Our Story

The Legacy School is a high-quality public charter school serving students in grades 9-12. The Legacy School’s mission is to provide every child with a high-quality, high-school education resulting in student readiness for success in college and beyond. We will decrease dropout rates and increase academics and college preparedness in historically underrepresented communities.
“The Legacy School is the answer to the prayers of a community riddled with academic and economic disparities.” Said school founder Shawn Crosby.

Northeast Ohio is home to a grouping of the largest and most urban city school districts in the state, with over 90,000 students in grades k-12 in Cleveland City Schools (CMSD), East Cleveland Public Schools (ECCS), Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools, South Euclid Lyndhurst Schools, and Euclid City Schools. CMSD, the largest district, has an average math proficiency score of 41% and 44% in reading ((Ohio public school averages are 62% and 63%, respectively). Additionally, ECCS’s average math proficiency score of 22%, and a reading proficiency score of 34%. CMSD and neighboring districts share record dropout rates nearing 20% and struggle to maintain a 66% graduation rate which fell from 73% over the previous 5 years. Nearly 1 in 3 CMSD and ECCS high school students fail to graduate annually.When comparing Cleveland to other cities in Ohio, we find large educational attainment disparities.

• Cleveland has the largest percentage of people with no schooling at 16.3%. Additionally, it has the largest percentage of people with less than a high school diploma at 36.3%.
• Cleveland also has the largest percentage of people with only a high school diploma (or GED), at 33.7%.
• While 45% of graduates in Cleveland attend a 4-year institution, roughly 22% of them graduate in 4 years, and 26% drop out in the first year.

Over the years, the cycle of low to no academic attainment has had grave impacts on the community and lives of our children, inadvertently creating a cycle of seemingly generational poverty. The average household income in Cleveland is $26,105, far beneath the national poverty level. 98% of CMSD and 100% of ECPS students are classified as socially and or economically disadvantaged, with annual earnings below the U.S. Census Bureau’s description of poverty and low income.

CMSD and neighboring districts are surrounded by some of the top-ranked schools in the state/country. There are nearly 55 charter schools in this county, but there is only three traditional charter high school serving grades 9-12 within a 20-mile radius of the 44112, 44115, 44117 44118 zip codes, the largest and most populous zip codes in Northeast Ohio. While students get a charter school experience in k-8th grade, unfortunately for many, the pipeline ends in 8th grade. The average costs of a private high school are nearing $31,000 annually, and the median cost of a parochial high school education is $17,000. It is impossible for families to have options in secondary education. Not only does the charter school model break down in 9th grade northeast Ohio due to no charter options. It is inequitable and unrealistic that families are forced to move or send their children to failing high schools because of access to money and their physical address. Families deserve school choice. Students deserve a high-quality, high-performing free schooling option.

Since 2018, our founding team has worked to build the identity and research the viability of creating a new charter high school to serve families in Cuyahoga County. Our team surveyed 385 families inquiring about their belief in the ability of their local school district to prepare their child for life after high school, plans for enrollment, connection to cultural education, and access to academic options. 97% of the families felt that their schools traditionally missed the mark and, as a result, if possible, will be sending their children elsewhere. Our team hosted focus groups with over 50 members of our community, which included students, parents, and educators, Asking how would the perfect school look and feel. The focus groups demonstrated high demand from families for a high school that was intentionally diverse and had high levels of academics and expectations coupled with support for students. Chiefly, the groups expressed the need for their children’s culture to be celebrated and infused into the learning community. This listening tour informed the need for a school that was culturally responsive by design and could teach students about cultural competence and how to celebrate their heritage while working together to become great.

As a result of our listening tour, The Legacy School developed our core purpose; to ensure that our students go to college prepared with a strong sense of self and skills needed to learn, grow, and thrive. Our success is rooted in the promise we make to our families that our students graduate on time, go to college with a plan, are culturally competent, and are prepared to make meaningful contributions to society.

The Legacy School accepts the challenge to serve high school students to disrupt generational poverty, close student achievement, and opportunity gaps, graduate legends, and ensure graduates are prepared for a lifetime of Advocacy, service, leadership, innovation, and creativity. Legacy is passionate about using project-based learning to ignite and encourage student creativity and innovation.

Through the partnership with hundreds of parents and community members, The Legacy School’s founding team (TLS) welcomes 150 of Northeast Ohio’s (Cleveland, East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Euclid City School Districts) brightest students in grade 9, adding a new class until fully enrolled with 12th grade and 437 students (attrition considered) starting fall 2023. The Legacy School’s campus is strategically located to welcome a diverse student population of students of color and from an array of academic, socio-economic, cultural, and racial backgrounds attracting high-needs students and driving them toward academic/social stability and post-secondary education.