Leadership, Classically Understood
On behalf of the entire staff of California Republic Leadership Academy, we want to express our thankfulness for your continuing interest in and support for our school and the critically important educational mission that we are serving. It is with immense excitement that we have now opened our third campus, in the Saddleback Valley, as well as expanded both of our original campuses, which are now at beautiful new locations: the former campuses of Clarence Lobo Elementary in San Clemente and Orchard Drive Elementary in Anaheim. Altogether, we are now serving almost three times as many students as we did when we opened our first campus in San Juan Capistrano with 182 students only three years ago.
If you are at all familiar with the classical charter school movement, you will not be surprised at the pent-up demand we are experiencing for a school that serves the classical mission of excellence and virtuous leadership. Since the first classical charter schools were founded about twenty-five years ago, classical schools have grown exponentially. According to recent reports from Arcadia Education, they now number over 1,500 nationally and are projected to increase by another 1,000 in ten years. However, compared with the country as a whole, the families of Orange County have been underserved. Classical education, especially tuition-free classical education, has only just become available here, and CRLA is working mightily to expand that availability to as many families as want it for their kids.
Washington’s strengths as a leader were not limited to mere competence; he possessed a character and a sense of calling that naturally drew men to follow and emulate him.
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It was with this great responsibility in mind that our team had the privilege of leading our now sizable staff of over 65 in seminars discussing our unique mission at CRLA. We are not only a classical charter school but one that focuses on the formation of leadership in our students, and by this we mean leadership classically understood. In our seminars we discussed the difference between modern notions of leadership and classical leadership, and we used the figure of George Washington as our exemplar. While today the focus on leadership is almost entirely on competence and skill sets, Washington’s strengths as a leader were not limited to mere competence; he possessed a character and a sense of calling that naturally drew men to follow and emulate him. Like many in his generation, he self-consciously modeled himself on the great exemplars of the past and sought to live up to those high standards in his service to his country.
The staff from all three campuses of the California Republic Leadership Academies.
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We at CRLA believe there is a hunger for recovering just this kind of leadership, and, as time allows, we will be sharing with you exciting things about how we are building out our leadership program by drawing the most meaningful lessons from our classical Hillsdale curriculum to inform and direct our popular and well-regarded leadership curriculum from FranklinCovey, to teach not just leadership but leadership classically understood.
We at CRLA believe that the classical mission of instruction in virtue remains incomplete unless it includes instruction in how to live out those virtues in the roles our students will play as leaders, community members, and citizens in their adult lives. And so it is with great excitement that we urge you to stay tuned, as with each monthly newsletter we will unfold the exciting things we have in store to achieve and further advance this vitally important mission we are all a part of.
On behalf of the community of CRLA,
Mike Davis
Director of School Culture and Development
