Because of this underperformance, the school has been added to Ohio's Additional Targeted Support and Improvement list, which points out schools that are not doing well.
From Western Journal:
“Not one? In three years?” Akron Public Schools board member Valerie McKitrick asked after learning of the school’s record, according to the Akron Beacon-Journal.
The school is a hybrid, getting the usual fiscal support from state and local taxpayers along with money from the LeBron James Family Foundation.
“It is discouraging,” Keith Liechty-Clifford, the district’s director of school improvement, said.
Board President Derrick Hall said he was dismayed that the array of additional supports designed to boost student performance do not seem to having an impact.
“For me as a board member, I just think about all the resources that we’re providing,” Hall said.
“And … I’m just disappointed that I don’t think, it doesn’t appear like we’re seeing the kind of change that we would expect to see,” he said.
“Where I’m coming from is that we keep talking about the resources, the resources, the resources that we’re putting into the I Promise School, and the kids at the other schools don’t have anywhere near the same number of resources, and yet that the difference there is not what I would think it would be,” Hall said, according to Ideastream.
It's quite puzzling considering the huge amount of money this school receives that it's underperforming like this.
And it's interesting to mention that this isn't the first time I Promise has faced controversy. Since 2018, the school has gone through five principals, and one of them had to resign for striking a student. Moreover, nearly 20 staff members, including some teachers, left the school just last year.
