Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy, 16115 Poplar Tent Road: a K-12 public charter, 1,231 students in 2024-25 and a D (54) in the 2025-26 state grades.
Last checked Oct. 12, 2026. Sources: the school’s website, its about page, enrollment page, contact page, athletics page and calendar; the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s 2025-26 accountability data, 2025-26 school assessment workbook, 2025-26 low-performing school list and 2024-25 report card data; the NCHSAA’s 2025-29 realignment; the federal NCES school directory; and the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder.
Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy (BCLA) is a tuition-free public charter school for kindergarten through 12th grade on Poplar Tent Road. It opened in 2023, according to its about page, and is not part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: it has no attendance zone and admits students by application. The school has a Huntersville mailing address, but the Census Bureau’s geocoder places it outside the town limits, in unincorporated Mecklenburg County east of town near the Cabarrus County line.
Who to call
- Main office: 704-755-6800; office hours 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays
- School website: www.bonniecone.org/leadership
- Admission: the school’s enrollment page; registrar, districtregistrar@bclaschools.org
- State record: the school’s NC School Report Card
| Upper school | 16115 Poplar Tent Road, Huntersville, NC 28078 |
| Lower school | 16105 Poplar Tent Road, Huntersville, NC 28078 |
| Phone | 704-755-6800 |
| Grades | Kindergarten to 12 |
| Operator | Public charter school (its own board) |
| State school code | 62M000 |
Leadership
Ramon Richardson is the school’s director, according to the school’s homepage.
What the school teaches
BCLA carries the classical model of its sister school, Bonnie Cone Classical Academy, through middle and high school, with “a special emphasis on leadership development,” its about page says. The page names the trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric, Eureka Math, the Core Knowledge Language Arts curriculum in the elementary grades, Latin, and the R.A.I.S.E. values: respect, accountability, integrity, service and excellence.
Enrollment and teachers
- State count: an average daily membership of 1,231 students in the 2024-25 school year, up from 1,028 in 2023-24, according to the state’s report card data.
- Federal count: 1,076 students in kindergarten through 11th grade in the 2023-24 school year, with 63 full-time-equivalent teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 17 students per teacher.
State report card
North Carolina gives every public school, charter schools included, an A to F School Performance Grade. The grade is based 80% on student achievement and 20% on academic growth, according to the state’s 2025-26 annual testing report. For a K-12 school, achievement counts the end-of-grade and end-of-course tests, the ACT, NC Math 3 and the four-year graduation rate.
| School year | Grade and score | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | D (54) | Not met |
| 2024-25 | D (51) | Not met |
From the state’s 2025-26 school assessment workbook:
- At grade level or above, all state tests: 52.3% (statewide, all tests: 59.2%)
- College and career ready (Level 4 and above): 28.2%
- Reading, grades 3 to 8: 55.1% at grade level or above; math: 53.4%; science: 51.7%
- ACT composite of 17 or higher (11th graders): 41.1%
- Four-year graduation rate: 87.2%
North Carolina defines a low-performing school as one with a D or F grade that did not exceed expected growth. BCLA is on the state’s 2025-26 low-performing school list, and on its list of continually low-performing charter schools, low-performing in each of 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.
The full report card, with class sizes, teacher data and school safety figures, is on the state’s NC School Report Cards site under state school code 62M000.
Admission
From the school’s enrollment page:
- Open enrollment typically runs from November to January. Applications made in that window are not ranked by arrival time.
- Lottery: held only if applications for a grade exceed its seats; otherwise every applicant is accepted, with notices in mid-February. Families not offered a seat go on a waitlist.
- After open enrollment: applications are processed in order of arrival.
- Grades 9 to 12: incoming high school students provide transcripts when they register.
The Bonnie Cone enrollment page says no lottery was needed at BCLA or BCCA for 2026-27 and that applications for this year are still open. There is no tuition and no attendance zone.
Calendar and bell times
BCLA sets its own calendar, posted on the school’s calendar page; it does not follow the CMS calendar.
- Oct. 12-16: fall break, no school; students return Monday, Oct. 19, the start of the second quarter
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school and offices closed
- Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving break, no school and offices closed
School hours, from the school’s contact page: the upper school runs 7:25 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. and the lower school 7:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., Monday through Friday. On early release days the upper school ends at 12:25 p.m. and the lower school at 12:50 p.m.
Sports and activities
The NCHSAA’s 2025-29 realignment lists “Bonnie Cone” as a 1A school in 1A/2A/3A Conference B, with Carolina International, Jackson Day, Mountain Island Charter, NCSSM (Morganton), Piedmont Community, Queens Grant, Sugar Creek and Thomas Jefferson. For football it plays in a separate football-only conference.
The school’s athletics page lists:
- Fall: football, cross country, soccer, volleyball
- Winter: basketball, wrestling
- Spring: baseball, softball, soccer, track and field
- Year-round: cheerleading, dance
Follow Friday nights on our Friday night football page and results on the scoreboard.
More
- The school’s own website
- Every public school in Huntersville, with zones and report cards
- Our Huntersville schools guide for the CMS calendar, enrollment and the school board
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy serve?
Kindergarten through 12th grade, in a lower school and an upper school on Poplar Tent Road. It is a tuition-free public charter school, not part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
What is Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy’s school grade?
Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy earned a D, with a score of 54, in North Carolina’s 2025-26 School Performance Grades and did not meet its growth target. The state lists it as a low-performing school.
How do I apply to Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy?
Apply online through the school’s enrollment page. Open enrollment typically runs November to January, with a random lottery only if applications exceed seats. The school says no lottery was needed for 2026-27.
What time does Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy start?
The upper school runs 7:25 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. and the lower school 7:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., Monday through Friday, according to the school.
What conference is Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy in?
It is listed as Bonnie Cone, a 1A school in the NCHSAA’s 1A/2A/3A Conference B for the 2025-29 alignment, with football in a separate football-only conference.
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