NELSONVILLE, Ohio — A charter school that opened in Logan two years ago wants to put its upper school on Nelsonville’s Public Square, and the proposal has drawn packed meetings, pointed questions and a zoning fight over what belongs in the city’s downtown commercial district.
Southeast Ohio Classical Academy, known as SOCA, is working to expand into the building at 10 West Washington Street, formerly the Athens County Community Cares Resource Center, according to the Athens County Independent. The building would require a zoning variance to permit a school in the downtown commercial district.
SOCA opened in Logan in 2024 and currently provides free kindergarten through seventh grade education, expanding next school year to include eighth grade, with a goal of serving grades K–12 by 2030, the Independent reported. The school’s stated mission is to establish “moral character and civic virtue” in its students, according to its website.
SOCA Principal Tim Allen told the Athens County Independent in an email that 10 West Washington will be used for “many of our upper school students. This will also free up much needed space here on our lower school campus.” SOCA founder and treasurer Claire Green attended Nelsonville’s Planning and Development Committee meeting on October 20 and said a presence in Nelsonville would create more options for families, the Independent reported.
Residents have weighed in at two public meetings so far — the October 20 planning committee session and a regular city council meeting on October 26 — where business owners, parents and educators from both SOCA and Nelsonville-York City Schools spoke. English teacher Casey Cox voiced reservations at both meetings, one of several speakers to raise concerns about how a new charter school could affect resources available to Nelsonville’s public schools, according to the Independent.
Money is part of the backdrop. As The Logan Daily News reported, the school carried a deficit of more than $1.6 million at the end of fiscal year 2025, but was boosted by increased enrollment for the 2025–26 school year, the Independent noted. Because state funding follows students, every Nelsonville-area family that chooses SOCA shifts dollars away from the district — the central tension in nearly every charter expansion debate in Ohio.
What happens next: the proposal for 10 West Washington Street remains before Nelsonville officials, who must decide whether to grant the zoning variance that would allow a school in the downtown commercial district. No decision had been announced as of Monday, November 2.
Photo: Tim Kiser, CC BY-SA