100 Black Men School - San Francisco Chronicle 

At the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community School, every student is black, male and, its leaders vow, on the road to college.

If the public charter school is successful, it will - within a decade - significantly boost the number of African American boys graduating from high school in Oakland and heading to a four-year university.

Among a handful of public schools across the country designed to specifically serve black boys, the charter school is one of the more extreme strategies in a wide-ranging national response to the vexing failure of black boys in schools and across society.

The premise was simple: Give boys African American male role models. Give them mentors, patient teachers, and more time in the classroom to excel in science, math, technology and art. Make sure they get breakfast, lunch and snacks. Give them discipline, rituals, and a curriculum that acknowledges the role of African Americans in history and society. As the school's creators would discover since its opening last year, it wouldn't be easy.

Take in the black boys no one else wanted and make them feel safe, loved and smart.

As the school's creators would discover since its opening last year, it wouldn't be easy.

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A Film By: Mike Kepka and Luanne Dietz