TV REVIEW : ‘Portrait’ Salutes Exceptional Teachers

With school districts teetering toward insolvency and program and service cuts making children the biggest losers, the timing of tonight’s “Portrait of a Teacher” is ironic, to say the least.

In the vein of the Disney Channel’s annual “American Teacher Awards,” this tribute on cable’s Lifetime channel (at 8 tonight, repeated Saturday at 10 p.m., March 10 and March 13 at 2 p.m.) recognizes the achievements of five outstanding teachers who, against the odds, are helping students succeed, not just in the classroom, but in life.

A science instructor in Indiana teaches teen-agers responsibility and compassion by having them care for injured animals. A North Dakotan, in one of the country’s few one-room schoolhouses, sees most of her graduates on high school honor rolls. A Mexico-born Princeton grad postponed Harvard Law School to pass the torch to others in South-Central Los Angeles.

It is Charlie Randall, however, a middle-school music teacher in the Bronx, who most poignantly underscores the tragedy of a disintegrating educational system.

Randall, who established a string orchestra at the school in 1980, wins young hearts through positive discipline and an embracing warmth. He is praised by students for turning them around, even for saving their lives. They think of him as a father.

It is obvious that this exceptional teacher cares profoundly, yet the mean streets and hopelessness that threaten to engulf his students are using him up. He wonders sadly how much more he has to give. “When your education falls apart, your country is gone,” he says.