Deion Sanders' students not ready for Prime Time

Pro football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has chosen a most noble path in his life after football. While he still can be seen breaking down the Xs and Os on the NFL Network, Sanders can also be found coaching kids at the newly-founded Prime Prep Academy. The Dallas-area charter school has two campuses which serve children Kindergarten through 12th grade. For those not familiar, charter schools are tuition-free public schools. They are subject to most of the same rules and regulations as other public schools. A notable exception lies in student recruiting. Charter schools are not bound by neighborhood restrictions. They can recruit students from the entire district.

Charter schools often meet with fierce opposition from local districts. Traditional public school officials sometimes accuse charters of cherry-picking the best and brightest students thereby weakening the larger district. You might think Deion Sanders would have met this type of opposition. Given Sanders' celebrity, I'm sure he didn't have great difficulty recruiting students. Funny thing, though - the push back he got from the larger district and eventually the state wasn't over academics - it was over athletics. Let's be real. The controversy is over football. High school football is a BIG deal in Texas and more than one eyebrow raised when Deion Sanders opened a school with a varsity football team.

For their part, Prime Prep Academy has vowed to continue with its academic and athletic programs. The situation is rather messy and messy situations tend to make people act accordingly. Prime Prep probably hurt its case a little with an incident involving a local TV reporter. Kids got involved and everything went south from there. Watch the video below for more details (email subscribers click here). 

I blame the coaches on this one - including Sanders. The kids needed to be focused on practice and not walking into traffic to confront a reporter. This was as disrespectful as it was dangerous. Don't let kids fight your battles. My mom always said a child should stay in a child's place. It sort of lends itself to the "Know Your Role" concept. I've read about that somewhere before. Anyway, this whole controversy may be much ado about nothing. Prime Prep lost it opening game Friday night, 50-6. Until next time...

Be a Good Sport!

-Sol