“We’re all in on this.”

In 2020, NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, Grammy award winner Ciara donated about $1.75 million to rename an existing Seattle area charter school, Cascade Midway Academy, to Why Not You Academy. The name comes from the couples’ nonprofit foundation, also called Why Not You. The foundation was created in 2014 dedicated to, “fighting poverty through education, empowering youth to lead with a why not you attitude” (whynotyoufdn.org). The school opened its doors to underserved Black and brown students in September 2021.

One of the tenets the foundation supports is, “student access to equal education opportunities, children’s health and food security initiatives” (whynotyoufdn.org).

Let’s see how that’s going.

Though they said they would not be involved in the day-to-day operations, Wilson and Ciara welcomed the opportunity to help launch the school. It focuses on academics, personalized student plans and internships and mentorships. The couple said they hope this will be the first of many Why Not You Academy (WNYA) sites across the country. Ciara said, “We’re passionate about everything. We’re all in on this.” (apnews.com). Apparently they only visited the school a few times, likely when the school first opened.

Three years later, the school is showing the same signs of corruption, low-enrollment, and discrimination against students with special needs as a plethora of charter schools across the country. Since fall, the school has lost about a third of their students and staff. More than a dozen former students and staff have reported a “chaotic and toxic culture” and have accused the school’s leadership of “unprofessionalism; driving out educators and ignoring concerns about educational equality” (seattletimes.com). At least 70 students have withdrawn from the school, that had 220 students enrollment in September. During the period of staff turnover, at least 10 students with disabilities did not receive any services. Several former and current staff – with out teaching certifications- were asked to teach a class, and a few times it was noted that classrooms were unstaffed (seattletimes.com).

Sarah Osman, a parent who pulled two of her children from the Academy said, “It was like a daycare…there’s no education in there” (seattletimes.com). One school staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the school, “I would never send my children here” (seattletimes.com).

WNYA CEO Abigail O’Neal acknowledged a lapse in special education services but said the school had never placed unlicensed teachers in classrooms. She also said there was only one occasion where a class was unsupervised. And, in explaining the revolving door of staff resignations, O’Neal said, “Some of the staff that resigned didn’t share the school’s vision” (seattletimes.com). Only one? Isn’t that one too many?

O’Neal said these challenges have been resolved and that the school is now fully staffed. ”We now have a team that is here and ready to just teach our scholars and focus on the priorities that we are setting as a community” (seattletimes.com).

One of the most important contingencies to renew a charter is enrollment -not accountability or academic success. Even if what O’Neal says is true, without students, there is no charter school.

The Wilsons have been silent on this news, but in their defense they said they wouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day operations.

When I did a search for news about Wilson and Ciara opening the school, I found stories in Bleacher Report, Fox Business, Sports Ilustrated, Yahoo News. I wonder how many will cover this follow-up story?

While I admire the Wilsons’ intentions, I take issue with any philanthropy that just throws money at problems, gets a nice photo in the paper, and a few write-ups for doing something to help those children and then walks away. Almost two million dollars is – by public school standards – a shit ton of money that could have gone to shelve new books in a library or technology center (especially if he works with fellow-Seattle philanthropist Bill Gates), or hire a new team of art and music teachers, counselors, or… or… or… Efforts in this vein would benefit hundreds- even thousands of children over the years and not just a dwindling hundred that are attending a charter school fraught with issues.

Ciara said, “We’re all in on this”. What exactly did she mean?

These are my reflections for today.

February 23, 2024

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