TV REVIEWS : ‘Promise’ a Plea for Responsible Parenting

A t-risk --that ever-popular term among sociologists to describe innocent people in America’s poor, violent communities--hardly seems sufficient to describe the kids in Alan and Susan Raymond’s latest documentary, “I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School” (at 10 tonight on HBO).

In hell is more like it. With a filmmaking style at once compassionate and distanced, the Raymonds implicitly pose a difficult question as they document a year in the life of M. Hall Stanton elementary school in crack-ridden, crime-drenched South Philadelphia: How many kids can academically excel in such a place?

The resulting answer isn’t any easier: Most may not, some do, and there’s no pattern to explain why. Nadia, for instance, was born into a family of crack addicts, became homeless, took shelter with an older man she calls her “grandfather” and is now classified as a gifted student. Cornelius lives with his mother and two siblings (his father became a paraplegic after being shot in the back) but is almost uncontrollably unruly in class, on the playground and in the principal’s office.

The more we look at the individual children, not only do they cease to be statistics but victims as well. And the principal and ultimate heroine of the film, Deanna Burney, ceases to be a bureaucrat, but a caring, frustrated leader--and sadly, a surrogate parent. She says “I love you” to a troublesome boy named Anthony who may have not heard the phrase for months, or years.

Burney, clearly, should not have to be in this position. We learn that Anthony’s mom is “in a program” and that his dad has just been released from prison. Dad actually joins Anthony in class to help with classwork and discipline--but only once; he never returns, and Anthony’s paternal grandmother soon becomes his legal guardian.

By contrast, in a school with poor scores on the standardized academic tests, those in John Coates’ all-boy class generally make the honor roll. Coates is a disciplinarian who also values self-esteem; above all, he is a strong male mentor for boys generally without fathers.

By not looking for it, the Raymonds find a pattern, a way to make an escape from hopelessness to excellence. Burney tells Anthony’s father that his son “needs a father and mother in the home--he needs both.” Burney, Coates, the teachers, the school guards, can only do so much. “I Am a Promise” is actually a screaming plea for parents--especially the fathers--to take responsibility for the generation they’ve brought into the world.