The Leona Group (TLG) is a private company operating charter schools in the states of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It was founded in 1996 in Michigan by Dr. William Coats and operates 66 schools.

History

In 1996,

Cesar Chavez Academy Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, was the first charter school to partner with the Leona Group, initially serving students in grades K-5; it now serves more than 2,000 students in all grades at five Detroit campuses. The next year, The Leona Group expanded to Arizona and opened five charter high schools in metro Phoenix; it would relocate its headquarters to Arizona in 2000. In 2001, the Leona Group broadened its reach to serve students in Ohio, beginning with Eagle Academy, which opened in Toledo. In 2002, three additional Leona Group schools opened in Toledo, along with the organization's first school in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. The Leona Group has since expanded its operations in Arizona and moved into the Florida market. In 2012, The Leona Group was selected to take over operation of the

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Along with its neighbor of Hamtramck, Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by the city of Detroit. History The area tha ...

School District after it was ordered chartered by an

emergency manager Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...

. Leona renamed the system to Highland Park Public School Academy System, but it continued to bleed students and run into a variety of headwinds. After the high school was shuttered in 2015, the last remaining school in the system, an elementary school serving grades K through 8, received an "F" grade from state authorities.

Criticism and school performance

In 2013, Michigan education advocates criticized the Leona Group's operation of the

, finding that test scores in 2012 were lower than those of the public schools in Detroit. In 2014, CCA's original elementary school scored in the second percentile on state exams. Financial problems and sliding test scores prompted the closure of another Leona charter school in Detroit, Allen Academy, at the end of the 2015–16 school year, when the authorizing agent opted to terminate its relationship a year after broadening its relationship to incorporate other management companies. In 2015, after it obtained an "F" rating from the state for the 2013–14 school year, the chartering agent of one of The Leona Group's schools in

, Timothy L. Johnson Academy, threatened to close the school at the end of the year if improvements were not made. Ultimately, the school's charter was renewed for a two-year term.

References

External links

Company website
Lansing, Michigan Companies based in Arizona 1996 establishments in Michigan {{US-company-stub