The first week of October brought our first parent conferences. Kate, Ashley and I enjoyed meeting with parents and sharing our impressions of the children.

Some families have asked about enrolling for next fall. We will reenroll this year's families in January. First preference will be given to children reenrolling in the same program and their siblings. Second preference will be given to children changing programs and their siblings. We will open up enrollment to new families on February 1st.

The New Classical Academy is thrilled to announce that we are in the planning stages of opening our second school in Sylva, North Carolina. The school, which will serve Jackson, Swain, Haywood and Macon counties will start with kindergarten through fifth grade and will be located in downtown Sylva. More information will follow in the November newsletter.

We are also looking into opening a school in the Swannonoa area. If we end up with a long waiting list for our Weaverville school, we would like to serve those families in that way. The only barrier to a third school would be lack of space. So please let us know if you hear of a potential opportunity to partner with a church or community building or to lease a suitable space.

The IRS has officially recognized The New Classical Academy, Incorporated as a non-proft entity. This means that all your donations are tax deductible! It also means that our new board of directors will be having their first meeting in November. Many thanks to Joanne Comito who has served with Kate and Kelly as our third board member during this crucial first year.

Daisy Homolka and Leroy Hollifield have been elected editors-in-chief of "The Pen and Ink" our newly formed student run school newspaper. The newspaper committee meets every Friday and hopes to have their first issue out in October. They are looking for good stories, so please contact them at 658-8317 if you have a story that needs to be told.

Andy is in now in charge of the school grounds. He has an active group every Friday who are ready and willing to work. We have had a generous parent contribution to purchase plants, so you should see those popping up soon. If you are interested in helping with this project please let Andy know. We are especially interested in any plants or cuttings you can donate.

Andy Cross was born and raised in South Florida. After many years of burning in the hot Florida sun Andy choose to move to the complete opposite climate to attend college. He attended the University of Vermont where he studied Forestry and Environmental Education. During his time in college Andy went to Kenya to further his education and attended the National Outdoor Leadership School. In 2002 Andy graduated with a BS in Forestry. After college he worked as a Program Director at a summer camp in Mills River, NC, Camp Highlander. He then moved on to working with Hurricane Island Outward Bound, and spent a year back in Florida doing 30 day canoeing trips with adjudicated youth. After tiring of working outside in a canoe for the majority of the year he choose to settle down with his wife Jane and his dog Pepper. Andy has spent the past 2 years working one-on-one with at-risk youth before joining the New Classical Academy team. When Andy is not teaching these days he can be found continuing with his love of nature and hiking. And on occasion does hiking gear reviews for the Blue Ridge Outdoor magazine.