Beating LeBron James to the buzzer

The first day of school is just three weeks away for many students. (For readers without school-aged kids, yes, that’s right: Some PA schools start before Labor Day.)

For 240 3rd and 4th graders in Ohio, their school year began this week with a phalanx of reporters from international, national, and local news agencies, all over their campus. That’s because their school was a farewell gift from basketball superstar LeBron James who recently announced his departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the LA Lakers.  

James is underwriting the I Promise School, a new school for at-risk students in Akron, Ohio, his hometown. By 2022, the school’s roster of just two grade levels will expand to serve students from 1st through 8th grades.

So what’s the big deal?

Unlike other celebrities such as Andre Agassi, Pitbull, and Sean Combs, James isn’t simplistically supporting a charter school as a solution to the myriad of challenges urban schools face. Instead, his I Promise School is a public school, run by the Akron school district, with the supports he knows are essential for kids to achieve. That’s a pretty big deal.

James’ school will provide a family resource center that includes job placement assistance for parents and will even help them earn a GED, has an on-site food bank, provides support for students experiencing poverty, and champions a trauma-informed approach. It’s a school, that, like PCCY, focuses on the “whole child.” 

Before he was a contender for greatest player of all time, James was a 4th grader in Akron where he missed 83 school days (16 weeks worth!) because he and his mother were constantly moving from couch to couch. He knows better than most the difference a school like I Promise can make for kids who grew up like he did.     

This is great news and I Promise students are lucky indeed. But it’s hard not to think about all the other Akron students (let alone public school students across America) who won’t be able to attend a place like that because there just aren’t enough mega millionaire celebrities to go around.

It shouldn’t be like that.

“America’s public schools should not have to depend on any wealthy individual or private entity to be sustained or improved,” agrees Education writer Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post this week.

It shouldn’t be like that. And it isn’t.

Without taking anything away from James and the Akron district, we want to note that Philadelphia beat them to the buzzer.

As part of the Mayor’s Rebuild initiative that committed to improvements to rec centers, playgrounds and libraries, the City established nine community schools in 2016, added three more last year, and, as we reported a few weeks ago, by 2023 that number will be up to 20.

[For a behind-the-scenes look at community schools, read up on what four Philly community schools coordinators are up to this summer]

In Philly, vulnerable students are in community schools because Philadelphians, not just one wealthy benefactor, stood up and demanded that we invest in our children, swallowing a less than sweet soda tax because our kids are worth it.

There’s no national spotlight on our community schools but we’re fine with that. More of our kids are getting the support they need to succeed. Our champions are our students.  We can raise the roof on this win all on our own.