With his parents by his side, a Portage High School freshman, sat before a teen court judge in a Porter County courtroom, hearing “charges” brought against him by teachers and school officials.
He was accused of threatening to slap a female student, vandalizing a school-owned iPad carrying case and secretly video recording a teacher and another student without permission. His parents, who asked not to be identified, flanked him during the hearing and said their son, whose name is being withheld because he’s a minor, has had “an attitude problem” and anger management issues.
“So, what’s going on man?” teen court judge William Ford, just days away from law school commencement at Valparaiso University, asked the student.
Dressed in a black blazer, jeans and a T-shirt, the teen answered, sometimes softly with simple answers, other times more boldly with explanations at the Monday appearance.
It was a scene repeated regularly in teen court, now in its fourth year in Portage. The teen court is an option to avoid suspension, expulsion and other punishments for a range of poor behaviors, from tardiness to arguing with teachers and other students to fighting and more. During the 2015-16 school year, 119 teens have taken part in the program and none have appeared more than once.
The students appear before a VU law student acting as a judge, hearing of their alleged offenses and giving the teens a chance to have their say. The students are ordered to teen court by their schools. They are defended by other students, or peers, who also act as their version of prosecutors. Peers also form the juries that hear the cases and make recommendations to the judge.
Each person who ends up in teen court ultimately must serve time as a peer juror, also.
The teen court is a form of restorative practices, an educational movement that has been gaining traction across the country. The idea is simple: respond differently, holistically, to a wide range of offenses by students, instead of immediately turning to suspensions or expulsions. When students or administrators cannot get a reasonable outcome from a student, that student is referred to teen court.
It keeps them in school and it gives them another chance, said Sandra Porter-Phillips, Teen Court Coordinator at the Crisis Center in Gary.
She has run Portage Township Schools’ teen court for four years. Porter-Phillips started a teen court in Lake County in 1989, according the the Crisis Center website.
“I’m hoping the kids learn to be accountable for their actions and their community,” she said, adding she’s had had some kids that failed “but more that succeed.”
Kids are growing up too fast, being exposed to too much they’re not ready to handle, Porter-Phillips said.
The freshman student’s parents heard the charges against their son, sometimes adding insight, including his need for anger management counseling, something his father said has been hard to find for the teenager.
Later, as the teen waited to hear his corrective action from Ford, another mother waited in the hallway with her seventh-grade daughter who has racked up 31 tardies since January.
Dressed in jeans and a casual shirt, with eyeliner outlining light blue eyes, the 13-year-old teen, quickly admitted she has been late to classes so often because she chooses to “be social” with her friends.
Teen court is a great option for her, “because suspending her ain’t going to do nothing. It’s just giving her what she wants. Some time off. She needs to deal with the consequences cause she don’t listen to me,” the girl’s mother said.
Teen court keeps students in school and gives them an important option, Portage Township Schools Superintendent Richard Weigel said.
“Kids make mistakes or whatever,” he said. “This gives them an opportunity for them to modify their behavior without us having to take another kind of action. It also teaches them the power of community service and giving back, and they see themselves differently.”
Moments later, Ford announced the Portage freshman’s penance. He would be ordered to sit as peer juror in the following week’s teen court, pay the school for damage to the iPad, write an apology letter to the teacher and student he recorded and do 20 hours of community service.
The teen wilted a bit when Porter-Phillips, with a stern, in-your-face style, demanded he get her approval on the apology letter and that he do his community service with her. The student also became upset with his father when told he would have to pay for the damage himself.
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“I like the idea (of teen court),” his father said. “I’m confident. I’m doubtful with him because he gets an attitude but, I hope it helps him out where he straightens out.”
Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.