A separate but equal school for black boys

Jill Tucker, via kind reader's email:

Alonzo Swift has pretty much settled on Yale University.

The Oakland boy knows he needs to pass fifth grade first and that it's cold in Connecticut, but he has heard Yale "is a good college" and he's sure his mom would send him there with plenty of hot chocolate, marshmallows and a warm coat.

"It's hard to get in there, so you have to be focused," the 9-year-old said.

Where Alonzo will go to college might still be up in the air, but if he'll go is not.

At the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community School, every student, including Alonzo, is black, male and 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.

Related: Madison Preparatory Academy IB Charter School, rejected by a majority of the Madison School Board.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 26, 2013 4:06 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas