YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - Yuba-Sutter parents looking for alternatives to public high school will soon have a new option.

Next fall, Chesterton Academy of the Most Holy Eucharist will open on the Campus of St. Isidore’s School in Yuba City. This school will join the Chesterton Network of Schools, a collection of independent school that have been opening across the country, as well as in Canada and Italy. The Mission of the schools is to “inspire and encourage parent led schools across the nation.”

The Chesterton Network of schools aims to provide a rigorous classical education to high school students. What started as a single school in Minneapolis, Minnesota now has campuses in multiple states and its first international branch in Italy. The uniform curriculum includes the standard college prep courses in addition to music, drama, art, debate, theology and philosophy. Other Chesterton schools have added choir, sports and travel opportunities.

Each of the four years of the program will have a focus. Freshmen will concentrate on the ancient world, sophomores on the early Medieval period, juniors on the High Middle Ages/Renaissance and seniors on the Modern World.

The Yuba City program will be supervised by Principal Susan Burky. While the initial class is estimated to be small, Burky hopes to increase enrollment quickly drawing from both St. Isidore’s students and the wider community.

Extra classrooms at St Isidore’s will be used and there is a possibility of expanding to the former Notre Dame School campus in Marysville, if needed. While the school is Catholic, students from all backgrounds will be welcome. Tuition will be kept as low as possible to make the school accessible to interested families. Recently, Chesterton announced a partnership with Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio which would allow juniors and seniors to earn as many as 36 college credits before graduating from high school.

The school’s mission is to collaborate with parents, honoring them as their children’s primary educators. This combined with Burky’s emphasis on St Isidore’s being a place of “healing” makes the new high school an attractive option to local families.

For more information on St Isidores’s School and the Chesterton Network please visit www.stisidoreschool.org  and www.chestertonschoolsnetwork.org.