I Promise School

I Promise School (IPS) is a public elementary school in Akron, Ohio. Opened in 2018, it is supported by the LeBron James Family Foundation and specifically aimed at at-risk children. Opening with students attending grades three and four, the school became fully operational in 2022, teaching grades one through eight.

In April 2020, a documentary series titled I Promise was released on the streaming service Quibi, detailing the school's first year of operations. The series was cancelled due to Quibi's shutdown in October 2020.

In 2011, head of the foundation and professional basketball player LeBron James was researching the high school dropout rate of his hometown Akron and decided upon review to create the "I PROMISE" initiative, focused on supporting the youth in his childhood community. In November 2017, the Foundation expressed to the Akron school board their desire to create a school that aims to assist disadvantaged children with their studies. The plans were approved later that month and subsequent development of the school was initiated.

James, having grown up in Akron, struggled as a student due to unstable conditions at home. His mother was unsuccessful in finding a permanent job, forcing the family to move multiple times. During this time, James was absent for 83 days in fourth grade, resulting in a substantial lack of education. His upbringing served as a motivation to provide future generations of children with similar backgrounds with special support and care.

James considers the school's founding as the most important professional accomplishment of his life. The LeBron James Family Foundation is funding additional services for the children and families attending IPS. Some of these services include uniforms, food for families, career placement services, bikes and helmets for each student, transportation for qualified individuals, and GEDs and job placement services for parents according to Akron School District spokesman Mark Williamson.

Free tuition to the University of Akron for every graduating student is covered under the pre-existing Akron I Promise Network Scholarship, which was developed between the University of Akron, the LeBron James Family Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase in 2015. To qualify, Akron public school students must graduate high school with a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Additionally, the University of Akron provides eligible Akron Public School graduates full tuition under the separate Innovation Generation Scholarship. The Foundation has contributed an estimated $2 million in start up costs, though the number will change annually based on community needs. Students are selected based on test scores and other metrics and criteria, then placed in a lottery system.

Before the opening of IPS, the I Promise program had been in Akron elementary schools for more than 10 years. There are 32 elementary schools in the Akron Public School system and children from all those schools will now be in one location rather than spread across all of them. Prior to 2018, the IPS building had housed students in the school system that were displaced by schools which were being rebuilt.

The Akron School District will bear more than half of the costs once it is fully running. I Promise will eventually cost about $8 million a year to run out of the district's regular budget, covered mostly by shifting students, teachers, and money from other schools, the district says.