Local Horizon charter school under state scrutiny

• Bond Hill school among four Horizon charters raided by FBI in June.
• State to review possible testing irregularities.
• Review expected to take weeks.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Department of Education is reviewing a complaint about testing irregularities at Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill, a department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

The department also is looking into a similar complaint at a Horizon high school in Columbus, the latest in a string of complaints and investigations into charter schools run by embattled Chicago-based Concept Schools Inc.

Concept also is under FBI investigation for possible improper use of a federal technology funding program. Several Concept schools in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were served with federal warrants in June. The Bond Hill school was among those raided.

"These new complaints stemmed from our last board meeting, when people testified about the situation in Dayton," department spokesman John Charlton said Tuesday. "We will now collect more information to determine whether there is enough to pursue a formal investigation."

Concept Schools operates 19 charter schools statewide, including the Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill. Concept received $48.5 million in state funding for the 2013-14 school year and enrolled more than 6,700 students statewide.

About 470 children are enrolled locally in the K-12 charter school. A charter school receives public school funding but operates separately as an alternate from public school districts.

"We welcome any investigation, and we take any allegation of wrongdoing very seriously, and we are cooperating fully with the education department," Concept vice president Salim Ucan said. "We have been open with the entire process, and we are conducting our own internal investigations as well."

The Ohio Department of Education already was reviewing complaints about the Dayton Horizon Academy, after teachers there shared accounts in July of sex games, test tampering and other potentially criminal misdeeds.

Charlton declined to discuss specifics around the newest complaints, but said that one was unsolicited and one came following the department's request that any issues at schools statewide be brought forth.

The news came Tuesday as 400 teachers and parents attended a Statehouse rally in support of Concept Schools. Several parents from Horizon and Noble Academy schools from throughout the state also testified in favor of their schools at the education board meeting earlier in the day.

Charlton said the complaints have been referred to the appropriate regional offices for further review, and the decision whether to pursue a formal investigation could take several weeks.

Ucan said it was "too early to discuss" any results of the company's internal investigations. Citing legal reasons, he declined to discuss the FBI investigation other than to say that only a handful of schools were raided in June, and that the FBI also raided vendors and other offices.

"We run very good schools and are proud of what we have done," Ucan said. He noted that Newsweek magazine recently named the Horizon Science Academy in Cleveland as one of the best high schools in the U.S.

Mary Johnson of Bond Hill, who is on the Horizon Cincinnati parent-teacher organization and who sends her two grandchildren to the school, was in Columbus for the support rally.

She said news of the latest inquiry as well as June's FBI raid did concern her, "but not enough to move the kids out of there."

"I can't really say anything negative about the school, and I'm proud to have my kids there," Johnson said.