Exclusive Interview: New Principal Brings Change to LeBron James' I Promise School

Stephanie Davis gets down to eye level. While the new I Promise School principal pulls up directions to the July 13 Meet the Principal event at House Three Thirty for an incoming student and her family, she sits down on a bench in the school’s lobby to get to know the student. She smiles and compliments the student’s pale yellow flouncy dress and rainbow Crocs.

“I super-duper love the tie-dyed Crocs,” says Davis, sporting thick-framed brown glasses, chandelier earrings and a gray “We Are Family” T-shirt. She keeps the conversation going. Where did you go last year? Tell me something fun you did this summer. Any brothers or sisters? For the latter, the girl says she has a big and little brother.

“Same-sies!” Davis exclaims and hands the girl directions she wrote on pink notebook paper, asking her to deliver it to her parents, who wait across the lobby.

It was Davis’ first official week at the I Promise School that many students enter about two grade levels behind academically. Akron native NBA superstar LeBron James, Akron Public Schools and the LeBron James Family Foundation started the unprecedented now full-capacity third-to-eighth-grade school as an extension of the I Promise student program to raise graduation rates. APS students are chosen for the school through a lottery pool of those in the lowest 25th percentile for reading and math, according to APS. About 70 percent of I Promise School students receive assistance from the Department of Job and Family Services, according to APS. Many students were told they wouldn’t make it, but Davis believes they have potential.

“I don’t see any kind of deficits,” says the Akron native and Hudson resident. “When I look at a kid, I see lots of opportunities to increase the likelihood they’re going to be successful.”

Her work is cut out for her. Before the first day of school July 31, an Akron Board of Education meeting July 24 revealed low I Promise School test scores that sounded an alarm nationwide. The state labeled the school as an Additional Targeted Support and Improvement school because Black students and students with disabilities tested in the lowest 5 percent in the state, according to APS. About 60 percent of its 555 students are Black and 28 percent have disabilities, including half of sixth graders. But Davis isn’t backing down. She is ready to step in to help students. 

“We will do whatever it takes academically, socially, emotionally, behaviorally to guarantee their success,” she says. “We are a family. We value every child.”

The path to success is a tough one. The I Promise School opened in July 2018, and Davis is its third full-time principal. The school started strong. In its first year, 90 percent of third and fourth graders met or exceeded their expected growth goals in math and reading on fall-to-winter MAP tests, outpacing many other APS schools, according to APS. Then the pandemic hit, and the school was remote for parts of two school years. During the 2021-2022 school year, the school’s founding principal resigned in a tumultuous exit, and two interim principals followed along with a full-time one who left in late May 2023. Over the last two years, 17 teachers have left, according to APS. 

“We’ve had a change in leadership, and you have interim principals come in. You have COVID, and then you send home children that are used to getting hugs every day and learning together as a family,” says Michele Campbell, executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation. “It was like a perfect storm for us.”

The I Promise School has seen some post-pandemic recovery. On the state math test, fifth graders rose from 11.5 percent to 23 percent proficient by 2022-2023. But other scores plummeted. Eighth graders started at 17 percent proficient on the Ohio math test their first year, but over the past three years, not a single one passed. It’s difficult news, but other eighth graders who are in the bottom 25th percentile districtwide are not far off. Only 5 percent of those students scored proficient in math, according to APS. Yet progress has been made, as 42 percent of I Promise School eighth graders met typical growth goals in math, according to APS iReady data. I Promise School gets more than $1.4 million from the LeBron James Family Foundation annually for extra teachers, tutors and other support in addition to the same government funding as other public schools, and at the July 24 meeting, the Akron Board of Education president posed the point that those extra resources haven’t led to better results.

“We know the gap widened as kids age up. It’s a battle we fight everywhere. We know that math nationally took a dip over the pandemic, especially in urban settings,” says Keith Liechty-Clifford, director of school improvement for APS. “We’ve said a long time, It’s gonna take a while to hit those achievement marks. If we hit growth marks, and we continue to close the gap, we’ll see that achievement go up.”

Davis understands pulling together the lowest performers means that achievement scores will take time to rise, so she is focusing on growth. In English language arts, 54 percent of all I Promise School students met typical growth goals and 27 percent met stretch growth goals beyond that, and in math, 48 percent of all I Promise School students met typical growth goals and 12 percent met stretch growth goals beyond that, according to APS iReady data.

“Growth data points are really encouraging because they’re showing us that we are filling in gaps the kids have, that they are growing at a more than expected rate in some cases,” Davis says.

The I Promise School needs stable leadership, a fresh start and someone who understands the extra needs of at-risk students — Campbell says Davis is that person.

With a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in special education from the Ohio State University, Davis has been with APS since 1998. Her tenure includes working as an intervention specialist, teaching and leading most recently as principal of Bridges Learning Center, which serves students with emotional or behavioral needs. Campbell observed Davis at Bridges and says her strong track record of positively educating the whole child makes her a perfect fit for the I Promise School.

“That intervention specialist, that work at Bridges — all that equips her with a greater toolbox and more tools to reach all of our kids,” Campbell says. “I want every child to wake up excited to go to school … because we have a leader creating that culture.”

To close gaps, Davis aims to fortify social-emotional learning, create defined intervention systems in the rigorous STEM curriculum that remediate missing skills and build more wraparound services and support for positive behavior.

The challenges don’t daunt Davis because overcoming obstacles is her background.

“One of the gifts of being an intervention specialist is the ability to see the child in front of you. … Intervention specialists come from a place of breaking down barriers to make instruction accessible,” Davis says. “I love that the mission of the school is identical to the mission in my heart.”

At just 8 years old, Davis saw her future. The King Elementary School third grader took a field trip to Weaver School and Workshop for students with disabilities. A special education teacher interacting with a student using a wheelchair caught her attention.

“The way she approached the child in a way that was not condescending and looking at him like she really saw him was nothing I'd ever seen before,” she says. “I felt it to my core: This is what I'm meant to do.”

While she was principal at the nontraditional Bridges school, she saw 10 percent of students each year reintegrate back to their home schools — which aren’t as rigorous — and compassionate relationships made the difference.

“Becoming a predictable force in their life, that builds a relationship of trust,” she says. “When a child trusts you … they begin to take risks academically, socially and behaviorally.”

She saw students begin to implement coping skills and use kind words when things escalated. Bridges added a high school in 2018, and Davis has seen students graduate who might have struggled at a traditional school.

“I have seen firsthand the impact of not only telling a child that I love them unconditionally but continuing to show up for them every day,” says Davis, her voice breaking with emotion. “I absolutely saw students who were marginalized start to believe they were enough.”

Poverty, domestic violence, gun violence, drugs, homelessness and food insecurity — some I Promise School students and their families have experienced trauma, says Victoria McGee, senior director of the school’s Family Resource Center. During the pandemic, needs skyrocketed. There have been higher levels of food insecurity and housing, addiction and mental health challenges, she adds. All that impacts students’ abilities to learn.

“You’re worried about where you’re going to lay your head or are you going to have food at night — trauma brain works differently,” McGee says. “If you don’t have the correct resources, that student will likely have a slower process to move the needle closing that achievement gap.”

“Struggling through a reading passage or not being able to figure out a math problem, sometimes that can be, I’ve had these horrific events happen, and I can’t recoup because my brain is in survival mode,” Davis adds.

Social-emotional learning is the heart of I Promise School, and it helps students with trauma by establishing clear rituals and routines, Davis says. Part of that is reciting the I Promise pledges daily like, I promise to go to school, to do my homework and to finish school. Each day starts with students sitting in an “I Promise circle” so they can process their feelings before learning happens. Throughout the day, students identify what zone of regulation they fit into based on their feelings: yellow is worry or frustration, blue is sick or sad, red is angry and green is happy and ready to learn. Teachers discuss how kids can get to green with coping tools such as using a stress ball or talking to a friend.

“They learn ways to label their emotions,” Davis says. “They learn ways to match the size of their reaction with the size of the problem.”

It’s about building trusted relationships so students are more likely to open up and teachers can help remove barriers. If a student discloses an issue like abuse or hunger, teachers report it or link the student to the proper resources. Students and their families can go to the Family Resource Center for help with access to medical care, mental health care, legal aid, Job and Family Services, financial literacy, GED classes, ESL classes, eye care, laundry and a full-time food pantry with food and household goods. It’s been so successful that there are now similar centers in other APS schools. And like other APS schools, there are free breakfasts and lunches, and I Promise School students also get bikes and We Are Family clothing, in addition to activities like an annual family reunion at Cedar Point. These extra opportunities help deepen bonds. 

Being family means teachers and staffers are there when students struggle. At the Meet the Principal event, Davis fields questions from students, guardians and parents about sports and field trips but also tackles some complex ones about bullying.

On the playground, I usually get bullied. I would tell the teacher, and I think they would deal with it. The next day I always get bullied again, one student says.

Davis looks her in the eyes, clutching a mic and wearing a We Are Family T-shirt.  “I don't want you to feel like that,” she says. “I believe that the teachers probably did deal with it. Did you say, Hey, dude’s doing it again? It's OK if you didn’t. If that happens again, I want you to find the same adult and say, It’s still going on. If you feel like your message isn’t being heard, come see Mr. Ziccardi, Mrs. Pestello, Mrs. Parks or me — we're here.”

The serene, blue-painted R&R Room with natural wood, calming lights, plants, a chamomile diffuser, a crafting area, a sound-deadening egg chair and more helps teachers and staffers destress. The new space was developed with a Trauma Responsive Educational Practices consultant as a place teachers and staffers can go to refresh, combat burnout and turnover and get the extra support they need.

“Akron Public Schools is a microcosm of what’s happening nationwide with people leaving the profession,” Davis says. “I try with all my staff to bring self-care and self-regulation to the forefront. … People are seeing that teachers and educators are prone to secondary post-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue. [We’re] bringing light to those things and how they can be very real and creating space for working through some of those issues.”

Teachers can work closely with students because the I Promise School teacher-to-student ratio is smaller, 1 to 20, according to Davis, versus that of the district’s lower grade levels, which is 1 to 24, according to APS. Longer 9 a.m.-to-4 p.m. school days offer teachers dedicated time to work with students in small groups or individually, plus students can do extracurriculars or recently added sports such as step, basketball, soccer, cheerleading and track, and that enrichment helps with behavioral issues. Intensive summer camps help combat summer slide, and Campbell says the foundation is considering adding more intentional camps to help kids catch up.

Through data, teachers can see the areas where students struggle and work more of that content into the curriculum, even if it’s a grade level or two behind. That strategy has shown growth. For example, 2.5 percent of all I Promise School students fell on or above grade level on the 2022-2023 iReady English language arts assessment in the fall and 19.9 percent fell on or above grade level in the spring, which is more than 17.9 percent of other APS students in the lowest 25th percentile in the spring, according to APS. There’s a new instructional coach in place to help guide teachers. The school aims to close grade-level gaps by the time students enter high school.

“I’ve got a group in third grade that’s really struggling. They are missing phonetic awareness, especially because this group was very impacted in their early literacy by COVID,” Davis says. “It’s not too late just because they’re in third grade to give them those things that they missed in first grade.”

To continue making the environment more nurturing for learning, administrators did further work with the TREP expert to group classes into grade-level pods so the kids have fewer transitions throughout the day. Plus, the common areas are filled with signs showing expectations like one that reads, I will act with integrity in the hallway by being respectful of learning in the classrooms, keeping the hallway neat and clean and walking to my destination.

“Transitioning from class to class is always scary,” Davis says. “That is the biggest fear of every sixth grader, I’m gonna get lost, right? But we’ve made the world smaller so that stress is gone. … They feel safer.”

For one student, the unthinkable happened — their parent overdosed on drugs and died. The student and two siblings were thrown into instability and needed a permanent home, but they were faced with separation. A grandmother stepped up as the caregiver but needed help to keep the kids together and settle custody issues, so the Family Resource Center’s Community Legal Aid team spent hours working the legal system. Thanks to that hard work, the kids are together and safe — they’re living with their grandmother, who was connected with Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority, legal support and Job and Family Services to provide long-term assistance. It’s undeniable — the I Promise School changes lives.

“It motivated them to overcome a lot of their challenges and just be a student in a classroom,” McGee says. 

The wraparound supports keep growing. House Three Thirty recently opened in the former Tangier as a community and event center with a focus on job training, a Starbucks community store, financial counseling from JPMorgan Chase and more. It provides jobs for I Promise program high school students, teachers and parents. Additionally, the 1,600 students in the I Promise program, including the school and their families, have access to the 18-unit I Promise Village transitional housing and the new 50-unit longer-term I Promise Housing apartments that recently opened. For the first time, some students have their own bedrooms, and they have tables for family dinners.

In 2024, the I Promise HealthQuarters will open with medical, dental, optometry and lab services and a pharmacy from AxessPointe Community Health Partners and mental health counseling from Coleman Health Services.

The majority of students are choosing to stay at the I Promise School. The attendance rate is 88.9 percent, which is about 4 percent higher than the district, and the retention rate of the inaugural class of eighth graders is 75 percent over multiple years and other similar APS schools have 50 percent or less over one year, according to APS.

Although there aren’t any plans in place, foundation staffers would love to expand and open a high school. Currently, students go on to APS high schools, and 12 I Promise School students who were labeled at-risk for not graduating are now at two of the district’s top high schools, according to APS. If they meet the requirements, I Promise students can get full scholarships to The University of Akron, Stark State College or Kent State University. Currently, 76 students are on scholarship, and the support continues in college with the I Promise Institute at The University of Akron that offers mentoring, a studying spot and more. 

Now the school needs to keep helping students grow so they can close the achievement gap, and Campbell is confident that Davis can tackle the challenge.

“When you’re talking about changing the way a community operates to serve everybody in the community, that work from the ground up takes time. Our society is like, Are all your students 4.0 right now? No,” Campbell says. “I sit here today and tell you how hard the work is. But I’m the most hopeful that I feel like I’ve ever been knowing what’s to come when we open those doors and welcome our third graders and the rest of our school back under Stephanie Davis’ leadership.”

Davis is working on building trust and laying a fresh foundation of love and support to show students they are worthy.

“The most important thing we can do for our kiddos is not only say, We are family, but then become a family,” she says. “Your success is my success. Your trials and tribulations are my trials and tribulations. A family is unconditional love. No matter where you are — I love you. We’re gonna get through this together.”