I hope you don't mind me calling you that. Right now, I feel like you are part of a huge tribe of people who get what you get, and Mr. James sounds too formal to me.
I teach/taught students like you. Students who, for whatever reason, missed an enormous amount of school at influential grade levels. Kids who have dreams, but a society who has no investment in them. Kids whose parents did not attend/finish college, being raised by parents whose income can barely get food on the table, much less consider saving for or finding the available funds for a college education.
LeBron, I have to be transparent. I judged you. When you went to the NBA without college, I was ticked. I felt you saw the dollar signs, but were not thinking what would happen if, one day, you physically could not play and had no form of income through basketball. You were giving my students an example I did not need, I told myself. I was afraid you were setting a precedent for African American males that devalued education over stardom, while I was trying to develop their minds and praying that they made it through high school.
My distorted view of you started to crumble this spring when I was researching the use of edTPA at various colleges across the United States. I took a look at the University of Akron, and did a double take. There it was: The LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education. At first, I thought, "This dude funds the entire College of Education at the University of Akron?!" Then I went to your Foundation site. Holy cow. So here and now: I apologize for my judgment.
You have just opened your IPromise school. So what? Lots of people open schools, right? Well, sort of. Yours is a public school, connected to a university, specifically to help disadvantaged kids who are one or two years deficient in reading in third and fourth grades. The students I have been giving my emotional life to for the last 10 years of teaching are the kids your foundation recognized needed a boost.
The school looks beautiful, and is on my list to visit. The students will be proud to be a part of this. You are using your money to do something amazing, and I hope that this endeavor changes the outlook of the students you are targeting. So often, the schools that house students with this description are not upheld as a district's "pride and joy." I see this as a step toward a paradigm shift for school boards and superintendents across the United States, as well as university lab schools. We will all be watching to see what happens in Akron. I, personally, cannot wait to watch the students work toward living their promises.
From this teacher to you, THANK YOU!
JoLynn Plato
