High school to make $2.4M investment in building

The Village of Saukville Plan Commission last week approved plans for a $2.4 million investment by the first private high school in Ozaukee County in the former Ozaukee Christian and Immaculate Conception school building.

NorthShore Classical Academy, which plans to open in the building at 341 S. Dries St. in late summer, 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.

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 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.”

Work on the addition and initial renovations, which will be done by Catalyst Construction, is scheduled to begin in late February or early March and be substantially completed in time for the school to open in September, Turner said. 

The project means 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 in summer 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.

Cheryle Rebholz of Mequon, the school’s founder and president, said in August 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 this week. It will add one grade a 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.”

Enrollment has opened and the school is already more than halfway to its maximum number of students, Turner said. 

It has also hired Tim Dosemagen to be its founding head of school. 

Dosemagen has nearly 25 years of experience as a teacher and academic leader ranging from serving as a foreign language excellence instructor with the Kenosha Unified School District to post-secondary leadership roles throughout the country.

He holds a doctor of education degree in management of educational programs from Nova Southeastern University in Florida and is fluent in Chinese.