What happens when a teen is caught speeding? What are your rights as a juvenile in high school? How can you, as a teen, make a difference and address an injustice?
These are questions students will address next year at Northside High School, which has been designed a Law Signature School. Northside will offer special classes in civics, law studies and forensic science to help students learn about the law and potential careers, said Liz Tullier, a teacher who will head the program.
"We are hoping to peak the students' interest in law-related educational fields," she said. "I want them to know it is not just criminal law or civil law, but they can go into family law, forensic science, paralegal and a lot of other areas." Also, students can learn about how the legal system works, Tullier said. "It gives the average person practical information they can use," she said.
Maria Yiannopoulos, executive director of the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education, said Northside's program is one of two in the state. The other will be at a middle school in Alexandria, said Yiannopoulos, whose office serves as the public education division of the Louisiana State Bar Association.
"We do this statewide, and ... it is so exciting to see Lafayette establish this program," Yiannopoulos said. "The first program started in Louisiana was in Orleans Parish. ... We took that and brought it to Lafayette." Frank Neuner Jr., newly elected president of the Louisiana Bar Association, said expansion of the project to Lafayette and Alexandria is a way to support the efforts of the Center for Law and Civic Education.
"We had to find a school with a large enough law-related curriculum to be designated a Law Signature School," said Neuner, of the Lafayette law firm Laborde and Neuner. "It introduces them to legal concepts and the rule of law and to have respect for the law."
Some of the courses offered at Northside will allow lawyers to visit as guest speakers, he said. Northside High teachers Tullier, Vickie Hebert and Skip Didier will attend a summer institute this month in New Orleans, sponsored by the Louisiana Center for Civic and Law-related Education. There, the teachers will get training and materials to use in various law- and science-related lesson plans. Tullier has attended the law institute since 2002.
"You get so much out of them," she said. Students will get to listen to guest speakers from various areas of law and law enforcement. They will participate in a mock trial team competition, and next year they will enter a team competition for honors civics classes, Tullier said.
"We are working with the Lafayette Police Department to enroll students in the law Explorer post," she said, for students considering a career in law enforcement. Students also will get a chance to see the law in action, said Hebert, a civics teacher at Northside.
In the CLOSE-UP program, students travel to Washington, D.C., to see the U.S. Congress, U.S. Supreme Court and Acadiana area congressional delegation. "They will learn more in a week in Washington, D.C., then they do in a classroom for a year," Hebert said.
The teachers are hoping local attorneys will volunteer their time and talent to help Northside's Law Signature School. Area businesses may be able to help sponsor a student who wants to take part in the CLOSE-UP program, the teachers said. "We are trying to ... peak their interest in law and civic education," Tullier said. "We want them to be more actively involved in their community." Area lawyers are poised to help.
"What motivated me to get behind this, and I have been aware of the program for years, is the speaker last year for ABA (American Bar Association)," Neuner said. "It was a retired judge from North Carolina. He said you can't start changing people's minds when they are 20 years old, 30 years old or 40 years old. We have to change their minds early and help make our profession more reflective of its population."
Originally published July 5, 2005
