Weak oversight continues to undermine Ohio's charter school sector, allowing charter management companies to evade the law with little or no accountability. This release documents how the Leona Group, a Phoenix-based, for-profit management firm, skirted Ohio law by opening a new school to replace one closed by the state. Paul Laurence Dunbar Academy, a K-8 school in Toledo operated by the Leona Group, appeared on the state’s closure list because of its poor academic record and was required to shut down by June 2010. But by July 2, 2010, the Leona Group had taken steps to open a new school, Northpointe Academy, at the same address with the same phone number and much of the same staff. Leona operates nine schools in Ohio, according to its web site. Click on the links below to read our press release and to see staff lists for the two schools.

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