to a previous commitment.
The Shining Rock parent had only positive things to say about the school, though he questioned why board members had taken so long to inform the public of its financial challenges.
“I love the school, I love the teachers, I love the faculty. I love what they're doing with the students,” he said. “We should have known about this at the beginning of the year. We shouldn't be talking about this in February. We should have been talking about this in September.”
Delannoy told SMN that he’d wanted to speak to the percentage of children receiving a special education curriculum — which Head of School Josh Morgan put at one in every five students, exceeding the state’s enrollment funding cap.
The state of North Carolina allots an extra $5,309 per student qualifying for special education services but will only fund up to 13% of the total enrollment population, at the detriment of schools like Shining Rock, with more disabled students.
Delannoy thought board members could consider pursuing a related grant.
“I want them to be educated that they can move forward and that they haven't exhausted every viable source,” he said. “That's why I was here in the first place, was to light a spark, like, you don't quit. You don't quit on a bunch of kids that you've had from kindergarten through eighth grade and now have to change schools.”
In the end, however, the board didn’t seem to take even the spoken public comments into much consideration. Its presentation about the school’s contingency plans for its junior class demonstrated that members had already arrived at and extensively planned for their ensuing vote.
Christina White, Shining Rock teacher and chair of the academic committee, alongside School Director Heather Wilson, presented a proposed “Junior Pathway to December 2026 Graduation” program that would, through a combination of contracted teachers and NC virtual public school summer programs, allow current juniors to complete requisite high school courses by the end of 2026 and obtain a Shining Rock diploma.
After the details of this plan were hashed out, the board went into its series of votes that would finalize the outcome of Shining Rock’s high school. The meeting ended just after 8:00 pm, nearly a half hour ahead of schedule.
Dozens of emotional parents and students lingered after the board’s adjournment to exchange tears, words and hugs.
