Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Was in the flight school business for quite some time. I learned unless you have serious, serious money behind you (and sometimes not even then), "good flight schools" are usually driven by some combination of force of personality by either it's owners, principals or others at the top of the pyramid, like a good chief CFI.
None of them are doing it for money, because there isn't any, so as soon as one or more leaves, the whole place either folds up, or starts a slow degradation that usually results in a flame out.
There are exceptions. Places with a ton of money to toss into it, like a FlightSafety*, can build up a cadre of management people who do actually know what they're doing, and actually build a system of continuity in place to maintain the quality of training. Sometimes they can start small and build up to that, which is what ATP seems to have done, or develop a rep for a quality product that people need, like the American Flyer's CFI academy. If your quality training is your "product", you need a fairly rigid standardization program
Continuity is the key. Without it, as soon as a key person or two leaves, you're sunk. Either you have to have that in ownership, or suck it up and pay someone decent money. Your Joe Bag-o-Donuts CFI isn't going to spend that kind of time, and even if they do, they'll split as soon as a better deal comes along.
* Money didn't help the FSA, because they wound up selling out when they couldn't get some accreditations done. They've got a ton of money behind them, so I was pretty surprised when this happened.
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