JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Minds of the Future Academy, a STEAM-focused Jacksonville private school with 150 students, was nearly ready to move into the permanent “dream” space it had spent years searching for.
Then burglars struck the property last week, leaving the school looking to its community for help.
Recommended Videos
According to MFA’s owner and principal, the school, which has been using a temporary space for about five years, closed on its 25,000-square-foot dream location off Beach Boulevard in August.
The building in the Spring Park area had to be gutted, but the school was hoping to get the much-needed renovations done before the spring semester so they could move the students to their permanent location.
The contractor had installed the sprinkler system and was in the process of redoing the electrical work when the workers showed up on Friday and found the property had been ransacked.
The workers found a glass door that had been shattered by a brick, which is how they believe the thieves got in. The front gate was not open, but the back gate, which the workers always close, was left open, the principal said.
Because the electrical work was still in progress, cameras had not yet been installed.
Thieves had made off with the contractor’s equipment, along with an estimated $200,000 of teaching and learning technology from the school, including TVs, laptops and smart boards.
The principal said the school plans to persevere and work toward a spring opening, despite the loss.
She’s asking the community to help them rally as they host a “school warming” with an Amazon wish list registry to help direct donations to replace the lost equipment.