Charlie Hacker, a ninth-grade social studies teacher at Middletown High School, named “Stand and Deliver” his favorite movie about teaching because it reminds him of working in Middletown. That 1988 movie stared Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante, who defied the odds by teaching hard luck students an advanced math course.
“It’s an urban setting and it’s about taking kids who don’t feel like they amount to anything and teaching them. Kids say ‘I’m not smart enough to do this.’ I’ve heard it today already,” Hacker said on Middletown’s first day of school, Aug. 18.
Beau Rickey, a work study coordinator at Middletown, mentioned “Stand and Deliver” as well, but he’s also a fan of the 1987 movie “The Principal,” starring Jim Belushi as a teacher turned principal who tries to tame a crime-plagued high school.
“It was an interesting take on that particular situation. It was definitely a work of fiction,” Rickey said with a laugh.
Timothy Spinner, the principal of Edgewood Middle School, also picked “Stand and Deliver” because “it’s a story about an educator who is willing to do anything and everything so his students will succeed. It reminds me of the educators I have the opportunity to work with each and every day.”
Larry Knapp, the superintendent of Edgewood City Schools, opted for a similar movie about a tough authority figure: “Lean on Me,” the 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman as the real-life Joe Clark, the baseball bat-wielding principal of a tough, inner city school.
“Well, number one, I like Morgan Freeman. It was a true story that shows that in the educational field, one person can make a difference,” Knapp said.
Susan Willoughby-Crawford, an English teacher at Middletown High, cited “Dangerous Minds,” the 1995 film starring Michelle Pfeiffer as a former Marine who teaches a class of tough kids. But her particular favorite is the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” starring Robin Williams as a free-spirited, sometimes controversial teacher, John Keating.
“He went outside the boundaries of what was seen as conventional,” Willoughby-Crawford said.