Saukville high school pushes opening back a year

The first private high school in Ozaukee County, which was to welcome its inaugural class to the former Ozaukee Christian and Immaculate Conception school building in Saukville this summer, recently announced it has delayed the school’s opening by a year.

NorthShore Classical Academy founder and President Cheryle Rebholz of Mequon cited construction delays and a “longer-than-anticipated process to secure financing” for the decision to postpone the opening until September 2027.

“We were, with great anticipation and excitement, preparing to welcome our first students in September 2026,” Rebholz said in a statement. “A variety of factors have, however, led our Board of Directors to decide to delay NCA’s opening by one year.

“The partnerships with our architects and general contractor are strong. We continue to pursue multiple promising avenues to obtain the financing we need.”

In January, the Village of Saukville Plan Commission approved the school’s plans for a $2.4 million renovation of the building at 341 S. Dries St., and Rebholz said this week those plans have not changed.

NorthShore Classical Academy intends to build a 940-square-foot addition to the front of the school between the newer section of the building, which dates to 1962, and the older portion built in the 1800s.

“It will kind of merge the buildings together, integrating the old with the new in a beautiful glass design,” Inna Turner, vice president of NorthShore Classical Academy and a member of its Building and Grounds Committee, said earlier this year.

The addition will provide a new entryway, as well as a reception area, offices and a conference room.

Significant renovations are also planned for the newer section of the building.

“We want to bring this part of the building out of the Stone Age and into the modern era,” Turner said. “We’re going to address almost everything, from installing new lighting and acoustic panels to having reverse osmosis water in the bubblers — things that are good for a learning environment.”

The project does not address the older part of the building, which will be the focus of a second or third phase of improvements, Turner said.

“We lovingly call it Hogwarts,” she said, referring to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter series of novels. “That’s the vibe. It’s beautiful, and instead of destroying it we want to bring it back to life with an eye toward modern learning.”

  The project promises new life for a building that served as a Catholic parish school from the late 1800s to 1999, then was home to Ozaukee Christian School before it moved to the Town of Trenton.

NorthShore Classical Academy purchased the building last year for $305,000, according to state real estate transaction records, and now plans to turn it into the first private, independent high school in the county.

Rebholz said last year she initially intended NorthShore Classical Academy to be a Wisconsin charter school, but after the application was denied she decided on a privately funded school.

We’re 100% independent,” she said. “Not a penny will come from the state or federal government. We’re a nonprofit.

“I don’t want rules and regulations from the state. I want freedom and independence from the government.”

The school, which will not be religiously affiliated, will use the Hillsdale College Curriculum, with one day a week dedicated to teaching students about careers through partnerships with area businesses.

The curriculum will provide a foundation in literature, history, science and math and provide four “pathways” for students — college preparation, career technical education, the military and entrepreneurship, Rebholz, a former Mequon-Thiensville School Board member, said.

The school plans to enroll between 50 and 55 freshmen its first year, a range recommended by a feasibility study the school commissioned, Turner said. It will add one grade each school year.

“Fifty-five is our top number (for the first year),” she said. “We want to make sure we don’t overextend ourselves. We’d rather have a waiting list than shove a bunch of students in a school.”

The school had just begun the application process and had not yet enrolled students when it made the decision to delay its opening, Rebholz said.

“The feedback from families has been very positive and no one was disappointed by the delay,” she said, “In fact, many applicant families told us this timeline actually works better for them, as their children are currently in sixth or seventh grade.”

Earlier this year, the school announced it had hired Tim Dosemagen, who has nearly 25 years of experience as a teacher and academic leader, to be its founding head of school, but Rebholz said this week Dosemagen has resigned for personal reasons.