"DISPATCH 'I: [inaudible] 140 West Rialto Avenue, apartment Edward." "[inaudible] [inaudible]" "DISPATCH 2: [inaudible] this is [inaudible]." "360 East Rialto Avenue, apartment 47, 4-7," "San Bernardino." "Hi." "JOEY:" "Hey." "You must be Joseph." "JOEY:" "Yep." "So what's going on, Joseph?" "Nothing much." "What do you mean, "nothing much"?" "Wouldn't be here if something's not going on." "I would rather hear it from you, your side of the thing." "I just don't go to school, I guess." "Why?" "I never wake up." "How late are we staying up?" "JOEY: 12:00." "I'll wake up about 1:00." "1 o'clock?" "In the afternoon, yeah." "That's 13 hours." "Are you using drugs?" "No. [chuckles]" "The father in the household?" "The stepdad?" "JOEY:" "He's in prison now." "And I don't want to do high school." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "You don't want to do high school?" "I have 'I50 credits to make up now, for like [inaudible]." "[Sniffs]" "This is really bothering you, isn't it?" "JOEY'S MOTHER:" "I've done everything." "I've taken-- even put where I took his door." "There was like six months where he didn't even have a bedroom door." "I took everything out of his room." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "Is it still that Way?" "No." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "Why not?" "Because he started doing good." "And he does good, and then he" "OK, well, what do you want out of life?" "What do you expect to get without an education?" "JENNIFER (VOICEOVER):" "My family's been out here forever." "There's really nothing for kids to do." "Like it causes us to get into a lot of bad things." "LEE (VOICEOVER):" "I never really had a childhood." "Like other kids thought the world was all happy." "I tell them, like, no." "The world is actually a dark place." "JOEY (VOICEOVER):" "I don't want to stay here." "I want to be something." "I don't care what it is, just something." "[kids talking]" "Good morning!" "How are you?" "Tired?" "Because you've been working so hard, right?" "Good morning!" "Good morning Ms. Viland." "Good morning." "Morning, Ms. Viland." "Good morning." "Hi!" "Good morning, Ms. Viland." "You have a smile on your face!" "I like that." "Good morning." "Good morning." "I missed you yesterday, Scott." "I'm glad you're back." "Who's been sucking on your neck there?" "No one!" "An octopus." "Oh yeah?" "We need to talk about that." "[bell rings]" "All right." "Let's go, let's go." "Ladies, ladies, ladies, let's go." "[inaudible] for first period, please." "Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go." "You two, I'm going to have you go work in Ms. Larson's room." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "Hi, this is Ms. Ambrosius calling from Black Rock High School." "So what's your responsibility as a 18-year-old?" "To get yourself up and--?" "Come to school." "You missed Monday." "And now today you're home again." "So what's going on?" "If you're looking for a place to hide, this isn't it." "Because at a traditional high school you can come in and you can sit in the back of the room, slouch down, and let the other people answer the questions." "And the bell rings and you get up and leave, right?" "At our school the teachers are going to watch over your shoulders a lot." "They're going to be, "What are you doing?" "Why you doing that?" "Do you need help with that?"" "At our school, we want you to demand-- to demand that we help you." "There is no shame in asking for help." "OK." "All right, Joey." "So I'm Ms. Viland." "Let's start first with how our school differs than a traditional high school, OK?" "This is a self-paced program." "That means you've got to have a burn and a desire to get your butt up every day and get on with it." "OK?" " All right." "MS. VILAND:" "It's got to come from inside." "At our school, you're only stuck here as long as it takes you to do your work." "So the day you finish that last assignment is the day you can stop coming to school." "So you showing up here shows to me that you've realized you've got to get the diploma." "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "So how?" "How we gonna do this, Joey?" "I don't really know, honestly." "I've never really clone schoolwork." "MS. VILAND:" "I know you haven't." "I know." "I know." "[guitar music playing]" "JOEY: (SINGING) Don't let her sing her song." "I was never a bad kid." "I mean, junior high, yeah, but I just had a lot going on in my life." "My mom was on drugs, and my stepdad was-- well, he was on drugs too." "I wanted to be like him." "I decided to break into houses and steal stuff from everyone." "That's how I chose to survive at that time." "Now I'm on probation." "(SINGING) But I won't hesitate no more." "No more, no more." "This cannot wait." "I'm yours." "This town kind of swallows people up and brings them down." "I don't want to end up like everyone in Twentynine Palms." "OK, after school in the parking lot." "But right now we're talking about genetics." "MALE STUDENT:" "I did that before." "TEACHER:" "See-- do you see the three up there?" "NOW Joey?" "Which of these traits is the recessive gene most common?" "The dominant gene isn't most common." "My gene is the most common." "TEACH ER:" "The recessive is most common." "Our gene is." "TEACHER:" "Which means that the dominant trait is the lowest." "[dial tone]" "Hey Anthony, it's Ms. Ambrosius." "I'm calling because we have people looking for you here." "I'm looking for you for attendance." "Here's the thing." "My philosophy is I have no punishments here." "You will not get a punishment." "We have no lunch detentions, no after-school detentions, no Saturday schools." "Because that's not the way it works in the real world." "If I get in trouble with my boss, she doesn't say, oh Ms. Viland, you have Saturday school." "Oh no, no, no." "She comes in, she closes the door, and she says, look woman, you better get your act together and do it my way, or I'm going to fire you." "And that's how I handle discipline." "He did quite well in English." "3.4 credits in one credit check is pretty good." "But then when I look here, he hasn't gotten any science done at all." "OK, you keep saying that you are adult enough and responsible enough." "OK, you need to stop saying it and start showing it." "Yes?" " Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "TEACHER:" "You realize you're 8.7 credits above being a freshman." "Yeah." "And next year's your senior year." "Yeah." "If I make a credit every day starting next year," "I'll graduate two months early." "TEACH ER:" "How about a credit every day starting next week?" "Well, I'll be trying to do that." "TEACHER:" "No, not try." "Try tells me that you're not going to do it." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "You and I talk a lot about this." "You're angry." "MALE STUDENT:" "Mm-hmm." "And used to be when you were angry you would hit somebody." "That was the first step, right?" "MALE STUDENT:" "Yeah" "OK, and I said, OK, we're going to make a little step and we're going to hit walls now." "Right?" "And We hit walls." "And now, this morning you got angry." "Did you hit anything?" " No." "You didn't hit anything." "I just walked away." "You walked away." "A little bit further at a time." "Lee, you and I have a deal, right?" "LEE:" "Yes." "MS. VILAND:" "We're going to help you, but you're going to have to help yourself." "You're going to have to be using your time." "You need to be here every day." "You need to get everything done, right?" "So this looks like a good plan." "'IO, 10.7, 15.7, 15.8." "And then you need to get another four credits in electives, in any of these ones here." "Either in careers or fitness." "So is this doable?" "I think it is." "MS. VILAND:" "I think it is too." "You now have a huge responsibility." "Because if you don't graduate, your baby won't graduate." "You might be going through some hard times." "You might, I might." "Any of us can." "But that don't mean we should just tear down because of it." "I'm not giving up." "I'm still trying to graduate." "I'm going to graduate." "I'm not going to drop out of school." "I'm going to graduate." "The mother's going to graduate." "We're going to start better off in life, because we didn't give up on our child." "[chanting]" "Chop, chop, chop, chop, I'm picking up the speed." "[inaudible]" "TEACHER:" "Have a good day, kids." "See you all tomorrow." "All right." "Bus is here, time to go!" "Everyone has a kid in them still." "I don't want the little kid in me to die." "I feel, like, stuck in between a man and a child still trying to build his way to becoming a good man, a man my son can be like, oh, I'm proud of daddy, he did it." "I want to be like that." "I'm not just going to be some deadbeat who drops out and never go anywhere in life." "I stay dedicated to my girlfriend, my work, and my child, trying to graduate school." "That's what makes me different as a teen father." "I'm not going around causing trouble, trying to party." "I don't do that either." "I'm always with him." "Taking care of him." "LEE:" "What was your first reaction when you found out you was pregnant and having a baby?" "I don't know." "I was scared." "I don't know, I didn't know what to do." "Or anything." "My first reaction was, eh, it was going to happen sooner or later." "So you know, let's see where it goes." "That was actually my first reaction." "I wasn't scared, I wasn't nervous." "I was like, I'm gonna face it head on." "I'm not gonna run from it." "[Sirens]" "TEACHER:" "OK, earth science?" "Have you done any of these?" "I have one done." "And I'm working on another one now." "OK." "So if you've got the one here, have you done an essay yet?" "Mm-mm." "TEACH ER:" "Why not?" "I haven't done any English since I've been here." "TEACHER:" "OK, you know, Joey, you need almost 3O credits in English." "That's three years." "You need to be doing these essays every credit check if you're serious about graduating." "That sucks." "Joey." "You have the ability." "This is totally doable, OK?" "Yeah." "Are you hearing me?" "JOEY:" "Mm-hmm." "TEACHER:" "Not just listening." "You're hearing what I'm saying." "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "I am sitting with Joey McGee right now." "He is confused." "Is he still on probation or off probation?" "OK thanks." "Bye-bye." "I believe you're off probation." "Now, that doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want." "JOEY:" "I haven't been doing anything." "Still staying out of trouble." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "I don't want you to stop coming to school." "Because, you know, I just don't want you to sell yourself short." "JOEY:" "Hopefully I can get out of this stuff, but just" "All right, Joey, most things that you do here probably won't apply to your life." "It's all playing a game." "And I know because you're gifted musically you don't yet realize the importance of the diploma." "But I'm telling you, there are more homeless talented people out there because they didn't fit into the societal expectations." "You know what I mean?" "[guitar music playing]" "Would you like to play it?" "Huh?" "Would you like to play it?" "I want to play with you, man." "I need a rhythm so bad." "I'm not good." "I'm still practicing." "No such thing as "I'm not good."" "I used to be like that." "I've been playing for seven years though." "I've got that kind of bluesy sound to me, though." "There's a lot of pain in my music." "For whatever reason." "I don't know why." "MALE STUDENT:" "What are you starting off with?" "What's the chord?" "What is it called?" "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I have one friend." "But it's good that way." "Because when I had a lot of friends I did bad." "And I was doing bad things." "I did a lot of drugs." "And I had to take care of my baby brother and stuff, because my mom was never home." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "If I get my high school diploma" "I can turn my life around for the better." "I mean, I really do want to get out of that trailer." "And I don't want to keep using food stamps." "I don't like using that as a crutch." "I'm just using it because no one can really afford food in my house." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I remember sometime in the fourth grade, one of my teachers told me I would never amount to anything." "So I kind of just, like, stuck with that, that I would never amount to anything." "So I thought everything I did was just for no reason." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I get really bad stressing out, to the point where, like, I do not talk to anybody or anything, or I just, like, try to block out everybody." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "Anger builds up in me because my dad, like, he yell at me a lot of times." "He want me to be a better person than he is." "He just bring me down, and I don't feel like living sometimes no more." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "Oh my god." "I am 17 and pregnant." "What am I going to" " I'm not even out of high school." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I don't want to be trapped anywhere." "Don't want to ever be trapped in anything." "I see a lot of people who are trapped in this town." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "My mom is" "I still don't know her address." "I still don't know where she's at." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "Don't care about what other people say." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "Everybody knows me to be a happy guy, smiling all the time." "But I do feel sad." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "My mom, she didn't finish high school." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "My mom, I don't know where she is." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I'm a stubborn kid." "First and foremost, that's basically why I'm here." "I didn't want to do my work." "[interposing voices]" "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "She's my only little sister." "My older sisters that I looked up to were like-- [interposing voices]" "[bell rings]" "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "OK guys, time for second period, please." "JENNIFER (VOICEOVER):" "My whole seventh, eighth, ninth grade year, I really don't even remember school those years." "Like they really didn't exist." "When I was younger, my mom just like left." "I don't know where she went." "I just started living with my grandma." "My dad, my real dad's just been in and out of my life." "He's never really been there for me." "And then when I was in grade school, my grandma's husband molested me." "I was probably the most depressed teenager." "I just don't think teenagers are supposed to be that depressed." "We can't control the events that happen to us, but we can choose not to be reduced by them." "I'm just going to be strong, not somebody that's going to let what happened to them break them." "MS. VILAND:" "You said there was drama the other night." "JENNIFER:" "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "What happened?" "JENNIFER:" "It was like, I wouldn't feel as responsible if he would just stop popping up, like not still doing stuff to still hurt my grandma." "Like I feel like it's my fault a lot of the time." "MS. VILAND:" "OK, but Jennifer, we've talked about this before." "Do you want your grandma with somebody who, first of all, does things like that to you, but secondly, who treats her that Way?" "If I would have just dealt with what he was doing to me and never told my grandma, he wouldn't" "MS. VILAND:" "Honey." "Like, I just feel like it's my fault." "Like," "I could have just dealt with it without having my grandma to deal with it." "MS. VILAND:" "No." "Honey." "Let me ask you this." "If I got one of the counselors, but somebody, like a sexual assault counselor-- because it's common." "It's common that the victims feel that responsibility." "And they shouldn't." "It's not-- you can't-- it's never the victim's fault." "JENNIFER:" "But I blame myself a lot." "I know you do." "And that's what I worry about, is that you take everything on your shoulders." "And then it becomes a roadblock from you from doing what you need to do for you." "You know what I mean?" "You were the victim." "You're the child." "You are not the adult." "I feel like it." "It's just" " I don't" " I want to be more focused on school, and I feel like I'm really, really trying." "And I really, really want to graduate this year." "I just, I couldn't go to school yesterday." "Because I don't like people here seeing me break down." "I'm not" "MS. VILAND:" "Honey, We all break down here." "That's what's great about it, is that you can break down here." "I know." "I can break down to you here, but not everybody else here." "MS. VILAND:" "The kids all do." "We see every" " I mean, you see it." "Everyone who goes here has something." "That's Why they go here." "I know." "MS. VILAND:" "We talked real briefly at the last staff meeting about Adopt a Student again, and just kind of refreshing your memory." "If you can please make sure to touch base with your students." "And if we can just do a go-around as to who you're working with again." "Did We find out what's going on with Jesse?" "MS. VILAND:" "Yes." "He and his mom have been evicted." "So they're couching it." "He's so smart." "MS. VILAND:" "He is." "He is." "But that's Why-- the connection of why we've seen the anger." "Because lately it's been if you even look at him cross-eyed he's been angry." "But obviously, you know, justly so." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "Maurice, he said he wasn't here yesterday because he had nowhere to stay Monday night and didn't have clean clothes yesterday." "MS. VILAND:" "Yeah, he was kicked out." "In fact, Jeanie texted me this morning, "ls Maurice there?" "I'm worried."" "Because he was kicked out." "But I asked him today, and he said he got back in." "Someone else told me that story about not having clean clothes, and it wasn't him." "OK, please just tell him to bring a whole bag of clothes in and we'll Wash them for him." "That's not a problem at all." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "Well, and I told Maurice, you know, we'll feed you." "Just get here." "I just inherited Victor." "He talked with Wanda and has got a lot of stuff going on." "He's got his story." "He was in tears in my office, and very embarrassed about breaking down in tears." "His biggest worry is that this is all he has for life, because this is where he started." "And he doesn't want to end up on welfare." "He doesn't want to live the life that his family lives." "And he's afraid he's going to get sucked into it." "And he said it's hard for him some days just to get out of bed, because he just can't face it." "[phone dialing]" "MS. VILAND:" "Good morning, Miss Jan." "Time to get UP!" "It's Ms. Viland." "Jan, it's time to get up." "I'm going to expect you here at 7:30 this morning." "See you in a bit." "Love ya." "Bye." "Good morning, sweetie, it's Ms. Viland." "How are you this morning?" "Good." "You sleep well?" "All right, it's time to get in here and get to work." "White milk, anyone?" "Anyone getting rid of anything today?" "Do you want a white milk?" "Too many hungry people." "FEMALE SPEAKER:" "So if you could tell me one thing about yourself, what would it be?" "What is one thing that you feel like I need to know about you?" "I have a three-month-old son." "FEMALE SPEAKER:" "Really?" "Oh, little baby!" "I can care less what you think about me." "[laughter]" "FEMALE SPEAKER:" "That's good to know." "Lucky for you I don't think anything about anybody." "I'm an emotional wreck." "FEMALE SPEAKER:" "Who says?" "Me." "Everybody." "TEACHER:" "OK, so take this." "This is a list of different feelings." "What are some feelings you have felt in a dating relationship?" "Lee, write yours down." "You're going to have some good ones, I know." "JENNIFER:" "I don't know why I'm circling every one of these, and it's horrible." "TEACHER:" "Jennifer, what's going on with your three boys?" "I'm only talking to, like, one right now." "But just past relationships are horrible." "TEACHER:" "Yeah." "Lee." "LEE:" "I say lonely in a relationship." "TEACH ER:" "Lonely?" "When a person don't understand you and they don't even try to talk you at all, it makes you feel lonely." "Like, why did we get together if I knew it was going to be like that." "TEACHER:" "Yeah." "That's how it makes you feel." "TEACHER:" "Yeah." "Any others, you guys?" "Unworthy and victimized." "TEACHER:" "In your relationships?" "OK." "FEMALE STUDENT:" "Afraid." "TEACHER:" "Afraid." "And why did you feel afraid?" "Because I would always have to take care of them, like nonstop." "I would have to make sure he wouldn't have to, like, kill himself." "Him doing too many drugs or doing too many-- too much drinking and everything." "Because I would be out having to stick my finger down his throat and clean up his puke and stuff." "But I'm happy for what I've been through." "Even though it's like really, really, really bad stuff that I went through and everything, it's just" " I'm a better person now, and I'm stronger because of it." "And it's like, I feel like because we've gone through stuff so young, like how I've watched my grandma be in this cycle, now that we've gone through it so young we can just be like, OK, this is what not to do," "instead of being stuck in it our whole lives and dealing it [inaudible]." "TEACHER:" "That's the key, is breaking that cycle, right?" "Like how many more kids do we have to endanger and mess up before somebody is going to break the cycle, right?" "[rhythmic tapping]" "LEE:" "Have a good day at work." "Love you, mom." "LEE'S MOTHER:" "You too." "Love you too." "Want to say, (BABY VOICE) bye grandma, love you grandma, have a good day at work!" "Look at Midnight." "What you doing, Midnight?" "See, I've got to do three chapters of life science, two essays, history, I've got to do 2.2." "Government I've got to do 2.5." "And altogether he takes more time than all of it put together." "Where'd your mom go?" "Joy!" "JOY:" "Yeah?" "LEE:" "Where's Layla?" "JOY:" "Where's Layla?" "LEE:" "Yeah." "JOY:" "I don't know." "LEE:" "Man, tell her to hurry up." "TEACHER:" "Four animals in nature that scientists have made copies of." "And one of them was the beaver." "[baby crying]" "LEE:" "You could drop out any time at school." "My friend dropped out, and he wasn't even a freshman in high school." "He just dropped out." "FEMALE STUDENT:" "You can't drop out." "I made 20 credits in one week." "Why you gonna drop out, dude?" "I'm gonna just drop out because making 2O credits, just too much." "But Layla's graduating." "That's good for her." "Give me a hug." "I'm hearing that you're saying that you think it's too hard." "Close the door." "It is." "It's-—" "Tell me what's too hard." "To get these 20 credits is hard." "MS. VILAND:" "I would guess that you're just kind of flipping through and not really reading, right?" "I'm just not getting the history." "Any area-—" "OK, like I said, let's just put that to the back burner and work on something else." "Me and Mike, he was talking about this, we both are probably talking about dropping out, like next-- this year or something." "MS. VILAND:" "No, you're not dropping out." "We're like, Wolfe was like, it's hard." "We might as well just drop out, because we know we can't do it." "And when it comes to school I just don't believe I have what it takes." "That's the silly talk." "You know Lee, sometimes you get into the silly mode." "Yeah?" "I just" "Dropping out is just silly mode." "You're going to need benefits for the baby." "You're going to need a job." "LEE:" "That's what Layla's going to do, right?" "She is graduating, so." "No." "Lee, who is in charge of this?" "LEE:" "Yeah, I'm in charge of that." "But how can others believe in me when" "I don't even believe in myself?" " There we go." "That's the key." "I don't even believe I can make it." "You can do this." "I don't think I can." "If you choose-- if you choose to do it, you can do it." "We will help you." "[electric guitar playing]" "Joey I brought an electric!" "Want to play it?" "JOEY:" "Yeah I want to play it." "It's fun." "[guitar playing]" "MR. BARTZ:" "Isn't it fun?" "Oh yeah." "[guitar playing]" "That was sick." "That was really good." "All right." "Thank you." "JOEY:" "That thing is too sweet." "You know a lot about math." "I don't know, Mr. Bartz." "Well, let's think about that." "Do you know A440 megahertz?" "No." "I've never even heard that in my" " I don't know what that is." "What is that?" "Don't you have a guitar tuner?" "Oh yeah." "That's crazy!" "But it's all math." "You're doing math when you play music." "What happens when you take that A string and you come up to the double dots and play." "JOEY:" "It's the same-- same sound." "It's an A note an octave higher." "So what is that A string at the double dots?" "A880." "[laughs] So you've been doing math." "Oh crap." "MR. BARTZ:" "Well now here, solving inequalities with variables on both sides, if you subtract 10y from both sides, you're going to have a negative." "And you'll get to where you don't even write minus 2a on each side." "By the time you're at college you'll just be bringing it down, saying," "I've got 2a left, minus 20." "You'll do it more in your head." "FEMALE STUDENT:" "We're reading Longfellow?" "TEACHER:" "Yep." "OK, look at the second stanza, the third line." ""Dust thou art, to dust returnest."" "What message did you get?" "Yes, Jennifer." "Like, not to-- like that says not to be like dumb driven cattle." "Don't just like go along with whatever people say." "Make your life more you." "TEACH ER:" "Excellent." "Anyone else?" "TEACHER:" "Lee." "How's that coming?" "My eyes hurt." "Where's Hobbes at?" "I need to find Hobbes." "Hobbes." "That's the guy who thinks poorly about the human race." "OK." "I got him and Locke mixed up then." "John Locke is the opposite." "He's the good guy." "Believes everybody should have their own rights." "FEMALE STUDENT:" "It sounds like he should be more of a bad one, because of his last name, Locke." "Yeah." "Vol" " Voltaire?" "FEMALE STUDENT:" "Voltaire, yeah." "He's my favorite." "That is my favorite philosopher ever." "MS. VILAND:" "This credit check we chose to recognize the student who improved the most in each homeroom." "From Ms. Alexander's homeroom, Joey McGee!" "[cheering]" "Nice!" "Congratulations." "Keep up the good work." "From Mr. Beck's homeroom, Scott Johnson!" "[cheering]" "MS. VILAND:" "Woo-hoo!" "Congratulations." "Keep up that work." "[bell ringing]" "Where have you been?" "I didn't" " I didn't have a ride." "Oh my gosh." "I swear!" "You're so full of it." "You don't have a ride?" "There are people that are homeless." "There are people that are pregnant that are able to get here." "You look like a well-bodied young man who would be able to get to school if you had to, if that was your priority." "MS. VILAND:" "Why did you flip the bus driver off?" "I didn't flip the bus driver off." "Well, let's go back to why would you flip the bus driver off?" "MALE STUDENT:" "I don't know." "Because you don't like the bus driver." "So let's go back to, am I right on why you flipped the bus driver off?" "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "This is what we were talking about yesterday out there." "Where you heading, man?" "I'm not going to beat him up." "MS. VILAND:" "Do I have your word on that?" "You have my word." "MS. VILAND:" "As a man" " As a man." "MS. VILAND:" "Do I have your word, you're not going to beat him up?" "I'm not going to beat him up." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "McGee, or--?" "Yeah." "Joey." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "Can I get Joey McGee, please?" "TEACHER:" "Sure." "MS. AMBROSIUS:" "Thank you." "He doesn't [inaudible]." "Morning, Joey." "Morning." "Your choice, which one do you want?" "You get a gift certificate for such great attendance." "What?" "Get a $5 gift certificate" "Subway." "For good attendance." "Subway sounds good." "Oh, here." "Good, but I need you to sign this." "Right here?" "PROBATION OFFICER:" "Yeah, right there." "OK." "Everything OK?" "You're not in trouble, are you?" "Not that I understand." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "No, he's doing really good, actually." "I guess I'm getting a gift card." "Hey!" "For?" " Good attendance." " All right." "That's what I like to hear." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "OK." "There you go." " Sweet." "Congrats." "Thank you." "OK, so it showed that you needed five credits at the beginning, when you first came here, on your transcript, right?" "Mm-hmm." "MS. VILAND:" "And the other one is in econ." "It shows none." "Yeah, because I'm just waiting for those credits to come in." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "All right." "You're going to be out of here before you know it, aren't you?" "Man, I'm trying to." "So all I need is seven more credits, and then I'm done." "That makes me feel so happy." "MS. VILAND:" "I am too, Michael." "I'm very excited for you." "Cool, thank you." "MS. VILAND:" "I'm kind of sad." "You don't want to see me graduate?" "You do but you don't?" "That's fine." "So all this is done." "And econ-- you have four chapters of econ left." "That's it." "That's amazing!" "Are you done?" "(OVER INTERCOM) Black Rock High School, if you would please join me in congratulating graduate number" "29, Kayla Jeffries!" "[cheering]" "[MUSIC - "POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE"]" "Woo!" "[whistles]" "All right!" "Yeah, another one!" "Woo!" "Yeah!" "All right, I am looking for a number 30!" "That's what I'm looking for!" "I'm looking for a number 30!" "Ready?" "On three." "One, two, three." "You look prettier than a flower." "[bell rings] [guitar playing]" "MALE STUDENT:" "It's one of my songs." "(RAPPING) I'll be back one of these days, but for the moment" "I'm running away." "I'm missing out on too much that awaits." "I'll be far away and I'll live a life amazed." "And life is a maze." "Moving too fast, man life is a race." "Trying to keep up an impossible pace, last place, getting lost in space." "No place to go, and no place to sleep." "No cast to show and no place to eat." "School days that were a waste to me." "Living free is the place to be." "Pocket lint in these faded jeans with my backpack on, just chasing dreams." "With a broken heart that's provoking art, art that's not judged by A's and B's." "Streets are cracked and the road is long." "The world's on my back, just loaded on." "I'm on the edge, just holding on till I slip away, then I'm floating on. 'Cause I'm lost, but I'm not that lost." "I'm scared, but I'm not that scared." "I care, but I just don't care right now, anywhere is better than here." "[clapping]" "MALE STUDENT:" "Thanks." "FEMALE STUDENT:" "You rock." "MALE STUDENT:" "Thank you." "MS. VILAND:" "Just a reminder that We are officially halfway through the credit check." "Yikes." "Ooh." "Yes, yikes, exactly." "That means in three weeks we're halfway through the year." "That means it is so important that you are looking at your plan folders, that you are looking at what work you need to get done, what your credit goals are, and then you're in line for that." "TEACHER:" "We're going to take our compass, find a point anywhere on it, OK probably kind of a larger arch, the longest we can probably get, so maybe out in here, OK?" "Joey." "Joey?" "Rise and shine." "Let's have some sparkle." "Joey!" "Joey." "Yes, I heard you." "OK, you're not going to sleep here like that." "You want to go to the office and lay down?" "I already went there last period." "Well, you're going again." "Why?" "Because you can't be in here doing that." "[inaudible]" "OK?" "Stupid [inaudible]." "If you're not well then you can go lay down somewhere else." "Fucking tired." "TEACHER:" "But you can't-- you don't get to sleep in class." "Shut up." "[knock on door]" "How did he sneak in here?" "Why are We in here?" "Hey you, why are you in here?" "You're supposed to be in Ms. White's, remember?" "We had a deal." "I don't know." "I don't remember." "Tired." "How come you're so tired?" "We took care of a baby last night." "Your ex" " Had a baby" " Had a baby." "With one of my other friends and got with another one of my other friends." "And then he went to jail, so he wanted me to take care of the kid." "Yeah, but Joey, before you can take care of somebody else, you've got to take care of yourself." "I know." "I'm OK." "Yeah?" "OK." "[sighs]" "I think Lee knows enough of us and trusts enough of us, several years even, that I don't think he'll leave us." "I don't either." "But he's" "He feels like it right now." "Because Lee was in my sixth period." "I think it's because Layla is so close." "Yes." "And that's the reason." "And I know right now he's upset because all his friends and kids that are in his class and everything are going to graduate." "MS. VILAND:" "Which is Why today he got into a thing," ""I hate graduations." "They want me to come out and applaud for somebody that I don't care about."" "It's because they're all his friends and he's not." "Really, I mean I do think it's hard for him." "Because he's only got 'I00 credits and everybody's, you know, graduating." "This many students earned over 20 credits these past six weeks." "It's fabulous." "I am just astounded by the work ethic of all of you." "When I tallied these up, my first thought was of empathy for the teachers and how much grading this means that they've done." "Earning 28.5 credits, Layla Schneider!" "[cheering]" "MS. VILAND:" "That is amazing." "I'm so proud of you." "Congratulations." "Keep up the good work." "[laughing]" "What's your problem?" "MS. VILAND:" "And now we're going to make a bit of a leap." "Earning 31.5 credits, Miguel Alvarado!" "[cheering]" "Do you want to talk about what was going on at the house?" "Was anything-- was this a particularly bad week at the house?" "No, we were just-- everyone was just hung over and partying at my house." "MS. VILAND:" "ls there a reason for that?" "Is it the beginning of the month and there's more money?" "No, it's just-- we go through phases where our house is crazy, and then we'll go through Weeks where it's pretty boring, and then" " Last night there was people" " I-- probably as I woke up" " I'm up until 3 o'clock in the morning." "MS. VILAND:" "I thought you and I had talked about the fact that you weren't using anymore." "I wasn't." "MS. VILAND:" "So are you drinking, then, instead?" "I drink occasionally." "You see with that kind of lifestyle creates, right?" "Oh, god." "Nobody's responsible." "What if we put you in two science classes?" "You need to start getting that feeling of success again that you had when you first came here." "Once you start seeing the credit slips come in and you start feeling that level of success, then you're going to get back on track." "Joey, I can't fix the home life." "I can't fix that." "[muffled shouting]" "JOEY'S MOTHER:" "Get out of my house!" "JOEY'S STEPDAD:" "Fuck you!" "JOEY'S MOTHER:" "Get out!" "[muffled shouting]" "Not really sure." "[playing guitar]" "[phone ringing]" "MS. VILAND:" "Um, I'm missing some students that I care about that I'm trying to get a hold of." "So does anyone have any way of contacting Joey McGee?" "What about Lee Bridges?" "You don't know?" "You haven't seen him around or anything?" "MALE STUDENT:" "He's in Twentynine." "MS. VILAND:" "He's living in Twentynine now?" "MALE STUDENT:" "Yeah." "Lee, where are you?" "Why are you still at home?" "Do you need me to come get you?" "What happened with you and your momma?" "She-- basically her husband talked her into saying that-- kicking me out next month or so, he says." "MS. VILAND:" "Because you don't have a diploma?" "LEE:" "Because I have a baby and I don't have a diploma." "So they say they're kicking me out anyways." "If my mom want to be like that over a dude, then I don't care." "When I leave, I don't even want her a part of my life if that's really how it's going to be." "JOEY:" "I'm about five minutes from blowing my brains out if I just keep trying" "I'm done trying." "Just gonna go with it." "Everyone thinks I suck at everything I do, because I never commit to it." "I don't care." "I hate to sound like a punk-ass teenager, but I just don't care anymore." "I don't want to live my life by a plan." "I don't want to live in between lines that tell you have to do these certain things." "Fuck that." "I'm tired of everyone telling me I need to do something." "JOEY'S MOTHER:" "Nobody's ever even told you you need to do this, this, and this." "Yes they do!" "Everyone does!" "Fucking go to school, get your high school diploma, go to-- no." "Fuck that." "I'm all out of options." "I have no idea." "He doesn't have a TV." "I took his guitar." "I dumped five gallons of water on him." "You know, I'm not making it comfortable at home for him." "We quit doing dishes." "There's no clean dishes in this house." "Look at where I am, and look at how hard I struggle right now." "I really, really want to graduate a year early." "I know." "So we're just going to focus on this one day at a time, OK?" "You can do it, Jennifer." "Your portfolio's almost done, right?" "This workbook's done." "That's already done." "[inaudible] be done tomorrow." "OK?" "Pick one thing to work on, on A Plus, at a time, and it's going to just-- we're going to do it." "I'm so" "I know." "We're going to do it." "And I keep rubbing my eyebrows and I just got them done, so it burns." "It's OK." "You can do it, OK?" "Look at-- look at how fast it went away." "My dad was being mean to me last night, and it made me sad." "Who?" "My dad." "Don't worry about him." "He'll-- you'll graduate, you'll walk." "And you know what?" "If you don't, you're still going to graduate." "And that's what's most important." "I invited him to my graduation, and he like yelled at me for graduating early, and like" "TEACHER:" "Oh my goodness, Jennifer." "He's just mean." "TEACH ER:" "So you know what?" "You're going to go to college, and you're going to make something, and then you can nyah in his face." "Right?" "Mad because you're graduating early?" "What parent does that?" "We'll show him." "He can come to your college graduation and be mad because you graduated college." "Darn you." "Stinking kid, doing good with your life." "We're over that." "That's all you're focusing on." "When you finish those, you come see me." "OK." "MS. VILAND:" "Let me ask you this." "Are you doing it for him or are you doing it for you?" "JENNIFER:" "I'm doing it for me." "OK." "I know it's hard, because you want his approval." "I get that." "I understand that." "But ultimately, you've got to do stuff for you." "You know what, when my dad died I was cleaning out his house." "And he was a hoarder." "I found a letter in there that was to his lawyer when my mom and dad divorced, saying that he wanted my brother but he didn't want me, and there's no way in hell he would take me." "OK?" "And I sat and I just cried and cried and cried." "All my life I wanted his approval." "I wanted his acceptance." "And you know what, I never got it." "And you know what?" "Didn't need it." "OK?" "So don't let him have another moment of your life in sadness." "TEACHER:" "You know, people who are being abused or are abusing others, you learned about yourself." "You got to discuss yourselves and what your hot buttons were, and how to handle yourself when you're becoming angry." "You know, how to break that cycle." "Ever since I had a baby, fuck my life." "I'm getting kicked out of my mom's house even if I don't graduate, which is fucked up." "Because her husband wants me to get kicked out." "That's fucked up." "I'm not graduating because I had a baby, and since I focused on him so much, I can't graduate." "I never got to do my work." "And since I deal with his mother, who nags at me 24/7," "I couldn't do my work." "So altogether my life is fucked." "You know what, honey?" "I'm going to tell you, you're right." "You don't have control over your life, because you do have a responsibility." "But that's not a bad thing." "LEE:" "I wanted to graduate so bad, but I put so much-- so much focus on the baby and on the-- on the woman of the baby that" "MS. VILAND:" "The problem started before the baby came in." "You had too much going against you beforehand, because you needed too many credits beforehand." "It's an easy thing for you to blame Layla and the baby, but that's not going to help." "I don't want anything to do anymore." "I don't want to deal with family or none of that." "Because I see how it is now." "MS. VILAND:" "I do understand that." "It's me all by myself." "I've got to do it all by myself." "I see no one-- no one is going to be there for me." "MS. VILAND:" "Lee." "Whether the baby had been there or not, you and I would have had the same conversation this morning." "And Layla, I don't want you to take this personally." "And you and I and Lee will get together again later, after Lee gets some of his frustrations out." "LEE:" "It don't even matter if I get a job, she fucked my life over anyways." "MS. VILAND:" "OK, so go ahead and go out, all right?" "OK." "Lee." "You and I talked on day one." "And I told you that this was going to be a huge responsibility, right?" "Remember that?" "And remember what else I told you?" "I told you that I believed that you could handle all this responsibility, and you've done a good job." "You're just overwhelmed right now." "You know in your heart that she is not the problem." "You've got a lot on your plate right now." "You've got several issues." "You've got your mom." "You've got school." "You've Layla." "You've got the baby." "You've got the fact that you want to be a teenager still." " I want to graduate." " You want to graduate?" "It's not even I want to be a teen" " I want to graduate." "That's what it is." " OK then." "All right." "You know what, Lee?" "If you-- show me." "Show me." "Get 2O credits this credit check, sixth credit check, and then I'll let you come back and finish in the fall." "You and I both know that there were times that Lee didn't work because Lee didn't feel like it." "All right, that was my blame, but" "MS. VILAND:" "Right." "You need to stop bitching about it." "And if you want to make it work, then I will give you my word that if you get 2O or more credits and are working during this next credit check," "I'll let you come back." "I know, Lee, what a good man you are and what a big heart you have." "So don't act big, bad, and tough with Layla and the ones you love." "[bell ringing]" "MALE STUDENT:" "Ow, my eyes." "Someone's gonna get hit in the head." "[laughter]" "Light me on fire." "Keep me warm!" "Hi, Mildred?" "It's Ms. Ambrosius at Black Rock High School." "Hey, so we're a little bit concerned about Joey." "He's not here again today, and he was out yesterday and last Friday and-- what's going on?" "Good morning." "I'm assuming Joey's being impossible this morning." "What did he do?" "He's gone?" "OK." "Um, I would call the police." "JOEY:" "Yesterday and the day before and the day before for that and the last two weeks" "I've been sleeping on Daniel Debord's fucking recliner outside of his shed, with a blanket." "So I've been wearing the same clothes for like two weeks, two and a half weeks." "I really want to graduate from Black Rock." "You guys have to understand that." "But it's just like-- but I'm not going back to my mom's." "I'm not now." "I just-- just stressed out." "Need to get a job." "Need to start paying some bills, stop being dependent on somebody else." "[Plays guitar]" "She's not-- she's not a bad person." "It's just, she changes when the drugs are involved." "And I don't even care that she does drugs." "I just wish she would be consistent with me." "She always talks about wanting to bond and do stuff together, and then, like, we never do." "(SINGING) My momma told me when I, when I was young, do as I say, not as I've done." "Be a simple man, just fall in love, find you a girl that you can trust." "Then one clay I know that you'll leave." "That day came sooner than she expected." "I Wonder Why I wanted to hang out with my best friend, because you know, you were never my mom in the end." "You were never, you were never in the end." "Back in the days when we used to say," "I love you best, the moons and stars, way beyond, way too far." "I will always be the one that you can," "HO, HO, HO, HO, HO, HO, HO." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." "No, no, no, no, no." "MS. VILAND:" "So, have you heard from Joey?" "Nah." "Like I said, I'm always here to catch him if he falls, but it's like, you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped." "If he was really a situation in which he couldn't go home, he would come to my house." "And then usually when he doesn't come to my house and he doesn't want to go home, that's just the Whole, you know, like, drugs thing." "So like at this point, I think he's just kind of given up on himself." "It's his future, you know what I mean?" "So how'd you get to be so wise beyond your years?" "Like that joke I was telling you, you know," "I've been 18 since I was 13." "So." "Just-- just looking." "MS. VILAND:" "I wish I could bottle that." "Jen!" "JENNIFER:" "Yes?" "Did you find your nail polish?" "JENNIFER:" "This is not the lipstick that is mine." "Girl, let the [inaudible]." "JENNIFER:" "Look!" "You made it bigger, so now it's like bigger on both sides." "Make that side not so [inaudible]." "Mom, where are you?" "Mom, you need to be here by 4:00!" "I'm not giving you a hard time." "I'm stressed out, Mom." "I'm stressed." "OK, well, can you just be here?" "Mom, I want you to be here!" "[dance music playing]" "[crying]" "It's OK." "Cry." "Let it out." "You've been trying to keep it in too long." "OK." "You're overwhelmed." "You've got to feel good about yourself." "You've got to celebrate your accomplishments." "Because I'm going to tell you, honey, in life?" "You're the one you can count on." "All right?" "[beep]" "MS. VILAND:" "Teachers, We will meet in Ms." "Hill's room in five minutes." "Thank you." "With the students, you guys all give of your heart and soul." "And it's the hardest job in the district." "What kind of toll does working here have on you guys?" "You have to face reality every single day." "You have to face the same realities, in a way, every single day." "Because they're not going anywhere." "Their issues aren't going anywhere." "You get involved." "You get personally involved." "You're going to have to take care of it." "And that's emo-- that's emotionally draining." "TEACHER:" "I lose sleep." "I think about our kid who went straight to a homeless shelter." "I don't like that." "MS. VILAND:" "I think there are a lot of tears, because you do have the weight of not just, can they read the assignment, but do they have a place to sleep tonight?" "And do they have food?" "And buying gift certificates for the family that the grandma's taken in all the kids, and buying water for the boy who didn't have water at his house." "MR. BARTZ:" "Whoa, you can see the whole thing!" "That's great." "So pretty!" "All right." "Going to give you a heads up that this is kind of a depressing, overwhelming conversation." "And I do it with all seniors." "And it's" " I call it kind of a facts of life speech." "OK?" "So what we're going to do is we're going to pretend you're 29, 12 years from now." "Now what we're going to do is we're going to look at, how are you going to support your family?" "The more you know about money, the easier your life is going to be." "The better you are with your money, the easier your life will be." "Who wrote you a letter of recommendation?" "This beautiful lady right here." "This wonderful, fabulous-- thank you so, so much Ms. Viland." "I would be sucking up to her and say, thank you, thank you for doing this at the very last moment." "Anytime somebody does something for you, a short note." "Sincerely, comma, put your name underneath." "Put it in the envelope, and you're going to hand it to them." "I want you to start realizing that not only are you in charge of your lives here, you're in charge of your lives when you leave here." "So what I want us to start doing is" "I want us to start getting that initial plan for what you're going to do after Black Rock." "What comes next, right?" "Now, what are your plans for next year?" "Next year?" "Not sure." "Well, hopefully get a job at Petco and then" "OK." "Have you put in an application with Petco?" "LAYLA:" "Yeah." "You did online?" "Yes?" "Is there a reason that you picked Petco?" "Um, I like animals." "And it's a new business, so" "MS. VILAND:" "Layla, I think that sometimes you sell yourself a little short." "I would like to see you consider going out to Copper Mountain College." "You're a smart young lady." "But I think sometimes you don't have enough confidence in yourself." "And sometimes you need somebody to remind you how smart you are." "You can get your job at Petco or wherever, and you can still go to college." "And you can still be a mommy." "And I know it's a lot to juggle, but you know what?" "Women do it all the time." "How are things going with Lee?" "LAYLA:" "Good." "It's just sometimes-- he has his days sometimes where he just gives up on everything." "MS. VILAND:" "Right." "Is he being good to you?" "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "Well, not when he's acting like that." "Not when he's acting like that." "Here's the thing, is that you deserve to be treated really, really nicely." "And if you're not, that's not good for you to put up with that, right?" "Because I care about you, and I want to make sure you're OK." "OK." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "Good morning!" "Good morning, good morning." "How are you?" "[gasps] I was so worried!" "I had everybody looking for you!" "I'm so glad you're here!" "How are you?" "Doing better." "Yeah?" "How's your mom?" "I'm not even going to ask." "MALE STUDENT:" "Joey." "You still need a place to stay?" "JOEY:" "I got a place for now, until it erupts." "Then I don't know." "I missed my coffee pot." "I missed my coffee grind." "I miss" " I miss everything about my house." "I really do." "MALE STUDENT:" "Why'd you leave?" "My mom." "She just accused me of stealing somebody's drugs." "I just woke up to her screaming and yelling at me." "Nothing new." "I thought she was just on another bad trip." "I walked out the door." "My mom was making it like a joke, like, oh, Joey's leaving, watch this!" "Thought I was joking." "If I lived at my parents' house, I'd invite you over to stay, but I don't go there much." "I'm not mad at you for not giving me a place to stay." "It's a lot to ask, dude." "That's Why I didn't eve ask." "It's like, hey, friend's mom." "Can my buddy Joey say and live with us?" "And can you feed him and clothe him and buy him a toothbrush?" "MS. VILAND:" "Hi." "Hi." "MS. VILAND:" "How are you?" "What does that mean?" "I came to school." "MS. VILAND:" "That's a step in the right direction." "That's a step in the right direction." "I needed to sleep yesterday, though." "I've slept in some strange places." "[laughs]" "MS. VILAND:" "Such as?" "One was a bus stop." "[laughs]" "MS. VILAND:" "The one in Twentynine?" "Yeah, over in [inaudible]." "I slept at a bus stop there." "That was the best one." "MS. VILAND:" "And?" "The reason being?" "I just, I wasn't going back to that house." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "Why?" "What's going on at the house?" "It was just pretty rough." "MS. VILAND:" "Mom being grumpy?" "She's always awake. [laughs]" "MS. VILAND:" "What's that?" "She's always awake. [laughs]" "Are you partying?" "No, I" "Are you clean?" " Yeah, kind of." " No you're not." "[laughs]" "I can tell by the way you say that." "[laughs] Kind of." "On and off." "You've been in here bitching about the effect of that on your mom." "JOEY:" "It's just the only way I can deal with her ass." "I know, but do you see the illogical path that is?" "JOEY:" "I don't do what she does." "I'm completely opposite of her." "I've always been opposite of her." "MS. VILAND:" "Well, what do you do then?" "What do I do?" "MS. VILAND:" "Mm-hmm." "I like to clean the house." "I like to sit in my room, play guitar or play with my little brother." "MS. VILAND:" "No, I'm talking about as far as drug usage goes." "Oh, what do I--?" "I'm-- me and her are in the same boat." "Same stuff." "MS. VILAND:" "Well, I thought she was using meth." "Mm." "Oh dear god, Joey." "Yeah." "I've never-- it's just, the last couple months have been too crazy." "That, Joey, that" " I have a pit in my stomach right now, honestly, about that." "Ugh." "I mean, honestly, you can have all these great goals and everything." "Just like I bet your mother at your age had great goals." "But when happened is she got involved with drugs, right?" "JOEY:" "Yeah." "OK, so" "JOEY:" "I still have hopes and dreams, though." "Well, but I'm saying to you that the drugs will take those away." "Nah." "MS. VILAND:" "Are you going to do the school thing and do"?" "Oh yeah." "I'm here." "I'm going to graduate." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "Here's what we're going to do." "I would like to, for a while, I would like to have a check-in, check-out with you." "That means in the morning I'd like you to check in with me and show me what you did the night before." "And one of the questions that will always be asked was, are you clean today." "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "All right." "For those of you who aspire to graduate this year, it's time to pick up the pace." "Time to stop any wasting of time and dreaming and socializing and start picking up the pace." "This is everything as of 7 o'clock this morning, OK?" "Right now you have 10.5." "I know you had a deal with Ms. Viland about 20." "So this next week you're going to have to move on it." "TEACHER:" "OK." "And then you have your government." "I want you to focus on" "English." "TEACHER: --the English and the histories." "OK." "TEACHER:" "Ooh, this is going to be ugly." "We really need to get busy on this." "Which one did you just turn in?" "FEMALE STUDENT:" "Chapter one." "TEACHER:" "Do you have a computer at home?" "FEMALE STUDENT:" "No." "TEACHER:" "So let's get you in to one of the classrooms, get you zipping on A Plus, and get this stuff done." "On your mark, get set, go." "So you will graduate this credit check." "There's no doubt in my mind." "Yeah, I-- oh my god, this is scary." "MS. VILAND:" "I know, it is!" "I don't want to leave high school." "MS. VILAND:" "And I've had students get done and keep coming here." "They just keep coming." "We don't kick you out." "As long as you have good attendance and aren't a discipline problem, you can come work on your electives and read and work on more things just because you want to." "You can get more credits at our school." "That's so scary." "It is scary." "What do you want to do when you're done?" "I'm planning on working up at Sky Hardware, but I don't want to graduate high school." "OK." "You know what?" " I'm scared." " You know what, Penny?" "Listen." "You're not alone in that." "You want to know how many times I have this conversation with people?" "Because it's scary." "It's really scary." "It is very scary." "And I don't want to graduate from high school." "It's just scary thinking about how" "I'm going to be an adult soon." "I don't want to grow up." "You know what?" "You don't have to grow up." "Look at Ms. Ambrosius." "Has she grown up yet?" "PENNY:" "No." "No, she hasn't. [laughs]" "PENNY:" "It just looks so hard." "Like, I watch my parents go through it, and it's too hard." "I don't want to do it." "MS. VILAND:" "OK, what scares you the most?" "I'm going on my own." "Like, my parents said that I'm gonna have to do it on my own." "Like, you're going to find a way to do it on your own." "They're going to teach me how life is." "That's just how my parents grew up." "TEACHER:" "Don't forget, your service learning log is worth a credit." "You need to get those pre-approved." "So within the next Week I want to see your PE-- psst!" "Within the next Week I want to see your service learning log plans." "MS. VILAND:" "What are We going to do about Joey?" "I don't know what to do about Joey." "He needs counseling right now." "He needs support." "He needs somebody who is there who cares." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "Because I ain't giving him a referral for counseling." "Why-- he won't go." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "I know." "I mean, I haven't put a referral in either, because he tells me he won't go, he won't do it." "PROBATION OFFICER:" "I've done it before, and that's what happens." "He doesn't go." "I am" " I'm desperate for solutions." "I think he's using again." "I just" " I'm worried he's spiraling downward." "And I don't know what more do." "Well, I-- yeah." "JENNIFER:" "The fact that my dad is like not supporting me was really hard." "He blame-- he thinks my grandma's a horrible person." "He doesn't like my mom." "He thinks we're all-- he thinks bad of my side of the family." "And I think the fact that I grew up with them and around them and the fact that they raised me, he expected me to be just like them." "Which, my grandma's not a bad person, but, like, she didn't graduate high school." "My mom and my grandma, they've all worked in bars." "He just expected me to be a part of that cycle, which I'm not, which I think he's mad at." "I see myself and what I've been through, and I sit there and I think, how many other people have been through this?" "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I want a better my life." "Better than my dad's, better than my mom's." "They used to tweak all the time when I was little, and I've seen what it's done to them." "[gunshots]" "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "Not many people actually help people." "They don't even, like, care about other people's problems in this world." "I just can't live like that." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I guess I'm just still a kid." "L" " I still just want to play around and mess around and stuff." "And I feel like I've just been prisoned in the high desert." "I just need to get out of here." "MALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "You gotta learn how to just, like, kind of take care of yourself and take care of your brothers." "And you just grow up when you have to." "FEMALE STUDENT (VOICEOVER):" "I want to be my own person, be like accepted as such." "I don't look down on people for little things like their past or anything." "What I look down on is, like, if you have so much opportunity and you don't take it, why do you choose to fail?" "[drumming]" "MALE STUDENT:" "You know, I'm not mad at you at all." "I'm more just like, I can't be mad at you for something you're doing, because it only affects you." "[guitar playing]" "MALE STUDENT:" "I'm more just upset." "You know what's right and wrong." "I can't be mad at you for your life." "I'm just upset because you can do way better." "You're smart." "And you and I both know that you're just choosing not to." "MS. VILAND:" "Wha-- I'm-- help me out." "Because what are you gonna-- what are you going to do?" "I know you turn 18 in a month?" "Two." "MS. VILAND:" "Two months." "What are your plans?" "I mean, you're smart enough to know you've got to have some plans." "I don't know yet." "MS. VILAND:" "Your choice, then, is to not play the game that you need to do." "What game?" "The game where I have to find something to eat every day?" "Yeah, I play that game every day." "MS. VILAND: [roll call]" "Who's that?" "Your school ID." "Do you have your ID?" "You guys do." "No, we gave it to you." "We don't keep your" "You never gave it to me." "At the beginning of the year, the first week of school." "You guys never gave me my ID." "I never got it." "Well, though, if your mom's already receiving services for you and you're back home, then you" "My mom doesn't get shit." "Are you-- where are you living?" "My grandma's." "She's fucking broke." "No, don't use that profanity with me." "We're going to start doing things the way all students do things." "TEACHER:" "So is x O in this case?" "MALE STUDENT:" "No." "TEACHER:" "No." "So is it an intercept?" "MALE STUDENT:" "No." "TEACHER:" "No." "So for us to see that that's an intercept, x would be O right away, right?" "OK, good." "So it's not an intercept." "But I do have a point and a slope." "So I can start at point-slope form, correct?" "Which is our new form that We are learning, correct?" "MALE STUDENT:" "So we can do point-slope form with that?" "TEACHER:" "Point-slope." "Here We start with that." "So it is y, right?" "Minus y." "3" "TEACHER: 3, is equal to" "MALE STUDENT: 1/4." "TEACHER:" "Slope" "MALE STUDENT:" "Has a quality." "TEACHER: --Which is 1/4." "You're too fast for us there. x" " What?" "MALE STUDENT:" "Positive 2." "Plus 2." "TEACHER:" "Minus a negative" "Little shoes." "Good." "That's good." "If you could bust out the electives in the summer you can be at 65 or a little bit lower for a year." "Normally you do 60 in a year anyway, so totally doable for you." "You did 2O this one." "If you did 2O every single credit check next year for the first two credit checks, you'll be graduated at the semester." "Woo-woo!" "That'd be awesome, huh?" "See this right here?" "This shows us what we already knew, that you could do it." "You just have to decide to, which you did." "Which, that's what We want." "OK?" "I'm proud of you." "Nicely done." "And I'll see you tomorrow with your gift card, OK?" "Still here, Dad?" "Yeah." "Hi, thank you for calling me back." "I know." "I was excited to have him back, but he just has fallen right back into the same patterns." "So if you can talk some sense into him and tell him to get productive and do things, that's great." "If not, I need someone to come get him." "Because he just isn't doing anything except being defiant." "This is what he wants to do all day." "And when you ask him to do anything, he throws a fit." "Joseph, 9e'!" "UP!" "He doesn't want to work." "You know what, I don't know what you're thinking, buddy, but whatever it is, it's not working out for you." "You've lived on the streets, you've lived in shit holes." "Get up, Joe." "JOEY:" "Are We leaving?" "Get up." "Pull your pants up." "Where's your jacket?" "He never had one this morning when he got off the bus." "Yeah he did." "He has a black jacket somewhere." "He left [inaudible]." "Oh, did he put it in my office already?" "He must've put it in before I talked to him." "I hope that he'll be-- when he's ready to learn, we'll be here for him." "If and when he turns 18, he decides he's dropping out, call me, and then I'll just classify him as a drop-out out and fill his spot with somebody." "I hope he doesn't make that decision, but" "You know what?" "everybody"" "He has you." "He has AJ." "He has his support." "Everybody has a sad story that brings them to right now and today." "Yeah." "It's they can either be a victim of it" "It's what they're gonna do with it." "Or" "Yeah." "I mean, that's what-- he's at the point now where either choose, you're going to be a victim or you're going to go forward." "Yeah." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "So what-- what's the plan?" "MALE STUDENT:" "I don't know." "I've been working more lately, though." "Well, more is not quite enough, I'm sorry to say." "Going from 10% up to 30% is not enough." "MALE STUDENT:" "With my attendance," "I've been doing good with my attendance." "You're better." "Better." "MALE STUDENT:" "My only problem is sleep, though." "Like, when I don't sleep" "MS. VILAND:" "OK, but-- just a second." "You know what?" "It's time to grow up." "Go." "Use your time wisely." "Give me your phone, Alexis." "You and I had a talk about this the other day." "ALEXIS:" "Yeah, but I shut the power off." "Doesn't matter." "ALEXIS:" "I wasn't texting or anything." "It's not your opinion." "Hand me your phone, Alexis." "What if I don't?" "MS. VILAND:" "Then I'll suspend you." "Then suspend me." "MS. VILAND: "On the way home from the field trip, we had a bus pull over due to Brianna's yelling profanity and threatening physical injury to another student." "I was certain she was going to hit me."" "Obviously I have to go through with the expulsion." "And this process is going to hurt me just as much as it hurts you, because your daughter is-- your daughter is me" "40 years ago." "I do not want this to be a roadblock for you." "I do not want this to set you back." "We all cried a little bit on Friday together." "Because we love you." "We love you." "And we all make mistakes, and we learn from them, and we go forward." "JENNIFER:" "Hello!" "MS. VILAND:" "Hi!" "JENNIFER:" "I was gonna ask you, I kind of want to say something to them about my" "That'd be perfect!" "JENNIFER:" "How Black Rock changed my little" "MS. VILAND:" "That would be great!" "[inaudible]" "I was just thinking about it last night, because Black R- it did make a big difference to me, and I want them to know that the school is very important to the kids that are at this school." "MS. VILAND:" "That would be really great." "What you can do is right after you show all the senior pictures, you can say, and I'd like to take a minute personally to" "JENNIFER:" "That's exactly what I wrote!" "I'm so proud of myself." "Perfect." "JENNIFER:" "Students drop out for many reasons, but the number one reason is not having a personal relationship with a caring adult." "High school graduates live longer, are less likely to be teen parents, are more likely to raise healthier and better-educated children, are more likely to engage in civic activities like voting and volunteering." "Continuation schools make a difference." "We hope you will take a minute to read the report being passed out to you." "[applause]" "I would also like to add on a personal note, just for me, without Black Rock I don't think I would have had put the effort into even trying to graduate, nor have the confidence to be graduating a year" "early this year." "So I would like to thank all the staff and teachers at Black Rock." "And thank you guys for keeping Black Rock." "[applause]" "MS. VILAND:" "I knew you could do it." "I wasn't worried." "Pretty cool, huh?" "This is about you." "Because Lee, anything you set your mind to, you will do." "LEE:" "I got my 2O credits, so I'm gonna be here next year to finish for good." "I didn't believe in myself." "I didn't think I can do it." "But Layla talked to me, gave me some hope." "She told me that she knows I'm smart, and putting myself down isn't gonna help me with my education and further me in life." "MS. VILAND:" "All right, let's check." "Make sure I got everything here." "Attention [inaudible]." "Are we missing something?" "Nope, we're good." "You're done!" "Oh, I'm think I'm gonna have a heart attack." "MS. VILAND:" "You're done, you're done, you're done!" "OK, so let's go to the next step here, huh?" "And that is checking out of school!" "[applause and cheering]" "MS. Vll_AND:" "You still need 10 in English, 4 in government, 5 in econ." "So you still could make it this year, if you busted your ass." "[laughs] You're gonna make it!" "[applause and cheering]" "TEACHER:" "Did you finish, baby?" "Yay!" "I needed that [inaudible]." "Now give hers." "The last two, yay yay yay." "Tough, very good thing." "You're awesome." "I am so happy." "MS. VILAND:" "Yay!" "I'm proud of you." "Happy tears." "I'm so happy" "I'm happy for you." "JOEY:" "[playing guitar and singing]" "Round and round." "Spinning my head until I hit the ground." "Take a deep breath, let's leave this town." "Let's leave this fucking town." "[bell rings]" "I don't know who you are, hi!" "ADAM:" "Yeah, hi, my name's Adam." "Hi, Adam, nice to meet you." "It's nice to meet you." "Um, I was" " I was wondering, do you accept ninth graders?" "MS. VILAND:" "Oh, no, honey." "We only have 11th and 12th graders." "Because we have a waiting list even for them." "OH." "MS. VILAND:" "Where are you going to school right now?" "Right I'm going to Hope Academy." "But I'm trying to get out of there because I need a more, like, structured environment, you know?" "MS. VILAND:" "Right?" "Because at Hope I can just, like" " I can pretty much just walk out whenever I want [inaudible]." "MS. VILAND:" "Yeah, that wouldn't fly here, would it?" "Yeah, unfortunately-- we used to take 10th, 11th, and 12th graders." "But now we can only take 11th and 12th graders because we're so full with just 11th and 12th graders." "All I can say is, keep going to school, keep earning credits, and when you get into the 11th grade, we can take you." "OK." "MS. VILAND:" "OK." "I'm sorry." "Well, is there a way I can get on the waiting list, so right when" "We'll take your name, yes, absolutely." "We'll put it in our book, and then the end of your 10th grade year we'll give you a call." " Thank you." " You bet." "Absolutely." "I've got to go meet the bus." "It was nice meeting you, and I admire you." "You did a good job." "Hi, everyone!" "Welcome, welcome." "Morning!" "[MUSIC" " MIKE CRAFTSMAN FEATURING JOEY CRAFT," ""THIS TOWN "]"