Our Story
Founding (2010-2015)
Inspired by a Hebrew language charter school in Brooklyn, NY, a group of parent and community members worked for five years to develop Agamim Classical Academy with the goal of adding Hebrew to the public school language options in Minnesota.
In addition to teaching Hebrew, the founders envisioned an academically rigorous school, focused on helping students develop virtuous character and united around founding American values. Classical education tied each of these strands together beautifully.
After hiring our founding director and winning a federal charter-school start-up grant, securing funding from Hebrew Public (which supports and develops Hebrew language charter schools around the country), and obtaining the support of many incredibly generous funders, Agamim opened its doors in the fall of 2015.
Our founding parents, director, and community partners are deeply grateful to Agamim's faculty and staff, who bring the founding values to life each school day and to the families who have chosen Agamim's mission and vision for their scholars.
Growth: Years 1-4 (2015-2019)
Agamim Classical Academy opened in the fall of 2015 with 74 students in grades K-4 and 10 staff members. Our first school home was in Hopkins, MN. We quickly outgrew our 25,000 square foot schoolhouse and needed to find a bigger space to house over 300 students.
Our Final Chapter: Years 5-11 (2019-2026)
In the summer of 2019, we moved into our final home in Edina and opened that fall with 320 students and fulfilled our dream of becoming a K-8 school. During the pandemic years, Agamim reimagined classical education and graduated our first class of eighth graders online. Our incredible team knitted together live classrooms in the school building with virtual classrooms in homes all over the world.
Post-pandemic, Agamim returned to in-person learning earlier than most schools. As a result, our students’ learning held steady, and our community stayed close. We experienced strong strategic investment from external partners and implemented our most ambitious and successful strategic plan for academics, operations, talent, and leadership.
But keeping a successful small school afloat after the pandemic was no easy feat. Costs skyrocketed, enrollment in public schools declined, and funding at the state and federal level could not keep pace with this new reality.
While our Agamim leadership team and Board of Directors managed to respond proactively and creatively to each of these challenges over the years, in March of 2026, the leadership and Board no longer saw a viable path forward to continue to do so. On March 31st, the board voted to close Agamim Classical Academy permanently on June 30, 2026.
It is extremely difficult to contemplate losing a school we all love. By choosing to end our program on a high note, Agamim can finish the year strong for its students, staff, and families, and meet its obligations to our community and partners with greater clarity and certainty.
Thank you to our Agamim community for your unceasing and abundant outpouring of support, dedication, loyalty, hard work, and ingenuity that made our dream a reality for 11 incredible years.
