Black Rock High School is the subject of a documentary film, currently in production, that is scheduled to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Reporter Dan Stork spoke with Principal Vonda Viland about the project and about the alternative school…
We asked Black Rock High School Principal Vonda Viland how the school came to be the subject of a documentary film. She told us that filmmakers who had been scouting schools were intrigued by the specialness of Black Rock.
We also asked what makes the Morongo Unified School District’s only alternative high school so special.
“We approach it that these aren’t the ‘bad’ students. They are many times the gifted and talented students in the District. They just learn in a different way, and need to have a positive, nurturing environment. We’re not about punishment, we’re about education. I think you’ve heard me say at the Board meeting that we believe in the power of positive. Many of these students haven’t had any positive acclaim or recognition in many years. We start very small, and say ‘We’re glad you’re here. We believe in you, we have faith in you, that you can accomplish your goals. So let’s figure out what your goals are, figure out a plan, and figure out a direction for that.’ ”
For the complete interview we had with Vonda Viland, see this story at Z1077fm.com.
Principal Vonda Viland talks with Z107.7 news about Black Rock High School and the film being made about it.
Z: How did the project come about?
VV: Dr. Turner, from our District office, was working with the Gates Foundation, and they were doing some mini-documentaries on various school projects. She said while they were here, “You know we have a really unique successful program. I’d like you to go and visit it.” So they came by and said, unfortunately, it didn’t meet the criteria of what the Gates Foundation was looking for. They left, and about three months later I got a call back from them, saying they couldn’t get our program out of their mind. Could they come back and visit for a couple of weeks to determine if there was a story—a documentary—here? So they came and visited for a couple of weeks, and the rest is history.
Z: What is the group that is doing the documentary?
VV: It’s called Low Key Productions. These gentlemen are award-winning documentarians. They made the movie “Lost in La Mancha ,” which was a documentary about the movie “Don Quixote,” which was the biggest loss ever. They filmed that with Johnny Dep, going around and spending a year with him, and won several awards for that. Then they also did a documentary on the making of “Twelve Monkey” with Bruce Willis, so they spent a year with that, too.
Z: How long has the production been going on at Black Rock?
VV: We’re into our second year of production. They started in October of last year, and they’re planning on filming through the end of this year’s school year, and then hopefully starting on the actual production and marketing of the documentary.
Z: Has the filming affected the normal goings-on at Black Rock in any way?
VV: You know, it really hasn’t. It’s been interesting. Initially, when they came, they students, you know, giggled and so on. But now that they’re here so often, the students don’t even know they’re here.
Z: How often have they been there? Is it a continual presence?
VV: Pretty much. Like from now until the end of the year, they’ll be here pretty much every day. Last year, they were here in probably two-week blocks, and then they were here all of April and May.
Z: Has the experience of someone observing your school at work given you any insights, perspectives, ideas about your operations? Just being aware of somebody watching you…
VV: That other outlook…. Sometimes, they might give me another idea how to approach a child or a situation or discussion. But as far as the day-to-day operations of the school, it hasn’t affected it at all, but maybe, no, it really hasn’t. Like I said, maybe getting a few more ideas, like what about trying this, or, I wonder what the student’s life is like at home, because they not only spend time at school, they also spend time at home and out in the community with the students.
Z: Are they focusing on particular students, or is it hard to tell until it gets edited?
VV: They are highlighting certain students. They are looking at the overall program, and the student body as a whole, and they are highlighting certain students as they go.
Z: I’ve been covering the Morongo Unified School District as a reporter for a number of years now, and have gotten a strong impression about the alternative high school program in the District. One, that it’s different than other alternative high school programs, and in general, more successful. Why do you think that is? What makes Black Rock different?
VV: We approach it that these aren’t the “bad” students. They are many times the gifted and talented students in the District. They just learn in a different way, and need to have a positive, nurturing environment. We’re not about punishment, we’re about education. I think you’ve heard me say at the Board meeting that we believe in the power of positive. Many of these students haven’t had any positive acclaim or recognition in many years. We start very small, and say “We’re glad you’re here. We believe in you, we have faith in you, that you can accomplish your goals. So let’s figure out what your goals are, figure out a plan, and figure out a direction for that.”
Z: Is there any recurring profile of students who come?
VV: Absolutely. We have almost 90 percent of our students on free or reduced lunch, coming from an economically disadvantaged situation. We’ve focused in on students who have had academic, attendance, and discipline problems at the traditional high school. But we also look at those students who are ready for change—students who still have hope and really want to accomplish their goals, but they just haven’t had the support that they’ve needed to do that. And that’s one of the things that our District has been so great about, that our school hasn’t become a dumping ground. It’s a school that really looks at students who are ready to change their lives and move forward.
Z: It’s been two or three years since the schools consolidated and went from two to one alternative high school…
VV: Yes, this is the third year of the consolidation.
Z: Does that result in a large demand, a waiting list of students wanting to get in? How large could the program be?
VV: We have a pretty large waiting list. Usually there’s between 20 to 30 students waiting. We’ve also gone to where we can only serve juniors, seniors, and fifth-year students, whereas in the past we were also able to serve sophomores.
Z: Fifth-year students—that’s a concept you’re not going to see in the other high schools in the District.
VV: No, we’re the only school in the District that has fifth-year students, and that is a student who maybe made a mistake in their freshman year or sophomore year, and so they’re behind. So when they come to us, they just have so much to overcome that they can’t just finish in time. So what I tell the students is, we’re not about time, we’re about the diploma; it doesn’t matter to us when you graduate, it matters that you graduate. That’s another big difference between us and the traditional high school. We not about time. In a traditional high school, they’re stuck in a classroom from September to January, January ’til June. At our school, they’re only in a classroom as long as it takes to accomplish the standards and do all the work that the state says they have to do. So they can work at their own pace, and accelerate, get caught up, and then get ahead. They can pick their graduation date, they can pick when they’re done with a certain subject area. Say they dislike, oh, science. They can focus in on their science and really work on it and get done. They feel in control, and in charge of their program.
Z: Has there been a large aspect of independent study as well? The way you describe it, it sounds like a traditional classroom structure doesn’t altogether fit the model.
VV: We only have about eight students on independent study who work from home. The rest of our students come full-day, but what we do is a combination of direct instruction and what we call “contract work.” Two days a week they’re in the classroom and do direct instruction. The other three days they work on their individual work at their own pace.
Z: Over the years, my wife and I have discussed the individual models and the schooling we’ve been through. She in particular would have loved having a structure like that, that you described. It seems a model that could be of benefit to a much larger population of students, too. Has any of this trickled into the other high schools, that you know of?
VV: I don’t believe so, because of their size. Maybe it could be done? But it would take an overwhelming revamping of their system in order for that to be done.
Z: So you’re benefiting by your small size, and I’m assuming that you can give a lot more individual attention.
VV: Absolutely. There’s no way we could give the individualized support and care and concern if we had more students. That’s one of the things the District has been really great about—recognizing that and keeping it small.
Z: One thing that was mentioned in the [Hi-Desert] Star article was a benefactor that came about as a result of the filming.
VV: Yes, we’re very excited about that.
Z: How did that happen?
VV: The documentary was shown at the Sundance Film Festival Institute Forum, and at the forum Mr. [Ted] Dintersmith [a successful venture capitalist] and several other benefactors saw it. They showed clips of the documentary—which none of us have seen—they’ve been very careful, because they don’t want to change how we act or anything. So they showed the documentary, and Mr. Dintersmith was so impressed by it that he asked if he could come and spend a day with us. He and a representative from a project called The Future Project—an incredible project—came and spent the day. At the end of the day, he said, this program has everything I believe in—the only thing I see that is lacking is some sort of a career/tech component. I’d like to donate $100,000 for you to create that, and to work with the students on creating it. So we’ve been working with the students and talking with them about what would be beneficial for them. Right now we’re looking at developing a medical preparation lab, and working with CMC [Copper Mountain College] a little bit on that. We’re also going to do on the side something that was very important to Mr. Dintersmith, which was some musical engineering/technical component, in a different room, a different lab—one of the students that was in the documentary, one of our very gifted and talented students, that was one of the things that intrigued him.
Z: So the impetus for these particular ideas has come in large part from the students, and their needs, as they define them?
VV: Yes
Z: Thank you for your time; I don’t want to keep you longer from your busy day. [Ms. Viland had excused herself a few times during our conversation to ask others to wait.]
VV: I really appreciate your interest.
