Disputes continue on verdict for mock trial team
Team won fourth place in nationals
By Susan Wiedmann
In an April 17 Willow Glen Resident article, Lincoln High School Mock Trial Team coach Kris Morrella was looking forward to her team's second attendance at the National Mock Trial Competition and to her retirement from teaching this year. The team had recently won the California Mock Trial Competition for the second year in a row, an unprecedented record in the state. Team members received a fourth-place trophy in the national mock-trial competition in St. Paul, Minn., the weekend of May 11, but an incident of vandalism by five of the team members has marred the joy of their victories and created controversy about their punishment.
According to Morrella, Lincoln High School Principal Oreen Gernreich, Lincoln High School Vice Principal Chris Funk, and the father of an involved student, on April 1, five team members vandalized the home of a former team member.
Morrella, Gernreich, Funk and the father agreed on the following details in an interview with the Willow Glen Resident, based on conversations they have held with the students and Carol Menaker, the homeowner and mother of the former team member. Calls to Menaker were unanswered. Menaker's daughter is a minor who has a different last name. The Willow Glen Resident is withholding the students' names because they are minors.
On April 1, five team members--four girls and one boy--used a key under Menaker's doormat to enter the house while Menaker and her daughter were away. One girl remained in the car. The students had been there on many occasions and had an open invitation from Menaker to come in whether or not she or her daughter were home. On that day, the students say they decided to play an April Fool's Day prank. Whipped cream was spilled on the carpet, condoms were left on the bed in the daughter's room, and nasty language was used in notes left for the girl.
The incident occurred during spring break, when the school was closed. When Menaker returned home, she contacted Morrella, who lives in Willow Glen and also teaches English at the school.
"When I first talked to Carol and she said she thought some of the kids in the mock trial class were involved, I was incredulous," Morrella said. "I said that it was inconceivable, impossible, but that I would do everything I could to find out. These kids in mock trial are her daughter's only friends."
When Morrella tracked down a couple of the students, they readily admitted it, saying that it was an April Fool's Day prank and that they thought it was funny.
"I went off on them," Morrella said. " I said, 'I am disgusted and appalled. I am so disappointed in you. I am calling your parents immediately.' "
She also advised Menaker to call the police. After Menaker received in-person and telephone apologies from the five students and their parents, as well as assurances that the students would pay for the damages, Morrella says that Menaker called her back and told her she didn't want to contact the police or the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD).
"I got to school Monday morning [April 8], and she had already been here with Vice Principal Funk in the office," Morrella said. "She said 'I think some kind of community service is appropriate,' and I said 'I completely agree. I intend to talk to our attorney coach [Jim Towery], but the parents are going to decide the punishment in addition to whatever you decide.' "
Towery contacted a juvenile court judge for his input on appropriate punishment and received a list of options. Gernreich said that when she returned to school after spring break, she told Morrella to get in touch with SJUSD attorneys and to suspend the students for five days, if possible.
However, the attorneys advised that under section 48900 of the Education Code of California, the school did not have the authority to suspend the students or otherwise punish them since the incident did not happen while on the school grounds, or while going to or coming from school, or during the lunch period on or off campus, or during, or while going to or coming from a school-sponsored activity.
"If you deal with high school kids, there are some times that things like this happen," Gernreich said. "They don't think. Not one of them could give me a reason why they did it. High schools are a learning house. That's where the kids learn a lot of life lessons."
"Carol is angry because I said they are still going to finals," Gernreich said. "She called the superintendent's office about it and she met with Mike Carr [SJUSD director of student services]; that's her prerogative."
According to Morrella, Gernreich, Funk and the father, Menaker also contacted the San Jose Mercury News for a lengthy interview about the incident, which was published when the team was competing in St. Paul.
"Within five minutes of getting their award, they left the awards ceremony crying because someone sent an anonymous email to someone there saying this has happened in San Jose," the father said. "And it continues. [Menaker] said that with the children paying the cost of the damages, this would be behind us. She got her money and then called the paper."
The punishment for the five students is 40 hours each of community service, to be overseen by Towery, payment for all damages to Menaker, letters of apology, no prom and individual parental punishments.
"I support fully the actions taken by the principal," said Rich Garcia, vice president of the SJUSD Board of Education.
Karen Fuqua, a spokesperson for the SJUSD, agrees that the right decision was made.
"We really feel that justice was done for [the five students]," Fuqua said. "They were very repentant over this, and the restitution is in the process of being made." She added that everyone involved is also concerned about the girl who was the victim of the incident.
SJUSD Board of Education member Carol Myers, a Willow Glen resident and retired teacher, is among those who think the punishment should have been more severe.
"Quite honestly, the parents could have stepped in and said, 'I don't care what the school does, this is what I'm doing, and you're not going to St. Paul,' " Myers said. "That's just my opinion."
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
