By Alexie V. Zotomayor
Variety Features Editor

HAVING sunk their teeth into their respective roles as prosecutors, witnesses, and defense lawyers, students from various schools will be competing in the mock trial finals scheduled for Feb. 16 in the federal court.
Employing their varied styles in arguing a case, junior high school students will be displaying their flair for oratory and debate as they argue a fictitious case for or against the CNMI School District being sued by a student for educational malpractice.
According to Humanities Council program director Scott Russell, five schools have confirmed their participation in the mock trial finals; however, these schools have neither indicated the names of the participants nor their respective teacher and lawyer coaches. The schools were Mt. Carmel School, Rota Junior High School, Saipan International School, Grace Christian Academy, and Calvary Christian Academy.
As early as October last year, the Humanities Council sent out invitations to schools to organize their teams for the mock trial consisting of six to eight students plus a teacher-coach and laywer-coach and rehearse mock trials leading up to the final mock trial event on Feb. 16, 2007.
Variety reported that these students had been given case materials to work with which were prepared by legal counsel to the lieutenant governor Teresa Kim who is a member of the Humanities Council’s Mock Trial Task Force. Kim, along with Robert Torres, Lilian A. Tenorio, and Steve Smith comprise the task force.
The junior high school teams, Russell said, will be handling a civil case involving educational malpractice in which the students will be playing the parts of plaintiff or defendant, prosecutor, defense attorney and witnesses.
Based on the distributed mock trial materials, the fictitious civil case involves a student and a mother filing a case against the CNMI School District for educational malpractice. The plaintiff alleges that the defendant failed in its statutory duty to educate the plaintiff in the basic academic skills which resulted in his failure to secure employment after graduation.
The materials also state that the plaintiff is asking the court to find a case of educational malpractice and grant injunctive relief. On the other hand, the CNMI School District, believing that it has met its duty, is seeking to nullify the case and deny granting monetary or injunctive relief to the plaintiff.
Students participating in the final mock trial event have been informed by their respective teachers and lawyer coaches of the laws governing the case. Some of the applicable laws that the students have been familiarizing themselves with over the past few months were CNMI Educ. Code Section 2097 or Proficiency Standards for Students; CNMI Education Code Section 2098 or Analysis of Individual Needs and Potential; and CNMI Education Code Section 2099 or Instructional Procedures.
Section 2097 calls for each school district to develop proficiency standards related to the district’s instructional program. Section 2098 requires competent educators to use and promote the use of appropriate diagnostic techniques to analyze a student’s needs and potential with the results of the evaluation to be used for planning and program modification. In Section 2099, competent teachers are tasked to create an atmosphere conducive to learning and encourage interest through the use of appropriate materials. On Friday, Russell said mock trial participants will be receiving certificates of participation. In addition, he also said that students performing in a superior fashion will be recognized.
Attorney Joseph James Camacho will be evaluating student performance. Last year, it was Camacho who evaluated the arguments set forth by the prosecution represented by Saipan Community School and the defense handled by Chacha School students.
Russell said that the mock trial is a non-competitive activity designed to acquaint students with trial procedures and make learning as enjoyable as possible.
The mock trial is part of the Humanities Council’s Law and the Community Series which aims to examine the concepts of justice, due process, citizenship, and the rule of law in the commonwealth.