While Shining Rock Classical Academy students are already out of class enjoying their summer vacation, school leaders are busy assessing the charter’s first year and already planning for students’ return in August.

Shining Rock Classical Academy is considering legal action against a modular building company for not being able to honor its lease agreement with the charter school.

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.