When Rep. Larry Lee met several male students who were struggling with discipline and academics at Allapattah Flats K-8, he wanted to do more than make an appearance and give an inspirational address.
He wanted to create a program to help students at the St. Lucie County public school overcome the barriers that trauma and poverty had placed in their path.
Lee, D-Port St. Lucie, knew a thing or two about overcoming barriers. He failed first grade due to bullying and lack of any Pre-K education. His father, a citrus contractor, was not educated because he had to drop out after the Great Depression to help save the family farm. But Lee went to college, then on to the NFL. He taught in public schools, started his own business, and become the only Democratic member elected to his county’s Republican-dominated legislative delegation.
“I was fortunate to have both of my parents,” said Lee. “Many of these young men don’t have a good background that they are coming from. Some of them are coming from broken homes. I want to show them hope.”
After visiting the students, Lee spoke with Renee Adderly-Clark, the school’s dean, about creating a program called Career to Success.
Students who stayed out of trouble and kept their GPAs above 2.0 would receive a reward: a blazer and a trip to Tallahassee to observe the legislative session.
”I want to take this group and I want to inspire them,’” Adderly-Clark remembers Lee telling her.
Since Lee issued his challenge to 15 students in October, 90 percent of them are on track to earn their trip to the state capital, Adderly-Clark said.
Belief in two education systems
Lee’s pragmatism has helped him get things done in a Legislature where his party remains in the minority. He’s the ranking Democrat on three committees, two of which center on education.
He believes that both charter and traditional public school systems can help students. He said he believes in looking at all angles and exploring a variety of options to help students.
But he worries about one learning system having an advantage over the other. And he worries that the growth of other options could put a squeeze on school districts.
“As we put more focus on the charter schools, we are in my opinion causing unintentional harm to our public schools, which we will end up having more failing schools,” Lee said.
That doesn’t mean he’s reflexively anti-charter. Lee sits on the K-12 Innovation Subcommittee, which recently heard from a student and a parent at Somerset Academy, which runs the state’s first all-charter system in Jefferson County. The charter operator took over a district plagued by years of dysfunction and poor performance.
Elliott Robinson, a senior at Somerset Jefferson County High School, addressed the committee.
Lee said he was impressed. He seemed to find echoes of himself in the young man. He urged him to keep playing sports — but to focus on class, too, since athletic careers can be fleeting,
“When I see you speak I just ask myself: How could that school be doing so bad when they have people like you coming out of there,” Lee said to Robinson. “You are so poised. I couldn’t even stand in front of an audience when I was your age and speak. I want to commend you to keep up the great work. We are going to hear great things about you.”
He went on to commend the Principal Cory Olliver for building strong relations between parents and students.
“They seem to be engaging the parents and the communities because as the old African proverb says: It takes a village to raise a child,” he said later in an interview.
Reaching across the aisle
Lee has served in the legislature since 2012. Like Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, he has learned to work across the aisle.
“Larry knows what it takes to get to the finish line,” said Jones. “We both think alike because we both are tired of the “political games” that have our country in the position that it is in now.”
Like Jones, he opposed one massive education bill, House bill 7069, during last year’s legislative session. But at the same time, he supported HB 15, which increased funding for two private school choice programs.
Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, chairs the Innovation Subcommittee. He said Lee has supported charter schools when he sees them making a difference – but also advocates for children who won’t attend those schools.
“He cares deeply about his community and his district and I think that he is a champion for the high-impact charter schools,” Lavala said. “I know that based on talking with him one of his concerns are the kids that are left behind and don’t get picked for some of those schools. His heart is definitely in the right place and his motivations are pure.”
Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Cutler Bay, and a future House Democratic leader, said Lee is the “person to broker the common ground between both parties.”
Lee said he reaches out to both Democrats and Republicans to ask them to cosponsor his bills.
“If we constantly focus on what divides us rather than what unites us, we are going to always have problems,” he said.
In 2015, he wrote legislation to establish a pilot project in St. Lucie County requiring the Office of Early Learning to assist low-income, at risk children in developing emergent literary skills. It received unanimous support and was eventually signed by Gov. Rick Scott. But last year the governor vetoed funding for the program out of the budget. That ended the program.
Lee said he hopes to revive the program locally with the nonprofit Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
“Research has shown if a child is not reading at third-grade level by the time they complete third grade the chances of failing in life increases dramatically,” he said. “This bill was designed to break that cycle and designed to engage the parents and study those kids that came through that.”
Humble beginnings
Lee remembers being bullied at the young age of 6
Three kids threatened to beat him if he did not give up his lunch money.
Left with no choice, Lee remembers relenting.
And soon he did not want to come to school because he was traumatized.
As a result, he had to repeat the first grade.
Lee said his life changed when he was sent to live with his grandmother., He recalled the conversation where he said she taught him to live courageously and face his challenges.
After that conversation, Lee said he never missed a day of school until the 10th grade. He took up football and earned a scholarship at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C..
Lee signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos in 1976 and was later released from the team during the preseason of that year.
Lee said the experience taught him the importance of investing in an education.
“Had I depended on football, my dreams would have been shattered after being released by the Broncos,” he said.
But Lee had a backup plan. He taught physical education and health science to elementary, middle and high school students for three years in Sylvania, Georgia. Afterward, he became a counselor at Indian River Community College, which is now a state college. From there, he started his own business selling insurance in 1988 before running for office in 2012. He also founded the Lighthouse Foundation and Restoring the Village initiative to help improve communities and families.
Lee’s life story has made him a believer in the power of public education. He said policymakers need to work to fulfill its promise for all students.
He said the Legislature should focus on “helping all our schools become successful schools and having no failing schools in Florida.”
“When we have no failing schools in Florida, every child gets a good quality education,” he said.
