A Day In The Life: CCSC's Mock Trial Team
(The latest installment in an ongoing series of updates about what really happens each day at Community Charter School of Cambridge)
By Katie Rieser & Sherelle Ferguson
Humanities faculty
Our mock trial team traveled to the Somerville District Court last Thursday (1/26/12) for the school’s first competition. We had a rather rough-and-tumble dress rehearsal before we left, but the students were optimistic as we boarded the bus on the way to the courthouse. Upon arriving, the students reluctantly gave up all cell phones, and politely entered the courtroom space. The security guards were won over by how Daniel Howell, a senior at CCSC, held the door. It’s the little things, after all.
Our students were all set to defend a teacher, Annie Sway (played by CCSC’s Ahna Jahir), who was accused of being negligent because she didn’t act swiftly enough to prevent several acts of bullying. These acts of bullying, in turn, resulted in her advisee getting placed in a mental institution. Oh dear. CCSC students presented the argument that Sway (the teacher) was less to blame than the school’s flawed bullying policy and, ultimately, Massachusetts state law (which, we argued, was weak).
The case began with an opening statement on the part of the Plaintiff (played by the Melrose team). CCSC’s Peg Nonez, a ninth grader, then stood up in front of the crowd and delivered an excellent opening for the defense, arguing articulately that Ms. Sway, the teacher, did everything in her power to report and prevent the acts of bullying that occurred. Peg subsequently received a 9 (out of a possible 10 points) for her performance. It was very impressive. We didn’t realize that she had not changed up her fur-lined moccasins for heels until it was too late, though. Oh well.
After the openings, we were off. CCSC’s Charde Hunt, a junior, won over the judge, the opposing team’s coach, and the entire room with her strong self-possession and practiced courtroom demeanor. She politely popped out of her seat six times during Melrose’s first examination: “Objection, hearsay; Objection, leading; Objection, speculation”. We teachers pinched each other with glee as we heard the word “Sustained” repeatedly from the judge. The opposing team, less well versed in courtroom procedure, didn’t know what hit them. Their witnesses, however, were trained to have excellent diction, and all drew high marks, even though we knew our stuff.
Other fantastic moments of the trial included:
CCSC’s Tristan Pepin, a tenth grader, who argued that although the bullying policy stated that students were required to report incidents of bullying as soon as possible, the policy didn’t say anything about teachers.
CCSC’s Charde Hunt’s polite indecision about whether to impeach her witness (she said to the judge: “I just don’t know whether I should impeach him”).
CCSC tenth grader Aahkeilah Rogers, on cross examination, responding to the Melrose team lawyer: “I said that because you were badgering me!”.
CCSC’s Jose Valladerasa articulate and composed handling of a curve ball from the judge around an objection to the classification of his witness as an expert on adolescents.
On and on it went. At the end of the day, our CCSC team lost by three points, and but Ms. Ferguson and I ruled our judge to be fair and impartial. The Melrose team was able to efficiently bring its point home, and we fell short on a few of the more difficult pieces of our thematic case. The students were given feedback by a real judge in the Somerville court, they looked amazing, and they tittered about the legal details all the way home on the bus.
Next up: Brookline High.
