TV Reviews : ‘Frog Girl’ Stands Her Ground in ‘Schoolbreak Special’

In 1987, Jenifer Graham, a 10th grader at Victor Valley High in Victorville, had her biology grade changed from an A to a C for refusing, on moral grounds, to dissect a frog.

Backed by the Humane Society, she took the issue to court. Although her C grade still stands, her suit helped bring about California’s Students’ Rights Bill, allowing students to make a choice about dissection without fear of penalty.

CBS tells her story in “The Frog Girl,� today’s “Schoolbreak Special� at 3 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8.

It’s a straightforward telling: Jenifer’s request that she be excused from the dissection because, as a vegetarian and animal lover, she found it ethically wrong; the escalation of administration objection to her bucking of the system, and her distress at being the target of contempt from other students and on view in the media.

Intercut throughout the film are snippets of re-enacted testimony before a California legislative subcommittee considering the students’ rights measure. (Lesley-Anne Down makes the briefest of cameos here.)

Directed by Harry Longstreet--he and Renee Longstreet wrote the script--the show itself is a trial at times.

Ellen Dunning, as Jenifer, is not particularly appealing, too often seeming whiny and holier-than-thou. As her mom, Kerrie Keane appears to blossom during all the media attention, like an overeager stage mother.

Still, the film succeeds in showing Graham’s story as a fascinating progression of events.

While the issue may seem frivolous at first, the point is made that using a disposable supply of small lives deserves serious thought.