TEACHER LETS CAMERA TELL THE STORY; PBS TO AIR ACCLAIMED PROP. 187 DOCUMENTARY.

Byline: Luz Villarreal Daily News Staff Writer

Laura Angelica Simon is sitting comfortably on a worn couch inside a near-empty Los Angeles coffeehouse - savoring the moment.

She's away from the telephones, the cameras, the agents and everyone else who wants a piece of her.

Since becoming an award-winning filmmaker in January, the Hoover Elementary School teacher is in high demand.

``I don't want to leave here,'' she said. ``I just want to curl up and stay here and hide where no one can reach me.''

But opportunity is knocking.

After winning the 1997 Freedom of Expression award at the Sundance Film Festival for her documentary ``Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary,'' Simon's time has not been her own. Talk shows are calling. Publishers are pursuing her for book deals. Studios are considering her for directing jobs. Journalists want interviews.

Inspired by her students, the 31-year-old teacher embarked on a project three years ago to chronicle the emotional impact of Proposition 187. She turned the camera on her pupils, teachers and parents at the MacArthur Park-area campus.

The result was a candid film about immigrant students and their struggle to fit into American society. The film airs nationwide on PBS on July 1.

Simon, who reveals she ``passionately voted no'' on Prop. 187, never saw her film as a political project.

``I saw it as historic, about a place in L.A.,'' she said.

In her film, Simon presents both sides of the debate and has earned praise and criticism from people in both camps.

``It's hit a nerve, not only in L.A. but nationally,'' she said.

Giving children a voice

Simon's film tells a story that played out at schools throughout Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and at hundreds of campuses statewide during the peak of the debate surrounding Proposition 187.

In November 1994, voters passed the measure, which bans undocumented immigrants from public schools, colleges, social services and nonemergency health services. Under Proposition 187, state and local officials also would be responsible for reporting suspected undocumented immigrants. The emotional debate culminated in a lawsuit charging that the measure was unconstitutional - leaving Proposition 187 on hold and in legal limbo.

Simon said she made the 53-minute film to give students a voice in the debate that would impact their lives.

``The thing that triggered the film,'' Simon said, ``was the day I showed up to work after the bill had passed and a student said to me `Are you a cop? Are you going to kick me out of this classroom?' At that moment I knew I had to do something.

``It's one of those moments I'll never forget. I felt this sense of desperation. I needed to do something immediately. The thing that seemed to come so naturally was simply to tell a story.''

Both sides of the debate

According to Simon, 90 percent of the students at Hoover are economic and political refugees from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador living in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. The film shows a faculty deeply divided over the measure and reveals some surprising attitudes.

Geoffrey Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival, said Simon's film was fresh, sophisticated and honest.

``It wasn't argumentative,'' Gilmore said. ``She avoided that. She presented things in a very complicated and truthful fashion. It's not just `let's point fingers and call people names.' Too often, with films that are progressive, you are preaching to the converted. This film can speak to people whose minds aren't made up, whose minds aren't closed.''

But proponents of 187 disagree.

Bill King, co-founder of the proposition and a retired chief Border Patrol agent, said he's not interested in viewing the film because he believes it presents the issue from a liberal point of view.

``When we put these aspects together, we were concerned about the educational issue because we knew it would be sensitive,'' he said. ``But somewhere there has got to be a line drawn. We cannot educate the world. Nobody wants to deny a child an education. But again, the responsibility lies within the countries from which they came.''

King said teachers, like Simon, should not worry about whether they would have to report undocumented children because the onus would be on school administrators.

But members of the United Teachers-Los Angeles disagree. The organization opposed 187 for two reasons, said John Perez, UTLA vice president.

``When anybody requires a school district to do something, the bottom line is it falls to the classroom teacher to do it,'' he said. ``We don't trust people who say that ain't so. Our past experience has been otherwise. We are not immigration officers. We are classroom teachers.''

The second reason was centered on freedom and ethics.

``We felt it was wrong and contrary to the California Constitution which says that every child in the state has a right to a free public education,'' he said.

Film reflects American dream 

Born in Mexico, Simon immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 6 years old. She says she learned firsthand about the pain of prejudice after being alienated by other students and taunted with racial slurs.

``Schools should never be victimized by public policy debates. They don't belong there,'' said Simon.

Simon said her own success story is proof that education is crucial in order for all children to escape poverty.

``In a way, the movie and my life is sort of an example of a miracle in America,'' Simon said. ``It's this idea that if you can come to this country and you're poor, whatever your odds are against you, that if you work hard and study hard and you devote yourself to what's in front of you, that one day you can be me, speak the language, be a professional, really have a tremendous amount of opportunity.''

After pairing up with a friend and using all of their savings - and borrowed camera equipment - to make the film, Simon was quickly dubbed the Sundance Cinderella by festival officials after she won the award.

``Winning the award has changed our lives,'' Simon says of herself and her film team. ``The minute we got into Sundance, I went from a teacher making a home video to filmmaker with something to say.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) - Laura Angelica Simon

teacher/filmmaker

(2) Laura Angelica Simon's documentary ``Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary'' won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.

John McCoy/Daily News