Cloaked in black robes, a dozen solemn faces stared out at the
accused.
Gilroy
Cloaked in black robes, a dozen solemn faces stared out at the accused.
Usually seated behind the bench himself, the Chief Justice of the Tribunal faced his peers as he awaited sentencing. Found guilty of making disparaging comments in the presence of his superior, he was ordered to formally apologize to his teacher and classmates.
After his sentence was read, the 16-year-old student of the Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy resumed his usual position of authority.
At a school where “early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable,” students are held to a higher standard and the “dreaded A-word” – accountability – is a part of everyday life, said Principal Michael Hall.
“We’re going to do the right thing, all the time, even if it hurts,” he said. “‘I admit I made a mistake’ are the six most important words a student can learn.”
In a scene straight out of the Harry Potter series, the Justices – as the 10 students who serve on the tribunal are known – don robes and preside over discipline cases under the watchful eye of faculty supervisor, Sam Navarez. Every decision of the tribunal is then forwarded to Hall for judicial review.
“There’s very rarely a human sacrifice,” Hall laughed. About 90 percent of the time, the tribunal forwards him a fair and appropriate sentence, he said.
Inspired when Hall was researching military schools, tribunals popped out to him as a manifestation of the school’s emphasis on honesty and integrity. Their authority is spelled out right in the academy’s honor code.
When the Chief Justice left the witness stand, two boys accused of horsing around during school took the vacant hot seat. The incident took place over the summer when the two boys were involved in what could have escalated into a fight. They said they were just playing.
“You never thought this would be an honor code violation?” Justice Taylor Hadnot, 14, asked incredulously.
“We knew this wasn’t up to the standard of behavior expected at GECA,” said one of the accused. “We weren’t thinking of the consequences of our actions.”
After the tribunal ordered them to apologize to those their behavior had affected, the boys politely thanked the justices for their time. Although many of the tribunal’s sentences are an attempt to hold students accountable for their actions by mandating that they correct their behavior and apologize to those who fell victim, the body’s decisions have resulted in some students not attending GECA anymore, Hall said.
“They’re put in a position where they have to pass some very harsh judgments,” Navarez said.
The tribunal is a “crucial piece” of a program aimed to instill the values of character and integrity in the students, Hall said. Bright students who cruised through middle school are in for an awakening when they realize the natural talent they relied on for good grades isn’t enough, Hall said. Discipline and perseverance make the difference, he said. But the payoff is great: students graduate from the early college academy with two years of college under their belts. Among the 62 students enrolled in the academy last year, the program’s inaugural year, they earned a total of 698 credits and maintained a collective grade point average of 2.92 in mostly honors and Advanced Placement courses, Hall said. The students scored 879 points on a state standardized test, the highest score in the district.
“The kids are very protective of their school,” Hall said. “They’re going to have to make some tough decisions if they want to keep it the way it is.”
