‘Beyond the Blackboard’: Teachers Can Be Heroes

Stacey Bess (Emily VanCamp) shows the importance of good teachers, in “Beyond the Blackboard.” MovieStillsDB

Set in 1987, “Beyond the Blackboard” dramatizes the real-life heroism of award-winning elementary school teacher from Utah, Stacey Bess (Emily VanCamp). A young mother of two, who idealized teaching, Stacey takes a job in a “school with no name” in Salt Lake City. The children there are neglected, homeless, truant, and mutinous. They are under the temperamental care of parents or guardians in a makeshift shelter that’s more like a dilapidated warehouse than a school.

Stacey Bess (Emily VanCamp) teaches in a dilapidated classroom with no supplies, in “Beyond the Blackboard.” MovieStillsDB

Stacey starts out with no books, desks, chairs, stationery, school principal, or custodian. And only a handful of students to begin with. Some parents keep disrupting class, whisking children away to help with “chores.” Teaching and learning conditions are so unhygienic that everyone has to be given periodic shots to fend off the likelihood of an epidemic.

Within days, with the support of her husband, Greg, and her own two children, Stacey overcomes her shock, fears, prejudices and a series of crushing setbacks to give her wards an invaluable education that goes far beyond basic schooling. Click here for plot summary, cast, reviews, and ratings.

Homeless Students

Some of the parents and guardians are single, others are illiterate and jobless; still others, recovering from addictions, are in and out of prison for petty crime. Many parents rally around Stacey to help with cleaning windows and painting walls. Slowly, they ensure their children have fewer disruptions and become less delinquent.

Rightly, shelter supervisors won’t tolerate substance abuse on campus. Stacey’s persistence helps give some parents the second chance they need to reform for their children’s sake. She helps a parent learn to ensure students are punctual, diligent with homework, or support Stacey in ferrying her art and music class supplies in and out of class.

The classroom changes with a dedicated teacher, in “Beyond the Blackboard.” MovieStillsDB

Nothing comes easy. On her first day, her lifelong dream of the ideal teaching environment is shattered, and Stacey goes home crying. She stops short of resigning only because she doesn’t want her children to think she’s a quitter. A shelter coordinator gently warns about what doesn’t work: “wallowing in your own anxiety.” A teacher recruiter, fed up with Stacey’s repeated requests for better equipment and supplies, scolds, “You’re providing emergency schooling to transient students. They will not be there that long and, in truth, neither will you.”

Stacey’s husband eggs her on. When she fears that she’s too untested—too incompetent—he reminds her that she’s brilliant with children, having brought up two of her own. Of course, the shelter’s too deprived to afford “summer school.” Still, Stacey volunteers to continue mentoring children so she can keep them “off the streets.” At least they won’t fall behind their learning.

Instead of faulting her for taking on more unpaid work, and spending more on school expenses than she earns from it, Greg steps up. To liven things up, he volunteers to coach baseball. Grateful for nudging her to keep believing in herself, she turns to him, “You are the best teacher I’ve ever had.”

Stacey’s husband Greg (Steve Talley) coaches baseball, in “Beyond the Blackboard.” MovieStillsDB

Nourishment

Many children are distracted and irritable because they’re starving and undernourished. So, Stacey takes fruit cups, milk, and spoons to class, allowing them to eat and drink while talking them through life lessons and key values: respect, compassion, confidence, courage, humility, honesty.

In no small part, due to the attention that Stacey’s heroism drew, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act was passed in 1987 to protect the right of homeless children to education. In 1988, Salt Lake City designed a new, purpose-built school for homeless children. Stacey went on teaching there for another eight years. In 1995, she received the National Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Individual 35 & Under.”

Stacey Bess (Emily VanCamp) with some of her students, in “Beyond the Blackboard.” MovieStillsDB

At the end of the film, VanCamp introduces the real-life Stacey. Her words carry power because they’re backed by years of compassionate action:

“My family learned that even simple things can be very meaningful to a child in need: cooking, just sitting around a dinner table, laughing, and playing together. Ordinary moments that our own kids take for granted can have an extraordinary impact. A child we took in years later said to me, ‘You came in every night, tucked us in, and said prayers.’ To her that was amazing. You, too, can make a difference in the lives of such children. You don’t need unusual skills. You don’t need special training. You just have to care.”

These reflective articles may interest parents, caretakers, or educators of teenagers and young adults, seeking great movies to watch together or recommend. They’re about films that, when viewed thoughtfully, nudge young people to be better versions of themselves. 

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