King Lebron James Opens School For At Risk Kids
Famous NBA champion King Lebron James opens a school in his hometown for at risk students. The I Promise School school will take a very unique approach to educating at risk students. James who is now a Los Angeles Lakers player is giving back.
James to Open a School
According to USA Today, the Akron school district identified students who were a year or more behind in reading level and then selected 120 kids for each grade. The school plans to expand to first through eighth grade by 2022, and currently employs more than 40 faculty and staff members in order to offer students both longer school days and a longer school year.
Also, each child who attends the school will receive:
Free tuition
Free uniforms
Free bicycle and Helmut
Free transportation within 2 miles
Free breakfast, lunch and snacks
Food pantries for families
GEDs and job placement services for parents
Guaranteed tuition to the University of Akron Ohio
Lebron James really understands the importance of giving back
I know these kids, basically more than they know themselves. I’ve walked these same streets. I’ve rode the same bikes on the streets they ride on. I went through the same emotions — the good, the bad, the adversity. Everything these kids are going through — the drugs, the violence, the guns, everything they’re going through as kids, I know. For me to be in a position where I have the resources, the finance, the people, the structure and the city around me — why not? – Lebron James
The I Promise School will take a much different approach to education by offering family support, as well, education for its students, according to principal Brandi Davis:
I Promise School officials and LeBron’s foundation want to assist not just at-risk youth, but their families as well.
“I think the missing link in public education is that family wraparound support,” principal Brandi Davis told the Los Angeles Times. “Because our students come to school and they’re worried about things at home. … We want to create that safe, that secure and that caring and loving environment for our families and our students so that our kids can focus on education.”
For James, this all goes back to his childhood in Akron when he lived on the other side of town and as a result had difficulty getting to school, absent for as many as 83 school days in the fourth grade. It was when several families in the community began helping out that James began to find success, he said.
“It was challenging,” James said. “It was mentally challenging. Sometimes you think about a kid being in the third grade at that age, between 8 and 7 years old; in the fourth grade having responsibility or having stress — no kid at 8, 9 should have stress. And I was one of those kids so I know exactly what those kids today are going through being a part of this.
James approach to education is sure to empower the lives of the students and parents because it will provide GED programs, job related assistance and additional support that families in under served populations need to be successful. When you provide wraparound services in the community children as well as their families have a greater chance at a successful future.
James has been very generous by paying for the education of more than 1000 children. In fact, James has been helping support educational and other needs for kids since 2011. There is no doubt that this collaboration with the Akron school district will be just as successful as his other endeavors.
Lebron James is not just a phenomenal athlete but he is an amazing black man!!
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