NOVA NEWS - October 2024

Dear Nova Classical Community,

As we move into October, I want to take a moment to update our community on the work currently being done to determine the best use for the vacant parcel of land to the north of our school. Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard excited students share their ideas about what might come. While it’s wonderful to see such enthusiasm, I want to clarify that we’re not at the point of making any specific decisions just yet. There’s still a great deal of foundational work to be done before we can begin to make design decisions.

Our Facilities Committee is working diligently at what we call the "grammar level" to ensure we have a solid understanding of all the facts and realities that will guide our decisions. Our focus is currently on four critical areas:

• Facility Needs: You may remember participating in surveys last year to help create Nova Classical's Facility Needs Analysis. The final report of the Facility Needs Analysis included your stakeholder feedback, heat maps of building usage, and industry standards of square footage in various types of spaces. From the needs identified, we will prioritize top needs to address in the expansion.

• Site Study: As you may be aware, our school is situated on a complex piece of land—a remediated petroleum tank field. We’re currently working to understand any restrictive covenants or liens that may still apply to the property. We are also navigating Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) requirements, which can impact what we’re able to build. You may have noticed soil borings being conducted earlier this week; these will help us better understand the composition and stability of the land before construction.

• Code Requirements: We’re analyzing city and zoning codes, which will also play a significant role in determining what can be built. One key factor is the updated building codes enacted in 2020, which require that a large portion of any new facility must serve as a storm shelter for our entire building population. This code requirement will serve as a foundational element in the design process. Additionally, we’re reviewing how zoning codes will affect the building’s placement, parking, traffic flow, and the integration of any new structure with our existing building.

• Budget: Like most public charter school building projects, the vast majority of funding for any expansion will come from issuing bonds. We’re currently working through the bonding process to determine the level of funding available and how it may impact the school’s regular operating budget. Ultimately, this will determine the scale of the project we can undertake.

While we may not yet have firm details to share at this point in time, we are laying the groundwork to make sure we understand the unique parameters we must work within. We look forward to keeping you updated throughout this process!

It’s a Great Day to Be a Knight!

Dr. Brett Wedlund

We invite our community members and students to share their stories, achievements, and upcoming events for a chance to be featured in Nova News! 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!

Please join us for Parent Education Night on Tuesday, October 8, from 5:30-7:30 PM. We'll be having mini-learning sessions on subjects such as classical education; how to help your child at home with Latin, math, and reading; best practice for studying and organization; and more!

This is an in-person event that will begin on the 3rd floor Exhibition Hall at 5:30 PM. We will be serving a pizza dinner at 5:30 and then start our informational programming at 6:00 PM.

Nova Classical Academy is pleased to invite the special people in our students' lives so that they can experience the unique nature of our learning community. Grandparents and special persons will be greeted in the Great Room at a welcome table for check-in and refreshments and then escorted to classrooms.

All guests must RSVP at this link, so we can be well prepared to welcome all of our guests. The last day to RSVP is Saturday, October 5, 2024.

We are offering time to visit during three different class periods to reduce crowds. Please sign up for only one visit per scholar. Due to space constraints in our classrooms and in the parking lot, we ask that only Grandparents and/or Special Persons (and not Parents) visit on this day.

Parents/guardians, we still need a number of volunteers to run this event smoothly; please sign up here to volunteer. Contact Ms. Gabor at vgabor@novaclassical.org with any questions.

On Unity Day, October 16, students may wear orange shirts/tops to show their support and to make a powerful statement, helping inspire everyone to act with kindness, acceptance, and inclusion on Unity Day, during National Bullying Prevention Month, and EVERY day. Students are expected to to wear uniform pants/shorts/skirts. Students and staff will have the opportunity to sign the Unity Banner during lunch.

Please visit the MN Classical Education Conference website to learn more about this event on Wednesday, October 16, from 6:00-7:30 PM at the DoubleTree by Hilton Minneapolis Airport.

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!

Slow Road Photo will release galleries on October 3. Each family will receive an email link to their gallery. Look for an email from Slow Road for instructions on ordering school photos.

Retake Day is scheduled for October 24. Any students who were absent on Picture Day will automatically be included on our list. Students who have a photo from Picture Day and would like to have a retake photo done can register register here. This link is also included in all of our email communications with the families.

If you have any questions or concerns about images or ordering, please contact Slow Road directly at hello@slowroadphoto.com or (612) 293-6327.

Libraries open doors for reading, research, and resources! Nova Classical Student ID's double as Library Cards again this year! Through our LibraryGo partnership with the St. Paul Public Library (SPPL), all students have active library cards that can be used to check out up to 5 books and materials, and to access their online databases. Help your student use their account online or at checkout at one of the 14 SPPL branches.

• Account number: Nova Classical’s school number (2209190300) + (the scholar's 4-digit lunch PIN number)
• Password: Your child’s birthday written MMDDYY, for example, January 26, 2012 would be 01262012

If you have questions about this program, contact Ms. Gabor at vgabor@novaclassical.org.

Help us give the gift of warmth! We will be accepting new and gently used winter clothing to be distributed to families within our Nova community.

From October 22 through November 9, any new or gently used hats, scarfs, mittens, gloves, coats, snow pants, and boots can be dropped off in Miss Stella’s office, Room 402 in the main office.

• Thursday, November 21, 2024, 4:30-8:00 PM, in person only. Stop by the NPTO-Sponsored Parent Lounge in the Great Room between conferences for refreshments!

• Monday, November 25, 2024, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM, virtual only (Google Meet)

• Please note that all Special Education conferences will be virtual

• All conference slots are 12 minutes long and are booked through PickATime

Look for a reminder about directions in November's Nova News. Families will be individually emailed directions by early November.

Winter Registration Dates:

Mock Trial and Speech: Open NOW

Winter Sports: September 30, 2024

Winter After School Clubs: October 28, 2024

Check out details for all of the above on the Extracurriculars page of the Nova website.

K-12 Basketball information:

If your student is interested in basketball, and you are not currently on the mailing list, please contact the coaches to be added.

Boys Program Head Coach: John Carrier jcarrier@novaclassical.org

Girls Program Head Coach: Mychal Morris mmorris@novaclassical.org

Students in Grades K-8 must to be accompanied by a parent/guardian to attend all home athletic events. Students in Grades 9-12 may attend events without a parent/guardian present, but must purchase an annual student pass for $10. The student pass will get an individual student into any contest hosted on campus for either, volleyball, basketball, or soccer. Family passes are also available to purchase.

Passes and can be purchased online in advance, with a credit card at the door, or with Apple Pay on your mobile device. The ticketing site is located at the GoFan link in the tool bar of the extracurriculars calendar or by the Quick Links on the extracurricular page of Nova Classical's website.

Congratulations to our scholars for the hard work and achievements!

National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalists

• Sophia Lee

• Sean Borell
• Rachel Jeong
• Thomas O'Keefe

National Merit Scholar Commended Students

• Mason Engelking

• Zenji Shiroma

• Anne Tsai

Thank you to Jim Stavsvick of the Roseville Guitar Center, and Myka Miller-Jimenez of the Guitar Center Foundation for graciously providing guitar repairs and clean-up free-of-charge. In addition, they replaced a guitar that was damaged beyond repair. This is a huge benefit to our beginning guitar players; the repaired guitars will allow students to have a positive guitar-learning experience. Mrs. Anderson and American Music students.

Thank you to the Nova Classical community who came to Barnes & Noble on Saturday in support of the Bookfair! You generously donated over 200 books to 26 K-12 classrooms! A special thank you to the School of Rhetoric’s Asian American & Pacific Islander Club and Green Team for joining in on the fun of reading and sharing poetry to the younger scholars.

Congratulations to the raffle winners:

• Lunch with Ms. Tousignant: Kaveh, from Ms. Van’s classroom; Evelyn F., from Ms. Van’s classroom; Alberto, from Ms. Van’s classroom; and Cadence, from Ms. Knutson’s classroom.
• $25 Barnes & Noble gift card: Reid from Ms. Lund’s classroom and Lincoln from Ms. Marchand’s classroom.

Not able to make it to the Bookfair? Your purchase on www.BN.com/Bookfairs, through Friday, will still support the NPTO! Include 12795357 under ‘Add Bookfair ID’ during checkout.

A special SPECIAL thank you to Mrs. Gleason, for sharing her second children’s book, Mousie Goes to the Farm. It was wonderful to have a Meet the Author segment of the bookfair and we appreciated her being available to read and sign books all day long. The five winners from her Mousie give-a-way are: Alberto Olvera Wahl (1st), Ameya Suhasa (3rd), Hollis Norman (1st), Gladys Folkers (grandma of Zoey, 3rd and Luca, K), Munson family (William 3rd, Louisa 1st)

Thanks again for your amazing support,

The Bookfair Committee and Volunteers:
David Becker, Lindsay Becker, Enid Boeding, Charlie Davidson, Siiri Davidson, Maria Duggan, Serina Duggan, Jess Faulken, Molly Faulken, Kim Folkers, Ginger Gabor, Lizzie Gabor, Heather Gray, Linsey Griffin, Leah Mann, Marie Metzger, Doug Nilles, Crystal Schuweiler, Will Shepard, and Kana Sundblad

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. We still need help with brewing coffee and setting out breakfast for next week's 10/11 Grandparent & Special Person Day. Sign up to help collect tickets, run a game, or more at our 11/9 Great Gatherings Family Carnival!

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.

Highlights from the September 30 Board Meeting:

1. Human Resources Director, Kriscél Estrella, and consultant Margaret Kolb-Tavis presented the benefits renewal costs as well as changes to the offered plans (two options with different, higher deductibles). Ms. Estrella recommended Nova Classical approve the 10% increase from HealthPartners, but have the school cover most of the increase rather than increasing the employee contribution amount. The Board approved renewing all employee benefits at the proposed amounts and also having Nova Classical increase their monthly contribution to $575 per month per employee for medical benefits.

2. Academic Director Dr. Missy Johnson presented Nova Classical Academy’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores and how they compare to goals set by Nova Classical’s authorizer, Friends of Education.

• Nova has a goal to be no less than 22 points higher than the state averages in test results for third grade students, but test results indicate we are not on track to meet that goal.

• Nova is more on track to meet our goal to demonstrate higher school-wide proficiency rates than St. Paul and Edina school districts. Nova was slightly below Edina in reading last year, but Nova remains above Edina in school-wide proficiency rates in math and in science. Nova remains above St. Paul Public Schools in all three areas.

• Nova is mostly on track to meet the school-wide calculated growth scores goal.

• Nova is on track to meet growth goals in math for FRP students, but not for Black/African American students. However, both groups improved to meet the goal in reading growth.

Dr. Johnson concluded the presentation by explaining improvement strategies, including instructional strategies for all teachers and LETRS training (through the READ Act) for all reading teachers.

3. The Board approved a contract for communication services for the schematic design phase from CEL Marketing PR Design.

The next regular Board meeting will be on Monday, October 28, 2024.

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.

Everyone is welcome at Nova PTO meetings! The next virtual meeting is on Thursday, November 7, 2024 from 7:30-8:30 PM via Zoom. (moved to Thursday due to the election).

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 842 4045 9837

Passcode: enrich

Great Gatherings Family Carnival on Saturday, November 9, at Nova Classical from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Nova Great Gatherings Family Carnival Event Details Click the "Carnival Details" button

TICKETS: Carnival RSVP REQUIRED by October 31

VOLUNTEER:

• Carnival Day Volunteer Slots
• Carnival Planning Committee

Grade Level Fall Meet Ups will be scheduled before the mid-October break. Keep an eye out for the flyers in your child’s take home folder. Fall Meet Ups are organized by each grade level's room parents and facilitated by the Lower School Parent Advisory Council. For more information, please contact Missy Smyth by email at mrsmyth08@gmail.com.

Save the Date!

1. Great Gatherings Family Carnival on Saturday, November 9, from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, at Nova Classical
2. Nova PTO Meeting: December 3, from 7:30-8:30 PM, on Zoom
3. Free Ice-Skating Event: Sunday, December 15, 3:10-5:10 PM at Schulz Area in St. Paul

Follow NPTO on Facebook, Instagram, or visit their website for more information!

October:

3: No School (Staff Work Day)

4: No School (Staff Professional Development Day)

8: Parent Education Night at Nova Classical at 5:30 PM

10: NHS Fine Arts Fair

11: Grandparents/Special Persons Day

16: Unity Day

16: Classical Parent Education Night

17: No School (Staff Work Day)

18: No School (Building Closed)

21: No School (Building Closed)

24: Picture Retakes

28: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

28: Winter Activities Registration Opens

31: End of Q1 (LS) / Midterms (US)

November:

1: Enrollment Application Window for 2024-2025 Opens (for new students only)

1: No School (Staff Work Day)

7: Enrollment Open House from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM

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

9: Great Gatherings Family Carnival (NPTO)

15-16: Nova Classical Drama Production: Little Women

21: Give to the Max Day

21: Evening K-12 Conferences from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM

25: Board of Directors Meeting at 6:00 PM

25: K-12 Conferences from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

26: No School (Staff Professional Development Day)

27-29: No School (Building Closed)

December:

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

19: Festive Sweater Day for K-12 students

20: No School (Staff Work Day)

23-Jan 3: No School (Building Closed)

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