Xenia’s STEAM Academy delays opening to 2023-24 school year

Just weeks before the new school year, one school in Xenia has had to tell close to 200 students that they won’t be able to come to class there this year.

Leaders at the Community STEAM Academy in Xenia said they had to have delay their opening until the 2023-34 school year. The school was expecting to welcome 190 students next month.

“They came from a variety of current school settings, some of them were from public school, some of them were from private school, some of them were home-schooled,” Robert Chasnov, Chair of the Board of Trustees for CSA-Xenia, said.

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The school had planned to move into the former Xenia YMCA, but when News Center 7 checked Monday it was clear the building was not ready yet.

What led to the delay started in June when, Chasnov said, a bank pulled a construction loan “that they had already authorized and promised [them] at a particular rate.” Then he said the furniture and IT companies could not guarantee August deadlines for their work.

“The Board decided that we didn’t want to do things half-heartedly, not knowing what the building facilities would look like,” Chasnov said.

CSA-Xenia is now the second Greene County school to delay opening due to construction problems. Labor and supply chain issues slowed work on the new Fairborn Intermediate School and caused the district to push the first day of classes back for the whole district to September.

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Chasnov said the Board and school officials have apologized to the families impacted by the delay. Students who had previously been accepted won’t need to re-apply. For families left having to figure out what to do this school year, Chasnov said the “options are still available” to “bounce back” to the former schooling option.

Families can find more help on the Ohio Department of Education’s website.