Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
Jan. 27, 2016

Quality Hill Academy Photo
The former United Way of Greater Kansas City headquarters will serve as the location for Quality Hill Academy. Submitted Photo.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Northeast’s Scuola Vita Nuova [SVN] and downtown’s Crossroads Academy — two of Kansas City’s leading K-8 charter schools — will merge organizations in July 2017 and open a new high school in August 2018.

The new high school is set to be located near the Kansas City streetcar line and will enable students to enhance their education by engaging in the cultural, artistic and business communities of downtown Kansas City. The new high school will serve up to 600 students between ninth and 12th grades. The building’s size will allow the school to offer a full complement of AP courses and electives, along with sports, music, drama programs and other extra-curricular activities.

In a press release announcing the merger, SVN Principal Nicole Goodman said this high school will fulfill the dreams of their students and their families, “as together we create the educational experiences needed to succeed in the 21st century.” Dean Johnson, co-Founder and Executive Director of Crossroads Academy, added that from day one, their goal has been to offer children and their families an education using real-world classrooms in a collaborative learning environment, with a diverse student body.

“We saw a need and set out to fill it, and with these expansions we continue to fulfill that mission,” Johnson said.

In addition, Crossroads Academy also announced that it has selected the former United Way of Greater Kansas City headquarters at 11th and Washington Streets as the site of its second elementary school. The new school will be named Quality Hill Academy. The Victorian-era brick building was once a centerpiece of the Quality Hill non-profit campus, but has sat vacant the past few years. The new school will open in August 2016 with 186 students in grades K-3 and grow to 422 students in grades K-8.