LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Once each month during the school year, a group of men (and the occasional woman) get together to make a little magic. They line up and wait for the first buses to arrive and then give the young students a hero's welcome.

It's called "Flash Dads," and through the cheering and the smiles it produces, one can forget just how simple the gesture is.

“It’s a surprise for the students…” said JCPS Generalist of Black Male Achievement Greg Vann. “We open up car doors, we’re there when they get off the bus, we have signs, we give them high fives, fist bumps.”  Vann says his long title is the first of its kind in JCPS and, though “Flash Dads” is not new, Vann has picked up the torch and sprinted.

On a rainy Wednesday, at least 20 men and one woman showed at Portland Elementary and made what can be described as human tunnels of energy. As surprised students passed through the stream of encouraging words and high fives some remained sleepy, others shy, but many more started to smile; grinning more and more as they reached the end.

While the adults come from multiple professional, age, age, and ethnic backgrounds, Vann says they’re especially impactful to young black boys.

“JCPS hasn’t always done the best job of teaching our black males and that’s something that we recognize,” he said. “My job is to try to close that achievement gap.” That gap shows black males at the bottom of JCPS performance, according to Vann. He invites firefighters, police officers, college graduates, and other professionals from all ethnicities, but is especially happy to see a black man show up to be role models.

“I never had a black teacher, and I think it would have benefitted me having someone to look up to, especially in a supervisory position, and just someone to relate to who looks like me,” said Matthew McClendon, as he stood in the middle of Portland Elementary’s cafeteria. “I thought it was really important to come here today and show my support in the morning.” McClendon is a young Ph.D. graduate from The University of Louisville.

A morning greeting could seem trivial in the grand scheme of a school year, or even a school week, but Portland’s principal says it can lift an unforeseen emotional weight off of young shoulders.

“A lot of times there’s kids that come in and they bring things in just as adults do,” said principal Michelle Perkins. “Changing that mindset for them is absolutely what we need for kids to be successful.”