Newark’s JFK High School Is No Secret to the Autistic Students Who Thrive in Its Dynamic Learning Environment, As Seen in POV’s ‘Best Kept Secret,’Monday, Sept. 23, 2013 on PBS
“In and out of the classroom, Mino fights for her kids, first to teach them life skills, then to help ensure they don’t spend that life neglected …”
—The Washington Post Express
At a public school in Newark, N.J., the staff answers the phone by saying, “You’ve reached John F. Kennedy High School, Newark’s best-kept secret.” JFK provides an exceptional environment for students with special-education needs. In Best Kept Secret, Janet Mino, who has taught a class of young men for four years, is on an urgent mission. She races against the clock as graduation approaches for her severely autistic minority students. Once they graduate and leave the security of this nurturing place, their options for living independently will be few. Mino must help them find the means to support themselves before they “age out” of the system.
Samantha Buck’s Best Kept Secret has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013 at 10 p.m. (check local listings), on the award-winning PBS series POV (Point of View), American television’s longest-running independent documentary series. The film will stream on POV’s website, www.pbs.org/pov/bestkeptsecret
The film focuses on the school’s work with students with autism, who are characterized by difficulties with language and social interaction. The staff is not content only to give these students survival skills. They fight a tough, daily battle to open students up to the world. As teacher Janet Mino, puts it, “If I can teach you to take care of yourself . . . I can teach you to express yourself.”
But the remarkable efforts of the school come with an expiration date. Its students, who can enter at age 10, are “aged out” at 21. Parents and teachers call it “falling off the cliff,” because of the scarcity of continuing adult education programs and accommodations. In 2012, Mino faces the prospect of her entire class of six young men going off that cliff, and she begins a desperate search for alternatives to homebound idleness, institutionalization or homelessness for her graduating students.
About the students:
- Erik is Mino’s highest-functioning student, the class cut-up who is smart, talkative and good at following directions. He is happy and loves his “two moms”: a biological mother who is too ill to care for him and a dedicated and loving foster mother. Erik seems the most ready to graduate. In fact, he has a dream—to work at Burger King.
- Quran is a quiet soul who works well, is able to read, successfully controls his social behavior and has strong support from two parents. Mino has high hopes for Quran but finds herself at odds with his father, who fears the teacher’s emphasis on education comes at the expense of acquiring basic life skills.
- Robert is the biggest mystery and source of heartbreak in the class. A troubled boy who cannot express his pain, he is given to erratic behavior. Robert’s father home-schooled him until he passed away four years ago, and Robert is now cared for by his aunt, a recovering drug addict.
Newark is among New Jersey’s poorest cities, with more than 25% of the general population and more than 40% of children living in poverty.* In the state of New Jersey, one in 49 children is believed to fall somewhere on the autism spectrum.**
In Mino’s work, we see her conviction that these students have greater potential for living a full life than is often recognized. What is needed, in Mino’s view, are daily, one-on-one educational programs—the kind that make JFK a rare institution and that are even harder to find for adult autistics.
“This wasn’t meant to be a film about the causes or possible cures of autism,” says director Samantha Buck. “This is a personal story about some young men who live with it and their very dedicated teacher in one remarkable school. It’s about the struggles they face beyond the confines of that school.”
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who helped introduce Buck to John F. Kennedy High School, said, “I was proud to be part of this terrific documentary, which inspires me to continue fighting on behalf of children and adults living with autism.” In July 2013, Menendez introduced the Assistance in Gaining Experience, Independence and Navigation (AGE-IN) Act, which would provide federal funding to research and evaluate services currently available for young people “aging out” of existing education and support systems, develop a national strategic action plan and provide training grants to put the plan into action.
“I saw so much quiet strength in the spirit of Janet Mino, her fellow teachers and the parents of these incredible young men,” says producer Danielle DiGiacomo. “Samantha and I chose to tell a story about under-resourced people of color—arguably the most ignored population in the country—with dignity and without sensationalism.”
* United States Census Bureau: http://1.usa.gov/cB4pvl; ACNJ 2013 Report: http://bit.ly/18Q3493; NJ.com, Feb. 10,2013 : http://bit.ly/WCBoNn
** “Autism survey finds 1 in 50 American kids are on the spectrum,” The Star-Ledger, March 21, 2013. http://bit.ly/WWJSkx
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Samantha Buck, Director/Co-producer
Samantha Buck’s directorial debut, the feature documentary 21 Below, aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. and YES in Israel, as well as at festivals worldwide, including Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest and AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs. As an actress, she was a regular on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, opposite Vincent D’Onofrio, and Stella, opposite David Wain. Her other acting credits include Third Watch, Big Apple, Golden Boy, Blue Bloods, Six Degrees, Z Rock and Sex and the City. Buck’s film credits include Searching for Paradise, Wirey Spindell, The 24 Hour Woman and Woman in Burka (which won a Spirit of Slamdance Award in 2008). She can also be seen in the recent films Gayby, What Maisie Knew and Hellbenders.
Buck was born in Dallas, grew up in Washington, D.C. and now lives in Brooklyn. She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is currently a student at Columbia University School of the Arts’ master of fine arts film program.
Danielle DiGiacomo, Producer
Danielle DiGiacomo was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Cumberland, Md. and Princeton, N.J. She is the manager of video distribution at The Orchard, a 15-year-old independent music and video distribution company operating in more than 20 global markets. She is also an independent film producer and consultant. Previously, she worked as community manager at the Independent Filmmaker Project and as head of documentary acquisitions for IndiePix Films.
DiGiacomo developed and produced the first two annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Films and associate produced two documentary features, Jennifer Venditti’s Billy the Kid and Samantha Buck’s 21 Below. In 2010, she produced three short films and was associate producer for Andrew Semans’ Nancy, Please, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. DiGiacomo consults as a panel programmer for several international film festivals, and was the Mark Silverman honoree at 2011 Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Lab. She has a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in media studies from the New School.
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc. and now in its 26th season on PBS, the award-winning POV is the longest-running showcase on American television to feature the work of today’s best independent documentary filmmakers. POV has brought more than 365 acclaimed documentaries to millions nationwide. POV films have won every major film and broadcasting award, including 32 Emmys, 15 George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® and the Prix Italia. In 2012, POV achieved a new milestone, winning five News & Documentary Emmy® Awards. Since 1988, POV has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today’s most pressing social issues. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.
POV has the honor of receiving a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the desJardins/Blachman Fund and public television viewers. Funding for POV’s Diverse Voices Project is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Special support provided by The Fledgling Fund and the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.