The interiors were shot in historic Woodrow Wilson High School (built 1928) in the Lakewood area of Dallas, Texas. Many students, including the late Lance Bircher, were used in the filming. The students had trouble understanding the concept of separate schools for blacks and whites and the resulting struggles as the school was cited by the Supreme Court as a model for natural integration during the Dallas desegregation case. They were thrilled to receive a visit from Miss Woodward's husband, Paul Newman.
The scene at the Halloween dance in which a boy begins to dance with one of the paper witches hanging from the ceiling was an ad-lib by the extra (the late Lance Bircher).
A TV movie for the CBS network.
Actor Jerry Haynes returned to his high school Alma Mater (Dallas Woodrow Wilson, where interiors were filmed) in Crisis at Central High (1981) playing opposite Joanne Woodward as a general sent to investigate. He was a newsman and sports reporter for many years at Dallas WFAA Channel 8, covering the Kennedy Assassination, but is best known as the longtime children's show host, "Mr. Peppermint". He appeared in fifty films, with a notable role in "Places in the Heart" (1984).
During the scene when some of the parents of the white students were storming the office to pull their kids out of school, one asks the secretary where their kid was and the original line was, "Second floor. Room 102." A visitor to the set (myself) commented to the crew that in the US, second floor rooms are numbered started with two so the room number should be 202. After a brief discussion with the script supervisor and Director, the line was changed to 201.