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FOUNDING

In 1994, 5 families gathered to consider founding a classical Christian school in Boise.  The success of Logos School in Moscow, Idaho had spurred dozens (now hundreds) of schools to open nationwide.  Darel Tracy signed the incorporation documents and the school was slated to open in the fall of 1995.  Only 3 students in the 2nd grade arrived for class on the first day in the basement of Ustick Baptist Church-- all sons of board members.  One of these, Dylan Tracy, graduated with our first class in 2006.  David Goodwin, our current headmaster, helped with marketing and other business matters and was added to the Board of Directors in 1997.  Darel Tracy remains on our board today.

The school hired Wesley Callahan, a leading thinker and author in the classical Christian movement, to write our K-5 curriculum.  In 1996 the Academy hired Andrew Kern, co-author of "Classical Christian Education".  These men largely shaped the curriculum and program that we have today.  Andrew was brought on full-time and helped us to develop the ethos of the school.  He taught 3rd grade and ran the school administratively until the board hired a full-time administrator in 1997.  Andrew Kern now runs a classical Christian resource center in North Carolina called Circe Institute. 

GROWTH
 

The school grew rapidly, to 35 students its second year and around 70 the third.  The school continued to add one grade per year, to graduate its first class of 8 students in 2006.  In 1997, Foundations Academy gained national attention when Helen Chenoweth brought Newt Gingrich to Boise and he visited with our students.  The story was broadcast nationally on National Public Radio.  You can still listen (we hope) to the archive.  The School relocated to Broadway Avenue Baptist Church in 1996-97 and continued there until 2000, when occupancy issues with the city caused us to move to an educationally rated building in 2000.  The Community Christian Center graciously leased us space in its educational wing where we continue today.  We have around 19 rooms, a science lab, and a gym in our present facility, and we have squeezed into every inch of it.  We have teachers desks in the hallway and use both the library and science lab as classroom space.  St. Ambrose Christian High School was inaugurated in 2005 as the school of rhetoric for Foundations Academy.

ACCREDITATION

Continuing on our path toward providing a new vision for education in the Boise valley, the board of directors passed a resolution in 2005 to seek accreditation from the Association of Classical Christian Schools.  While the association has almost 200 members, it has fewer than 20 accredited schools.  To become accredited, a school must be K-12, must teach at least 2 years of Latin or Greek in the upper school, must require math through trigonometry, and must teach logic and rhetoric (among many other requirements).  These requirements make ACCS accreditation difficult to achieve for many schools.  In May of 2006, the school was visited by representatives of three larger schools-- Schaeffer Academy in Rochester, Minnesota, Westminster Academy in Memphis, Tennessee, and Regents School of Austin, Texas.  They approved our accreditation in June of 2006.

OUR FUTURE

Acquiring a permanent facility is the final step in establishing Foundations Academy's presence in Boise.  We have achieved academic and organizational success, but our size makes it difficult to find a place to meet, especially if we were to lose our present lease for some reason.  For several years, we have been raising money to purchase land.  The rapid growth in Boise has made purchasing land difficult.  With over $800,000 in contributions to date, we are working to find property that will suit our needs.  We plan to have an announcement ready by March of 2007.

The Academy's building is but a small part of our future vision.  Each year, our music program grows larger, with the addition of an orchestra in 2005, and another performance orchestra in 2006.  Our chime choir continues for the grammar and middle schools, as does an upper-school choir.  Each year, our Christmas program becomes more enjoyable as our students grow in their ability.  We plan to continue work adding the visual arts in the next 3 years.  With our house program and competitive athletics, the school continues to provide a well-rounded educational experience.

Academically, the school promoted Mr. William Stutzman to the role of Academic Dean in 2006.  He is also the principal for K-6.  Mr. Stutzman and Mr. Goodwin have visited other excellent classical Christian schools and headmasters across the US, attended multiple conferences, and hired experts to train our staff and consult.  The Academy is committed to taking our academic program to new levels of excellence.  We could just buy new books and add more "stuff" to the curriculum, but we don't think this is what education means. We believe that students need to be practiced in wisdom and eloquence.  This requires different subjects taught in an integrated way with a different method.  In short, it requires a completely different way of looking at education.  We hope you will join us in this vision.