Seven years ago, Highland Park Schools went through a highly publicized period of turmoil and organizational upheaval. The troubled time for that Detroit-area district was brought on by a steep drop in enrollment and the deep financial crisis that followed. By contrast, the district's newest upheaval is rooted less in obvious signs of distress than in conflicting visions of what success looks like. The state enacted a charter school law in 1994, and the first charter school, known in state law as a "public school academy," opened a year later. By 2012, the idea of governing a school through a contract, or charter, had expanded beyond individual schools to encompass entire districts. Highland Park, in metro Detroit, and Muskegon Heights, on the state's west side, both came under state emergency management because of their fiscal woes. The emergency manager for Highland Park decided to convert the conventional district into a "public school academy system." When the manager sought outside help to oversee the schools' operations and instruction, only the Leona Group, a Michigan-based charter management company, stepped forward. This report describes what happened when the district became under a charter management system.