Speaking out: Dr. Killion speaks about the Rise Above the Mark documentary at a press release on February 14th. The documentary is near completion.

     On February 14^th Dr. Rocky Killion, Superintendent of West Lafayette public schools, issued a press release regarding the Rise Above the Mark documentary.  The documentary, which has been in the works for two years, was announced to be near completion.

 At the press release, Dr. Killion said that they were only a couple months from finalizing the documentary.  It has taken them longer than they planned as they have had to schedule a large number of interviews with people from around the world.

Dr. Killion said on the growth of the project that, “A year ago we were telling a more local story. I can tell you now that we are getting ready to tell a national story.”

The documentary is meant to shed light on the corporate takeover of public schools.  “What is starting to occur throughout the nation is that money is being diverted from public schools and given to private schools, and the more that that happens the more school districts are going to go under,” said Dr. Killion.

While the concept of the documentary excites many, there are still a lot of questions as to whether or not it will make a real impact on the way schools are being run.

Alyssa Cheng ’13 is unsure if the movie will make a difference.  “It will depend where it’s shown or who connects with it,” she said.  

This sentiment was echoed by many other students who like to see their school on the big screen, but wonder what the purpose of it is.  

Dr. Killion answered this question in a follow up interview with the Scarlette.  He said the documentary is really “a call to action to a variety of audiences.”  This includes parents and educators, who they want to shed light on what education reform really is.

At this time, Dr. Killion hopes to show the movie at a national level.  They are aiming for T.V. stations like PBS to air the documentary.  They also want to have local and private showings, but the movie will be shown at least online.

Many have also commented on the educators and politicians they have seen in the trailers from around the world. Ryan Kim ’13 said that, “It was awesome how we got a bunch of professors to talk about it.”

But how did the documentary makers get those experts involved?

Dr. Killion said that it was “a lot of hard work, a lot of phone calling” to ask these people to be a part of the documentary.  He said that they are fortunate that “many of those experts said ‘yes.'” 

It was in this way that the film makers got award-winning actor and narrator, Peter Coyote (A Walk to Remember, E.T.) to narrate the documentary.  Coyote will be narrating the documentary as well as the intro and outro of the film. 

There are no plans for him to come to West Lafayette at this point, but instead all of the recording is being done in Los Angeles, where Coyote lives.

Dr. Killion said this of the documentary during the press release in February.  “This is for you.  This is all about you because we want to give you the freedoms that you need to bring to the classrooms the innovations and creativity,  what you believe is best for your students, not some decisions being made 200 miles away from the classroom.