Canyon State Academy
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Canyon State Academy is a private residential school serving male youth between the ages of 11–17 with a history of delinquent behaviors, dependent/neglectful backgrounds, mild mental and emotional health issues, and special education needs. Situated in
Queen Creek Queen Creek is a town in Maricopa and Pinal counties, Arizona, United States. The population was 59,519 at the 2020 census, and is at a population of 83,700 as of 2024. It is a suburb of Phoenix, located in the far southeast area of the Ph ...
,
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, its 180-acre campus includes a variety of programs, from temporary shelter to long-term residence. It is managed by
Rite of Passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of social status, status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisa ...
, which provides a variety of programs and services to at-risk youth throughout the nation. The school is a member of the
Canyon Athletic Association The Canyon Athletic Association (CAA), previously known as the Arizona Charter Athletic Association, is an American non-profit regulatory organization for athletic competition among secondary schools located in Arizona. The CAA serves small non-tra ...
.


History


Arizona Boys Ranch

The school started as the Arizona Boys Ranch (ABR) in 1948 and later grew to include eight facilities in
Oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...
, Queen Creek, and elsewhere. The original mascot in the ABR era was the Spartans, and colors were green and white. This was a nod to
Frank Kush Frank Joseph Kush (January 20, 1929 – June 22, 2017) was an American football player and coach. As a player he earned All-American honors in 1952 as a defensive lineman playing for the Michigan State Spartans. He was head coach at Arizona S ...
, a
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
alumnus, who helped start the football program in 1994. Almost immediately after its foundation, ABR football was a successful program. From 1995 to 1997, it had three nearly undefeated seasons — it only lost to one team, Blue Ridge High School from Pinetop-Lakeside, but it faced the Yellow Jackets three consecutive years in the 3A title game and lost. From 1995 to early September 1998, no school would beat ABR except for Blue Ridge; this streak was broken when another emerging football power, Chandler's
Hamilton High School Hamilton High School may refer to: United States Alabama * Hamilton High School (Alabama) in Hamilton Arizona * Hamilton High School (Chandler, Arizona) in Chandler Arkansas * Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy California * Hamilton High Sc ...
, beat the Spartans on their own turf. It was the first time ever that the visiting school won in a game played at the Boys Ranch. On March 2, 1998, Nicholaus Contreraz died at the Boys Ranch due to abusive conditions. On August 27, 1998, the Boys Ranch lost its operating license. It was later reinstated (by October 7), but the effects echoed. Once an
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Peñas de Aya, small mountain range in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ...
3A school whose enrollment had reached 458 students in 1998, it had 45 students after California pulled out the students it sent to ABR (3/4ths of enrolled students), making it one of Arizona's smallest high schools. Its facility in Oracle and four other sites closed, centering activity on the Queen Creek location. Contreraz was the second death at the facility. In October 1998, an Arizona
grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
indicted 5 former staff members on child abuse and manslaughter charges, and 17 former staff members were placed on the Arizona Child Abuser Directory.


Canyon State Academy

In March 2000, the name of the school was changed to Canyon State Academy (CSA), ushering in a decade in which new owners Rite of Passage began to standardize the naming and colors of the school to match some of their other high school programs and to distance itself from the ABR era. Athletics reimaging climaxed with the changeover of colors and mascot from the ABR-era Spartans to maroon and gray and the Rams in 2005. On January 21, 2020, 17-year-old boy, Jonathan Quiroz, died at Canyon State Academy after being found unresponsive. The teenager was found at about 11:30 p.m. when emergency personnel arrived at the school. He was transported to a hospital but died shortly after. On July 1, 2020, Canyon State Academy officials said that 23 students and 8 staff members tested positive for
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.


See also

* George Fuller Miller Sr.


References

{{authority control Charter schools in Arizona Schools in Maricopa County, Arizona Educational institutions established in 1948 1948 establishments in Arizona Residential treatment centers