Annual student documentary takes shape

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Marina Mackrow (far right), director of this year's student documentary, leads a discussion in the broadcast documentary class on the progress of each student's segment of the show, while Matt Aurisy (left), photographer/editor, adds his comments. Crystal Ligori, producer/reporter (center) and professor Bill Knowles listen.

By Brad Fjeldheim
J-School Web reporter

Broadcast and radio-television students have been hitting the highways of Montana working hard to prepare a documentary to be aired on PBS in May.

The documentary will focus on the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on students and schools in Montana.

“We’re trying to contrast the large schools in Billings to the small schools like Plentywood and Sand Springs,” said Dax VanFossen, student producer of the documentary.

The students started shooting the second week of March and should be done by the end of March, he said.

The student documentary unit is an annual project of the Journalism School started in 1986. Broadcast and radio-television students report on issues affecting the entire state and create a documentary to be aired on PBS. Past documentaries have covered methamphetamine use, gambling and sex education in schools.

“The students and the professors behind them focus on good research of the story and good journalistic ethics and methodology,” said Aaron Pruitt, Director of Programming for Montana PBS. “They have historically given us very good work. I fully expect this one to be top notch as well.”

Broadcast professor Bill Knowles has been with the class since the beginning. He advises the class but the students run the show. Knowles appoints a director, producer, assistant director and assistant producer at the start of the semester to take control of the project.

The first few weeks of class this semester were dedicated to choosing a topic that affects all of Montana.

“Everyone came with a lot of ideas,” said Marina Mackrow, student director. It came down to four or five but class members decided on No Child Left Behind because it affected so many people. “There are teachers, students and parents all over the state,” she said.

President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law on Jan. 8, 2002. It aims to improve the performance of America's elementary and secondary schools by requiring teachers and students to meet strict qualifications.

VanFossen and Mackrow just returned from a conference in Billings where federal administrators answered questions concerning the law. The conference was one of seven in the nation to inform educators and school administrators.

“ These people are very vocal about it,” Mackrow said. “You get people talking about it and they will tell you what they think. It’s more of a story than we thought it would be.”

At the conference, they spoke to U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., and an assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

The law is broad and the class is looking only at the parts forcing major changes on Montana’s school system, VanFossen said.

“ We’re trying to tell the story through the kids’ eyes,” he said.

A reporting team just returned from Billings Senior High School, where they followed a special education student around for a day.

Special education students must meet the same standards as other students, VanFossen said.

The law requires that teachers be qualified in the classes they teach, and those not meeting the qualifications are forced to pay for more schooling. This is a concern for Montana teachers who are among the lowest paid in the nation.

One documentary team is in Sand Springs reporting on a teacher who picks up two of her students and takes them to school. Sand Springs is a small town in eastern Montana just off Highway 200 between Winnett and Jordan, both Class C schools.

Sand Springs has six students in six grades, and the teacher isn’t qualified to teach them all, Mackrow said. Teachers don’t make very much money and the law is asking them to go back to college, she said.

The law also monitors the progress of children’s education by requiring students to take more assessment tests.

“ We sat fourth grade kids in a semicircle and just asked them about taking tests,” VanFossen said.

The student journalists are finding arguments on both sides of the issue, but many Montanans are against the new law, VanFossen said.

“ When you find a law that is very different from things before, people are going to be sketchy on it,” he said. “We are just going to put both sides out there and let the viewer decide.”

Every year the School of Journalism applies for a grant from the Greater Montana Foundation, and every year it has received about $15,000 for the program, Knowles said. The foundation was set up by ex-broadcasters to assist broadcasting in Montana.

“ Without the Greater Montana Foundation we’d be in a peck of trouble,” he said. “Just about every program we put on the air is funded by the Greater Montana Foundation.”

The class had to decide on a title so students could start advertising. During a recent class, there was no holding back of opinions, and it was hard to develop a consensus.

That happens with every decision because students are passionate about their ideas, Mackrow said.

After the discussion headed in the direction of mayhem rather than productivity, VanFossen used his rank as producer to settle the issue by borrowing a quote from former broadcast professor Greg MacDonald.

“This is not a democracy,” he said. “This is school.”

When the program originated in 1986, decisions weren’t handed over to the students, Knowles said. The format has evolved and it has now become a dynamic part of the class.

“Selling ideas is part of the whole process,” he said. Having students determine the subject makes it more like the real world, with editorial meetings that require decision-making, Knowles said.

When the class ended, the students had a label for their semester of work. “Testing Times: Montana’s Struggle to Leave No Child Behind” will premiere for parents, students and faculty on Friday, May 14, the night before commencement. It is scheduled to air on PBS Thursday May 20 at 7 p.m.

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