Here’s SLOCA Weekly Email Update #2, sent June 16, 2005. . . .
Hi all! We’re excited to be sending our second weekly update! If you know anyone who’d like to receive these emails, please send us their email address. If you’d rather not receive these, let us know that and we will get you off our list.
Well, we continue to work towards San Luis Obispo Classical Academy’s opening this fall. As we move through the lengthy and involved process, we are learning a lot about schools and businesses, and continue to grow in excitement about what the school will be like this year and in years to come. Classical education continues to draw our loyalty, and the concept of coming alongside parents in the education of their children in the unique manner we are offering continues to motivate us.
Q & A Meeting only one week away!
We’d like to remind you about the Q & A meeting we have scheduled for Thursday, June 23rd, 7:00 p.m. at the home of Joe and Betsy Pollon. We have wonderfully rich information nights on May 23rd and June 6th, and look forward to another great evening on the 23rd. Please feel free to join us to further clarify answers to your questions, and please invite anyone who may be interested in SLOCA! If you are unable to make this evening, please do not hesitate to ask us your questions through an email or phone call.
Who is this Mystery Teacher, anyway?
We have mentioned that one woman has agreed to teach at the school this fall, but have yet to mention a name. Well…(drum
roll)…Barbara Hawkins, a teacher known and admired by many, is excited to join us in our endeavor to offer an excellent educational option to you. Barbara brings 11 years of teaching experience to the table, is versed in classical education, and has spent time teaching home schooled children. In addition, she is a lifelong learner (she recently enrolled in Latin with some students!) and is a great, energetic role model for our children. She will offer us all helpful skills and expertise, and will respect parents’ desire to be very actively involved in their children’s education. What grades will she teach? Not sure yet! That depends upon enrollment numbers.
Registration Deadline
We have set July 1st as the deadline for registration for the fall. If you need the necessary forms, please let us know and we will get those to you. What will reserve your child’s spot at SLOCA is the $50 registration fee and the completed forms. We are happy to assist in any manner possible. If you are unable to register by this date, the registration fee will go up to $75 to cover additional costs related to late registration. We encourage you all to register as quickly as possible as we work to plan out the upcoming school year. The more time we have to plan, the stronger the year will start.
Meet the Board of Directors
We had another full and productive board meeting this past Monday evening. And we promised to let you know who the board members behind SLOCA are. The are 5 members, each bringing unique expertise and input to the board and the school. They are, in no particular order:
• Ron Johnston – Ron is the member of the board that brings years of business experience to the school. He is a visionary, and has successfully started and been involved in his own businesses and larger corporations. He also brings experience being on boards to the school, helping us utilize our time and energies productively. Currently, Ron is President of Johnston Systems, a business consulting firm specializing in Internet marketing. He’s partner in a San Luis Obispo company, Parable Interactive, which provides online stores for hundreds of Christian stores and ministries nation-wide.
• Stephanie Valliere – Stephanie is a long-time SLO resident, and a woman who has cared about education both for her own children and for the community for a long time. She has successfully brought 3 children through their primary and secondary education, utilizing private, public and home schooling. She has been a support to the founders for two years, adding her own passion and community connections to help keep things moving along.
• Anne Schwab – Anne brings a unique background to the board. Not only did she work as a secondary teacher for 25 years, she was an administrator for 10 years and retired as a successful principal of a large high school in the L.A. area. Anne is greatly respected for her work as a principal, and has proven herself as a wonderful administrator and leader. Anne has also written many successful grants, and is willing to help us secure grants in the very near future!
• Lisa Lewis – Lisa brings 24 years of teaching experience to the board, in public, private and home schooling settings. She is widely respected as a teacher and is committed to her own lifelong learning. Lisa has spent hours becoming versed in classical education and has used classical methods in her teaching. Lisa is one of the founders of SLOCA, and continues to work hard keeping the vision alive and perfecting the model.
• Susie Theule – Susie brings years of education to the board and an ongoing, passionate commitment to classical education and the SLOCA model. She also has spent hours researching the classical method and has home schooled her 2nd grader using this approach this past year. Susie holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is currently using her brain power (or what’s left of it after 4 pregnancies!) towards getting a classical school option happening in SLO. She is also one of the founders of SLOCA.
So…that’s our board. Any questions?
Blogging
Have you accessed the blog yet? All the information in our booklet is available on the blog, and these weekly email updates are posted as well. Until we get a web site up and going, please refer to the blog – and refer others to the blog! – for information about the school. Thanks to Tim Theule for his time setting this up!
The address for the blog is sloca.blogspot.com.
Are you Ready to Go?
We’re ready for you to join us! There are many issues people are working through before committing to SLOCA for this next year. We want to assure you, once again, that we are deeply committed to your family having a rich, wonderful experience next year that will far out weigh whatever it is you fell you might have to give up. We are convinced that this model will serve your educational goals as a family, not disrupt them. We are excited to see who registers as a part of this school, and we have big plans for the future. More on that next week!
Until next week…
Susie Theule and Lisa Lewis
Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.
–William Yeats–
