Aleksandar Iricanin, a recent graduate of CCI’s master’s program in Media and Communication Studies, produced a documentary exploring the resegregation of public schools, specifically in Leon County. The documentary describes resegregation as an event that began in the ’80s when schools started to lose diversity due to loosened zoning laws. Students could begin to choose to attend schools outside of their neighborhood zones. As a result, many students were able to move to new zones, while socio-economically challenged students remained close to home, creating a new wave of segregation in public schools.
“Some of my friends mentioned how the city felt segregated between the North and the Southside, which prompted me to do a little bit of research regarding segregation in Tallahassee,” Aleks explains. “The research led me to some news articles and a study discussing how Tallahassee schools have resegregated.”
Aleks and two students from the School of Communication, Sammi Simons and Lawton Robinson, began interviewing Superintendent Rocky Hanna, principals of local schools, students, and parents. The documentary explores how resegregation came about, how it has impacted Leon County, and what is being done about it now.
The documentary was later aired on WFSU. “One of my goals with this documentary was to encourage conversations regarding resegregation and the role that everyone could play to ensure equity among public schools,” Aleks explains. “Having the documentary air on WFSU has been great because it helps spread awareness to others that may not be familiar with this issue.”
This documentary also served as Alek’s capstone project for his master’s degree. Professor Malia Bruker, Dr. Andy Opel, and Dr. Tisha Holmes served on Aleks’s thesis committee and provided feedback throughout the documentary process.
Now based in Chicago, Aleks is a video/audio specialist at a non-profit called Rotary International. While researching for his documentary in Tallahassee, Chicago constantly showed results for resegregation. “I would love to explore its public-school system as well,” Aleks says, thinking about potential future projects. Aleks stresses the importance of providing a vice for others, saying, “If you have the ability to create content that could be brought to the public’s attention, it would be great to draw their attention to something truly meaningful.”