Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 6: WE THE PARENTS
James Takata’s chronicle of the possibilities of parent power in education made its debut in limited theatrical release in Los Angeles last month. It now expands to NYC, with filmmakers using Tugg to set up potential screenings around the country based on demand.
In January 2010, California became the first state to pass a parent trigger law – essentially, a means by which parents can hold their school district to task for an underperforming school by closing the school, demanding a new administration, or converting it to a charter school. Takata’s film focuses on the efforts of the first group of parents who tried to invoke the law in California’s Compton school district by gathering petitions from more than half of their school’s parents, backed by Parent Revolution, the organization which fought for the parent trigger law in the first place, and which was eager to see it utilized. Not surprisingly, the Compton school district challenges the petition, necessitating a legal battle. While Takata’s film is fairly conventional in approach, and, clocking in at just about an hour, can’t hope to be comprehensive, it is decidedly successful in poignantly capturing the importance of this battle for several of the participants. The primarily Latino and African American parents profiled view the trigger law, and their involvement in Parent Revolution, as perhaps the first time they’ve felt empowered – as one mother notes, in handing the petition over the school district, she felt like she was on the same level as the administrators. That alone makes Takata’s film worth seeking out by parents, community organizers, and teachers alike.
what (not) to doc 