In the months following Prime Prep Academy's February town hall information sessions, Deion Sanders and his business partner, D.L. Wallace, have been publicly silent about almost every aspect of their charter school, Prime Prep Academy, with campuses in Dallas (grades 6-12) and Fort Worth (K-5).
In a May cover story, the Observer reported on Sanders' and Wallace's previous failed businesses and the misleading, and often outright false, information filed on their state charter school application. Again, we've heard nothing in response from anyone directly involved with the school, though the campuses are still scheduled to open in August.
The school's football program has also come under scrutiny, but Deion and company aren't talking about that either, which has people wondering if there will even be a football program.
Sanders is the public face of Prime Prep, but beyond that, his role is unclear. As we wrote in our feature story, his name does not appear in a leadership capacity on the school's application filed with the Texas Education Agency.
At the Fort Worth information session in February, the Observer asked Wallace, the school's CEO, what Sanders' involvement would look like. "He will most likely do a lot of coaching with the school," Wallace said. "Children and sports are his passion."
Well, if Deion Sanders indeed plans on coaching a team this fall, he's taking an uncharacteristically low-key approach. Dave Campbell's Texas Football has been unsuccessful in getting any information, and wrote an article outlining the "relative secrecy" under which the school and its football program is operating. "[M]ultiple phone calls and e-mail messages resulted in essentially no information: no roster, no coach, not even a mascot," the magazine reports.
There are also concerns that, with Sanders as coach, the best football players might migrate to Prime Prep, creating a football powerhouse by draining other high schools of their top talent. Texas Football concluded that doesn't seem to be an issue, at least not this season.
Prime Prep has games scheduled but, thus far, no evidence of a team. This is in spite of reports that Sanders has signed on for a reality show about his work coaching the team.
Unfair Park reached out to the school's PR representative and left a message at the number listed on the school's website seeking information on the football team, the school and, well, anything. We'll update when we hear back, but we're still waiting.
