Horizon Science Academy to close downtown location
5/24/2014Horizon Science Academy will close its downtown Toledo location at the end of the school year.
The charter school’s board of directors voted May 17 to close the school at 425 Jefferson Ave. Students can transfer to one of Horizon’s two other area schools: at DeVeaux Village, 2600 W. Sylvania Ave., or 630 S. Reynolds Rd.
There are about 275 students in the K-8 school this year. The Horizon schools are part of the Concept Schools network, a charter school management company that runs schools in Ohio and Illinois.
In a written statement, the school cited two main reasons for the closure. Though not specifically spelled out, one cause was a scuttled $830,000 deal to buy the YMCA/JCC of Greater Toledo’s North Summit Street building. The YMCA backed out and chose to sell the property to Toledo Public Schools instead.
Horizon’s other two Toledo locations have outdoor spaces, regulation-size gymnasiums, and other facilities the downtown location did not.
“After several attempts to secure a better facility, Horizon Science Academy-Toledo Downtown administrators found themselves unable to replicate the quality present in the other two Horizon locations,” the statement says.
The school also cited problems in transporting students to the location in the Secor Building across Jefferson from the Huntington Center.
TARTA closed its large station at the sports arena, so satellite buses were needed to transport students from a different station about 0.6 mile from the school, according to the statement. That made after school programming difficult, the school said.