LeBron James Foundation Director Berates Akron School Board for 'Bullying' School with Facts
Employees and advocates of LeBron James’ I Promise School lashed out at members of the Akron Public Schools board at a meeting on Monday after the board revealed that the school is not producing students who can pass math proficiency tests.
The school has been put on an Ohio state watchlist and received one out of five stars on its most recent report card, according to WBLS-TV.
The news was divulged at a board meeting last month, and it made national headlines.
At Monday’s board meeting, eight people affiliated with I Promise criticized board members over the negative attention the school has received since its performance results were made public, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
LeBron James Family Foundation senior director Victoria McGee likened discussions of the school’s issues to “bullying” and an attack on the school that only served to “further marginalize already disadvantaged students.”
“Your actions degraded every Akron Public Schools educator that has ever taught the current and past I Promise students that you have singled out locally and nationally,” she said during the meeting.
“Absolutely, it was hurtful to the LeBron James Family Foundation, but more importantly, detrimental to our students.”
A school parent also addressed the board, as did an attorney and a LeBron James Family Foundation adviser. In all, the Journal reported, about 40 people affiliated with the struggling school showed up to the meeting.
Board president Derrick Hall pushed back against the notion that he and others have been unfair to I Promise.
“If you go back and you actually watch the board meeting, nobody on this board, no speaker or presenter made any comments that any rational person would call belittling, bullying or anything of that nature,” Hall said.
He also said there is a “distinction between what the board says, and how folks take what we say and craft their own self-serving narratives.”
James has not commented on the revelation that not a single student in I Promise’s current eighth-grade class has passed Ohio’s math proficiency test in three years.
I Promise was launched in 2018 as a collaboration between the NBA star and the school board in his hometown. Students who are considered at risk or “underserved” are eligible for enrollment.
While the school receives millions of dollars a year from James’ foundation, most of its funding comes from taxpayers.
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