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COLUMBUS, Ind. — A new private “classical” school in Columbus will begin 2023-24 enrollment next month and plans to accept no more than 100 students in its first year.
Liberty Academy of Columbus will begin accepting applications on Dec. 15 and anticipates offering a total of 80 seats. According to the school’s website, interested families should submit an admissions inquiry and attend an informational meeting prior to applying.
There will be an in-person information session on Dec. 7 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Red Room of the Bartholomew County Public Library with another planned for Jan. 4, with the location to be determined. There will also be virtual sessions available via Zoom on a variety of dates spanning December to July.
Families who plan to attend a session, whether in-person or virtual, should RSVP at libertyacademycolumbus.com. They can also contact the school to set up an appointment, if the provided dates do not work with their schedules.
Founding member Victor “JR” Huff said in a previous interview that Liberty will be a private school with no religious affiliation. The school’s website states that while Liberty’s “ultimate goal” is to offer grades K-12, school officials expect to open with K-7 “in order to cultivate the culture necessary for a proper classical education.”
A location for the school has yet to be announced, but Huff said he is working on a proposal for a facility. The school is looking at a few different sites and plans to situate itself somewhere that is “centrally located” in Columbus.
In regards to staffing, he said that this will be driven by enrollment.
“While I have had some very productive discussions with several potential teachers, your hiring process when you’re beginning a school doesn’t really start until about February,” said Huff. “So we do have some strong candidates, but in terms of officially hiring staff, that process doesn’t begin until you’ve started to get your first wave of enrollment in and really understand what your staffing needs are.”
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
