C.E.S. 73 Summer School
Change for Kids on Film
C.E.S. 73 goes to School in the Summer
Directed By: Nancy Savoca
For children, summer is generally a time to go on vacation, hang out with friends, and relax. The last place kids want to be is in school. However, because of the new promotional standards set in place last year, and lack of time and staff development support, students and teachers have had a difficult time achieving these goals. The summer of 2000 was expected to be the largest summer school in NYC ever, with around 300,000 kids throughout the city, which caused overcrowding problems.
This segment focused on a group of friends, all 4th grade girls being held back from C.E.S. 73 in The Bronx. Director Nancy Savoca documented the first day of summer school (Wednesday, July 5th, 2000), which proved to be chaotic and rather disorganized in trying to match teachers with the right students and classes. A month later, Nancy re-visited the three students and delved more intimately into the challenges and disappointments of being held back, and what they would change about summer school if they could. Issues were raised about math being more difficult for girls, those who are in summer school for "enrichment" purposes, and whether or not these girls will continue on to the next grade.