Former Secretary of Education Rod Paige’s life to be turned into mini-biopic
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Woody McClain will portray the pioneering educator who made history as the nation’s first Black U.S. Secretary of Education.
On World Teachers Day on Monday, educators across the globe were celebrated amid changes in what can be taught in schools and which books can help expand the minds and critical-thinking skills of youth. One of those educators, former Secretary of Education Rod Paige, is seeing his life story transformed into a biopic.
“Paragraphs of a Paige,” a film directed by Isaac Yowman, is set to premiere in 2027 about Paige, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2001 as the seventh U.S. Secretary of Education and the first Black man to hold the position.
“Once I heard his story, it made me have a much deeper appreciation of who he was, what he’s done,” Yowman told NewsOne. “I’m really big about preserving our legacy because if we don’t tell our stories, no one will.”
Before he was named to the role, Paige served as the dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University for a decade, beginning in 1984, after stints as the school’s athletic director and as a professor. From 1994 to 2000, he served as the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the largest school district in Texas and the eighth-largest school system in the country.
It was at HISD where he was tapped to become the first school superintendent to hold the title of Secretary of Education.
After serving in the Bush Administration from 2001 to 2004, Paige tendered his resignation a month after then-President George W. Bush won a second term.
“Rod was a leader and a friend. Unsatisfied with the status quo, he challenged what we called ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations,’” Bush said about Paige when the longtime educator died last December. “Rod worked hard to make sure that where a child was born didn’t determine whether they could succeed in school and beyond. He devoted his life to America’s young people and made a difference.”
Woody McClain of “Power II: Ghost,” “The Bobby Brown Story,” and “The New Edition Story” will star in the film as a younger version of Paige, alongside Thomas “Nephew Tommy” Miles and Shawn Hamilton.
Paige became the public face of Bush’s “No Child Left Behind Act,” calling for increased accountability for schools and teachers while putting greater emphasis on standardized testing, which drew widespread criticism from educators who felt that they weren’t teaching students but rather “teaching to the test.”
NCLB was law from 2002 to 2015, when it was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law during his second term.