I love the film and agree with Allen that my sense is that the Washington students may not always reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of students in our local districts, but the experiences are similar and powerful. My primary concern is for teachers viewing the film. On the one hand, I do think they will feel validated for the impossibilities of what they are asked to do every day and on the other hand they may feel, and rightly so, as if to make a real impact they have to do even more and step in where families and communities and cannot. The question stimulated for all of us at my center is how to we make this a sustainable shift in practice for those in the workforce most impacted... How do we come together to rescue/support our frontline staff so they can sustain this level of secondary stress and vicarious trauma as they heroically stand with youth in the fires of toxic stress and find ways out with them? I am thinking about ways we can address this in Bay Area screenings and ways to pivot from the emotional impact on audiences to some commitments in practice change--especially around teacher supports--rather than focusing on training teachers to do more. How do we create healing school environments so we can sustain healing teachers?
My thoughts. Absolutely think the film is powerful and very much appreciate the focus on schools.