When they answer the phone at John F Kennedy High School in Newark, they add the tag line ‘New Jersey’s Kept Secret’ and after watching Samantha Buck’s heartbreaking documentary you can understand why they so deserve to make this claim. You will also soon realise that most of the credit for the remarkable activities and achievements at JFK is due to a self-less inspirational teacher called Janet Mino who refuses to ever give up on her classroom of autistic children come what may.The city is not only the 10th poorest in the nation it also has one of the highest rates of autism too. Mino and her colleagues have some of the toughest jobs in education and sadly they have the misfortune to be in a State where the school systems are not only chronicled under-funded but also having to cut even more vital services when budgets are squeezed even further as result of the current recession.
The documentary follows Mino’s class that will graduate in 18 months time and focuses on three of the kids in particular, all of whom will break your heart. A few are lucky to have two parents to support them, many are from single-parent homes and a couple have been placed in foster-are when their parent couldn’t cope. Mino has both inexhaustible patience and limitless respect with them all, and in most cases has far more optimism of their capabilities than their own carers who struggle to accept anything beyond the status quo. She wants her pupils to be able to communicate and be as independent as possible in a world that is often hostile to people like them
Asides from teaching them, Mino rushes around to check out all the government-funded programs in which to place her students after graduation hoping to find ones that will continue her good work. Sadly they include facilities where they will be set to do mindless repetitive work just to keep them occupied but not stimulated, and as these often are a cheaper option for the parent/carer they are often the ones selected. Mino is nothing less then tenacious in trying to always get the best for her pupils despite her colleagues attempts to get her to face the harsh realities of very limited options that life has in store for these future ‘consumers’ as they will now be deemed by officialdom.
Buck’s camera is upfront and close at all times following Mina’s every step and also recording those of her pupils, and it remains there too when one of them has the occasional meltdown. When Mina manages to fulfill Erik’s dream of a part time cleaning up at Burger King we are as elated as him, and equally crushed when it falls through because there are not funds to provide the necessary job coach to mentor him for those few hours a week.
The entire class deservedly get to graduate and in style, By this time we are 100% in their corner as we have got to know them one by one over the past 86 minutes we now share Mina’s genuine concern about the next stage in their fragile lives. Meanwhile she has a whole new class of autistic kids in needs to start the whole process all over again.The woman is a Saint.
