History

Idaho Novus Classical Academy has been an idea since 2020.  It took almost a year for Founding Board Chair Ruth David to recruit five additional founding board members, including John Bassetti, Raymon David, Kari Hoagland, Alan Hodge, and Liz Williams-Itterly.  In July of that year, Mrs. David and her husband, Mr. David, hosted the first information session for the school at their home in Meridian.  Novus was incorporated in September, 2020, then became a Candidate Member School in the Hillsdale College K-12 Charter School Initiative the following March.

With these milestones behind them, the founding board began to pursue facility options and received a commitment of land from the McLeod Family and Avimor during August, 2021 and began their search for a school leader.  By the end of December, they hired Dr. Vincent Kane as founding principal and hosted the first public information session at the Avimor Community Center to share their vision with the broader community.  In January, 2022, Novus received 501c(3) status from the IRS and brought on two founding parents to assist with community outreach, Brian Blakeley and Chad Titmus.  In March, Maj. Bruce Sims was selected to be the founding assistant principal.

Dr. Kane and Maj. Sims took leadership of the school development project in July, 2022.  Work on the charter petition continued in earnest and it was submitted to the Idaho Public Charter School Commission (IPCSC) before summer’s end.  Directors from the boards of Treasure Valley Classical Academy and Idaho Novus Classical Academy came together to serve on the board of American Classical Schools of Idaho (ACS-I) and the Idaho Novus founding board was subsequently disintegrated.  On December 8th, 2022, ACS-I had their petition hearing before the (IPCSC) and Novus was officially authorized.  This milestone enabled founding efforts to progress rapidly, with facility design and construction financing as the next major efforts.  Financing was secured in July, 2023 and groundbreaking was celebrated at a ceremony on September 22nd, 2023.

The history of Idaho Novus Classical Academy shows that it takes a tremendous amount of work from a dedicated corps of volunteers to open a new school.  The founders of Idaho Novus Classical Academy freely contributed time and resources to turn their vision into a reality and lay an educational foundation for the next generation.  This community will always owe them a debt of gratitude for the contributions that they made through the founding effort.