A Difficult Decision

In July 2019, I made the decision that I would open an Acton Academy here in Columbus. After having read Courage to Grow and seeing the original Acton Academy Austin in action, I was more convinced than ever about the learner-driven approach to education. And ever since my journey down to Austin, I have looked forward to opening 360 Academy.

The pandemic and lock down did not change my enthusiasm. Even as of a couple weeks ago, I had some hope that we may get back to normalcy and open up 360 Academy. Unfortunately, we’re still not there. And so it is with extreme sadness that I have to share that I will be delaying the opening of the school to 2021.

To open a school at any time is a challenge. To open up a school during a pandemic with so much uncertainty became an even bigger task. Personally, I have struggled tremendously with whether or not I should still open the school. And that struggle still continues even as I write this. However, in fairness to everyone that has expressed an interest in becoming a founding family, I had to finally make a decision.

For those of you I connected with over the past year, thank you for your time, enthusiasm and support for 360 Academy. And while the dream is on pause for now, it is not dead. Over the next year, I will work towards finding a suitable location, meeting with more families and creating an environment that our children will love coming to every day.

For those of you I’ve met, I look forward to seeing you again soon. For those I haven’t, please feel reach out if you’d like to connect about the school.

Together, we can reimagine education for our children.

Varun Bhatia