NOVA NEWS - December 2024

We recently introduced a potential facility expansion project at Nova Classical Academy, first initiated by a thorough facility needs analysis. This analysis highlighted over $31 million in desired projects from our community. While financial constraints prevent us from addressing every item, this expansion plan prioritizes improvements that deliver meaningful benefits to students, families, staff, and the broader Nova community.

Added Safety Measures
One of the key drivers of this expansion is addressing a 2020 code change that requires a storm shelter for 1,550 individuals—a space Nova currently lacks. This addition will significantly enhance safety for students, staff, and families. The project also includes a new bus drop-off area on the vacant land to improve traffic and pedestrian safety during drop-off and pick-up times. Additionally, the front vestibule will be remodeled to route all visitors through the main office for check-in, strengthening overall school security.

Enhanced Learning Spaces
The expansion will introduce new spaces and repurpose existing areas within the building, adding eight academic spaces dedicated to student support services such as interventions and occupational therapy. These improvements will provide a more appropriate and conducive learning environment, eliminating the need to hold these services in hallways, stairwells, or on the stage. This change will enhance privacy and ensure students remain close to their classrooms.

Benefits for Lower and Upper Schools

• Lower Schools: The new storm shelter will double as a spacious indoor area for activities such as recess during inclement weather, ensuring students have a safe and active space even on challenging days.
• Upper Schools: The third-floor Exhibition Hall will be reconfigured to better serve students. Half the space will remain available for seminars and extracurricular gatherings, while the other half will be converted into a locker bay for 150 students. This change will improve hallway congestion and accessibility throughout the school day.

Extra-Curricular Program Enhancements
This project includes a range of improvements for extracurricular activities:

• Drama & Performing Arts: The creation of dedicated academic support spaces will free up the stage from daily use by student services, allowing drama programs to keep their setups intact without daily teardown.
• Athletics: The new storm shelter will feature two courts side-by-side, offering additional practice spaces and expanding programming opportunities, especially for younger students. The addition of locker rooms and showers will also allow older students to practice in the mornings if desired. A new workout facility will provide scholar-athletes with resources to compete at the highest level in the Skyline Conference.
• Activities & Storage: Relocating the facilities department from the drama space will create additional storage for equipment and props, benefiting student extracurricular activities.
• New Gathering Spaces: A second seminar space, similar to the reconfigured Exhibition Hall, will provide additional venues for both academic and extracurricular activities.

Moving Forward
Although this project may not fulfill every community request, it marks a significant step forward in enhancing academic programming, student support, and extracurricular opportunities for all grade levels.

To keep you informed and engaged, we’ve created a dedicated landing page where you can explore the details of the project and share your feedback. We encourage everyone to visit and contribute to the conversation as we work together to build a bright future for Nova Classical Academy.

It’s a Great Day to Be a Knight!

Dr. Brett Wedlund

Did You Know You Can Contribute to Nova News & Social Media?

We invite our community members and students to share their stories, achievements, and upcoming events for a chance to be featured in Nova News and/or Social Media! Whether it's highlighting a student group, activity, or special event, we welcome your submissions.

To ensure a smooth process, we've developed some guidelines for coaches, advisors, teachers, staff, students, and parent volunteers. These guidelines are designed to help streamline submissions and ensure we capture the best of what Nova Classical has to offer.

Please see the attached guidelines for more details on how to submit your items. Remember, you can also have your events or activities considered for our social media channels by emailing them to socialmedia@novaclassical.org and contact@novaclassical.org.

We look forward to showcasing the amazing things happening in our community!

Save the date! This year's Nova Classical's Family Multicultural Night is scheduled for Thursday, April 10, from 5:30-7:30 PM.

Family Multicultural Night is an event hosted by Nova Classical's National Honor Society students and Equity Team and is centered on celebrating the wide and rich cultures of each and every member of our community. We will again be inviting community members to host booths spotlighting your culture! We are also asking every family that attends the event to contribute to the community potluck, so consider what dish, snack, or treat is special to your family that you might want to share. We are looking forward to gathering with the community in April!

If you are interested in sharing a performance (e.g., dance, music, skit, recitation, etc.) related to your culture, please email equitycoordinator@novaclassical.org to express your interest! Also, keep an eye out in the future for an opportunity to contribute funds to this years FMN!

Enrollment application for the 2025-2026 school year is open. Please visit our website for information. All applications submitted by January 31, 2025, at 4:00 PM, will be entered into the enrollment lottery in February 2025.

Current students do not need to reapply.

Registration is now open for the new middle school, girls-only basketball team! Open to girls in grades 5-8. The season begins January 6 and ends mid-March. This program focuses on developing skills, learning strategies of the game, getting connected to Nova Knights basketball, and having fun! Students will be broken out into two teams based on skill level.

If you have a child in K-4 who's interested in basketball, Nova Classical offers Saturday morning basketball starting January 11 through March 3, 2025. These sessions are good for beginners and experienced players as we will be using a mix of skill building and live play. This winter the emphasis will be on playing 3-on-3 or 4-on-4, as well as building base skills like shooting, finishing at the rim, dribbling, passing, defense, etc. There are separate sessions for K-1 and 2-4, but they do fill up fast. Please click this link register.

We have a group of twenty-four Nova Classical staff composed of K-5 teachers, support staff, and administrators engaged in LETRS training for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Another cohort of fifteen staff members from the English Language Learner, English Language Arts, and Special Education departments from K-12 will be engaged in LETRS training for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.

LETRS training is to increase our teaching community’s understanding of the Science of Reading, so that we are better able to address struggling reading scholars. Nova Classical Academy prioritizes the use of challenging, primary source materials, so we know our students must master the science of reading and the fine arts of comprehension and analysis in order to give our students access to the best information. This training is incredibly time intensive so we want to acknowledge and extend gratitude for the extra effort and time these staff members are taking on in addition to their instructional vocation.

Congrats, NCA Robotics! Both of our robotics teams are heading to the MN State First Tech Challenge (FTC) Competition after an impressive showing at their recent competition in Prior Lake! With over 187 FTC teams in Minnesota, only the top performers advance to the state tournament—what an incredible accomplishment!

Team Tempest #6699 played in the final match and earned the 3rd place Inspire Award, one of the highest honors in robotics tournaments. Captains Thomas Huelskamp and Leo Thao led the team with exceptional guidance, helping new members and building a competitive robot. Earlier this year, Tempest competed at FTC Worlds and won the iconic "Bean" Award at a Chicago invitational this summer.

Team Argonauts #13076 was recognized with the Connect and Promote Awards for their outstanding communication and the creation of both team videos. Captains Cora Vestrum and Anne Tsai provided stellar leadership that set their team apart.

Congratulations to both teams on their success, and good luck at the MN State FTC Competition!

Thank you to our many donors who helped make Give to the Max Day a success for our school. Together, we have raised more than $36,000 towards our goal and are still accepting donations to help us fulfill our mission. Congratulations to our winners of these classroom challenges that were announced on our social media channels:

• Ms. Buri's homeroom will enjoy a popcorn party
• Ms. McEnery's class will enjoy special gym games
• Ms. Van's class was a double winner this year with special VIP Virtue Assembly Seating, ta-dah, AND extra recess!
• Mr. Butts' House and Dr. Manley's will have won the Kickball Challenge
• Mr. Boll's 7th Grade House has won a special House activity
• Additionally, we have ALL earned a SILLY SOCK DAY for advancing past the $20,000 mark on Give to the Max Day!

Tomorrow, Friday, December 6, we invite and encourage students, parents, and supporters to join us in wearing Silly Socks! Way to go everybody. Thank you for contributing to our tuition-free public charter school, your support makes a HUGE difference!

Parents and Community Members:

Apply to become an active volunteer to help support our scholars and school community! Click here to view the always-current list of opportunities and links to sign up. Sign up to help make or distribute hot cocoa at the Free All-School Ice-Skating party or during school on the last day before winter break!

SoR Volunteering Network:

Our School of Rhetoric Students (Grades 9-12) are required to log 80 hours of community service to graduate. Please help us connect our students with opportunities in the community. Please contact Ms. Voelker, School Counselor, Grades 8-12, with questions or ideas.

Next Board Meeting: January 27, 2025

For meeting minutes and agendas for upcoming meetings, visit the Board section of Nova Classical's website.

The Nova Classical Board of Directors is seeking a Community Member candidate to serve through the remainder of this school year (through June 30, 2025). Community members cannot be a Nova employee or a parent/guardian of a student enrolled at Nova Classical, but could be the grandparent of a student. Community member candidates must reside in the state of Minnesota and be at least 21 years old.

Please contact Becky Lund, chair of the Governance Committee (governance@novaclassical.org), with questions or if you know of someone who might be interested in supporting Nova Classical at the board level.

The next NovaPTO Meeting is Tuesday, January 7, 2025, from 7:30-8:30 PM via Zoom only.

Meeting ID: 842 4045 9837

Passcode: enrich

Interested in joining the Lower School Advisory Council? There are still grade level reps needed! Email Missy for more information at mrsmyth08@gmail.com.

Save the Dates:

12/15/2024: Free Ice-Skating Event from 3:10-5:10 PM at Schulz Area in St. Paul

12/20/2024: Upper School Party at Dave & Buster's (purchase tickets here)

Click here to see the many ways you can volunteer with NovaPTO.

Follow NPTO on Facebook, Instagram, or visit their website for more information and get in touch with Nova Classical families when you sign up for the Family Directory!

December:

3: NPTO Meeting from 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM (Zoom)

15: All School Ice Skating Party (NPTO)

19: Festive Sweater Day for K-12 students

20: No School (Staff Work Day)

23-31: No School (Building Closed)

January:

1-3: No School (Building Closed)

7: NPTO Meeting from 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM (Zoom)

16: End of Quarter 2 (LS) /Semester 1 (US)

17: No School (Staff Work Day)

20: No School (Building Closed)

27: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

February:

4: NPTO Meeting from 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM (Zoom)

6-7: One Act Play Festival

14: No School (Staff Professional Development Day)

17: No School (Building Closed)

24: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

Did you know that you can follow Nova Classical Academy on social media? Stay in the loop by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!