Naples Classical Academy reports on school development and enrollment progress

NAPLES, Fla. (Jan. 20, 2021) – Naples Classical Academy, a new tuition-free classical curriculum K-12 charter school, has closed on the land for the 17-acre campus at 10270 Immokalee Road, just east of Collier Boulevard in North Naples. Construction will begin by the end of January.

“With the land purchase completed and the school’s financing approved, our plans are moving along right on schedule,” said Erika Donalds, president and founder of The Optima Foundation, the nonprofit charter management organization that is helping establish and manage NCA. “We’re excited to begin construction and see the campus building emerge over the next few months.”

Along with strong development progress, NCA continues to advance its student enrollment. A second student section lottery for interested families with K-10 students will be held Tuesday, Feb. 2. After the first student selection lottery in early January, NCA offered spots to 750 students. Well over 600 students have already confirmed their spots and enrolled for the 2021-22 school year. NCA has received nearly 1,000 applications since opening enrollment in September.

The enrollment process for Florida charter schools starts with a random student selection lottery. Application for the NCA student selection lottery for the 2021-22 school year is available at NaplesClassical.org/Apply. Eleventh grade will be added the subsequent year, and 12th grade will be added the year after. NCA is expected to open with an initial capacity of 800 students.

“We are very excited to have already received a tremendous response in applications for our first lottery,” said Matt Mathias, NCA’s governing board chairman. “There are still some seats available in every grade level for this excellent education opportunity. Prospective families who haven’t yet applied are urged to submit their student’s application by the Feb. 1 lottery deadline.”

Naples Classical Academy will receive support from the Barney Charter School Initiative of Hillsdale College and plans to use the Hillsdale College K-12 Curriculum. The curriculum utilizes explicit phonics and grammar, classic literature, and the Socratic method of instruction, with a focus on moral character and civic virtue. Scholars study Spanish beginning in kindergarten and Latin starting in sixth grade. In addition to the four core academic areas, the school will also offer world languages, western civilization, music and visual arts. The high school curriculum incorporates government, economics and moral philosophy.

For more information, visit Naples Classical Academy.