Screening/Talkback: 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School

Mon, 03/18/2013 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Raven Quattlebaum, 17, was not only accepted to college but received a scholarship.

Credit: Will McKinley

Join us for a preview screening of this intimate portrait of life for the first graduating class of Washington Metropolitan High School.

As part of “American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen,” a national public media initiative to help communities across America to address the high school dropout crisis, WXXI presents a free preview screening of 180 Days: A Year Inside an American School on Monday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Little Theatre. The screening, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a town-hall discussion moderated by WXXI's education reporter Hélène Biandudi.

Produced by the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), the documentary gives space and breadth to our nation’s education reform debate by giving the audience a first-hand view of what happens in a school that meets the needs of the most challenged students in new and sometimes non-traditional ways. Observe a tireless team of teachers and school leaders dealing with the usual antics of teenagers and the changing tides of a fast-moving administration that is responding to pressures from outside partners, politicians and forces in the community. A surprising and dramatic end to the school year sheds light on both the extraordinary challenges and opportunities today’s public schools face.

Panelists for the town-hall discussion include:

Don Armstrong, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection executive director
Carrie Remis, member of Governor Cuomo's New NY Education Reform Commission and founding director of Rochester Parent Power Project
Lovely Warren, Rochester City Council President and Founder of Operation Transformation
Malik Evans, Rochester City School District, Board of Education president
Shanterra Randle, Associate Coordinator, Center for Teen Empowerment

180 Days: A Year Inside an American School premieres on WXXI-TV/HD on Monday, March 25 and Tuesday, March 26 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD. Re-airs Part 1 only on WXXI World (21.2/Cable 524) 3/27 2-4pm 7-9pm.

The film is made possble with support from: