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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2009
Contact:
, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7379
Fax: (512) 974-7442
Teaching Austin: 125 Years of Public School Education
Check It Out @ APL
Teaching Austin: 125 years of Public School Education, a documentary about the Austin Independent School District has been added to the Austin Public Library collection and is now available for checkout at all APL locations. The 56 minute documentary commissioned by the Austin Independent School District in celebration of their 125th Anniversary was produced by Austin Film Festival Executive Director Barbara Morgan and directed by Mike Nicholson and J. Kevin Smith of Austin’s Picture Box Productions. When asked about the filmmaking experience Smith commented, "The first thing that went through our heads was, this is going to be the most boring thing imaginable, but as we got into it, there were so many interesting stories. It's turned out to be more fascinating than I ever dreamed it would be."
Teaching Austin: 125 years of Public School Education serves as both an educational tool for the District as well as an historical record for the community of Austin's public education system. The filmmakers spent nearly a year and a half interviewing people such as local historians Bill Crawford and Danny Camacho, Austin's first black school board member and former Texas Representative Wilhelmina Delco, and close to 50 other people, including many former AISD teachers and students. The documentary premiered in the IMAX Theater at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum on May 6, 2007 and was aired on KLRU on May 18, 2007.
For more information about this DVD and other items in the Austin Public Library collection please call 512-974-7400 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/library.
In the 1870s, most Austinites weren't keen on the idea of shelling out taxes for a public school system. Parents were accustomed to private schools, and they didn't see any need for change. But voters eventually were won over, and in 1881, the Austin Independent School District was established. During the next 125 years, it coped with two world wars, rapid population growth, desegregation and nearly 20 years of court-ordered busing. All of that is chronicled in “Teaching Austin: 125 Years of Public School Education”. – Helen Anders, Austin American Statesman
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