Original Research by School Decision on Leone High School
Leone High School sits in the village of Leone on the west coast of Tutuila Island in American Samoa, serving students in the high school grades. It is part of the American Samoa Department of Education, the island territory's public school system, and is not a charter school. The campus occupies ground with its own history: the site was once a World War II airstrip, later repurposed for the high school and a neighboring elementary school. Schools here are woven into the village fabric rather than set apart on isolated campuses, and Leone High sits alongside the post office, churches, small shops, and homes that make up the village center along the main coastal road.
The village of Leone is publicly reported as the second-largest settlement on Tutuila's west coast, described as a lively municipal center with a mix of residential life and small-scale commerce. The center includes a post office, a bakery, a gas station, and a supermarket, all clustered along Route 1 near Leone Bay. The built environment holds some of the oldest structures on the island, including Zion Church, the first church built in American Samoa, with its towers, carved ceiling, and stained glass. Inland along Leafu Stream, Leone Falls and the old quarry sit above the village. The Tataga-Matau Fortified Quarry Complex, on the National Register of Historic Places and described as the oldest and largest adze quarry in western Polynesia, lies nearby. Fagalele Boys School, also on the National Register, may be the oldest surviving building on Tutuila. Prehistoric petroglyphs at Leone Lagoon depicting octopus, turtle, and human figures give the area deep cultural roots.
Leone's economy has been contracting rather than growing. The Van Camp Tuna Industry, once a major employer, shut down, and no comparable industrial employer has taken its place. Current commercial activity runs to small businesses and subsistence farming on the village's fertile land, where yams, bananas, taro, and papaya are grown and some produce reaches local grocery stores. Population has declined over successive censuses, attributed to residents leaving for the United States for education and work. A tsunami devastated the village, killing residents and destroying infrastructure including the old post office, which was later rebuilt. A Leone Healing Garden memorial near the seaside commemorates those lost. More recently, American Samoa received a National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant to restore coastal wetland habitat in Leone, and Leone Pala, a large mangrove swamp designated as a Special Management Area, remains one of the most important such ecosystems in the territory. No major new housing developments are noted in available sources. Buses from Fagatogo to Leone run regularly, and the village is a moderate drive west of Pago Pago along Route 1.
For families considering Leone High School, the academic picture is largely unavailable in the data provided. State assessment results, graduation rates, enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, special education and English learner rates, staffing levels, course access, discipline data, and program offerings were all missing from the information supplied. A neighbor comparison and a district brief were not provided either. This is a school where the public data trail is thin, and a parent would need to contact the school or the American Samoa Department of Education directly for details on academic performance, student support services, and available programs. The village context points to a close-knit, historically grounded community on a slow recovery trajectory, with civic life centered on the village council structure and churches. Whether that environment fits a given family depends on what they are looking for, and the school itself is the best source for the questions the available data cannot answer.
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