Theodore Boone: The Scandal (13 page)

She paused and walked to the edge of the jury box, though it was empty. She spoke without notes but with great conviction. Theo had watched many fine lawyers in court, and at that moment his mother was one of the best. He felt enormous pride and was surprised to realize that his throat felt tight. Was he getting choked up? He swallowed hard.

“Now, the claim by the prosecution that these teachers entered into a conspiracy to commit fraud for financial gain is ridiculous. You heard their words, Your Honor. They were not motivated by money. They did not risk their careers over a few bucks in bonus money. What they did was wrong, but what they did had only one goal and that was to help their students survive in this super-competitive environment that we have created. We, Judge, all of us. We expect the best for our children, and we allow the school system to classify them so that the brighter ones will be rewarded even further. It’s a bad system, Judge, and one that we should do away with. I know—that’s not my role in all of this. But, it helps to explain what they did.”

She walked to the defense table and waved her hand at the five. “My clients did not engage in criminal behavior, Your Honor, and I demand that these charges be dismissed.” When she sat down, the courtroom was silent.

Jack Hogan stood slowly and walked to the podium. He was an old pro Theo had watched many times. He said, “Thank you, Your Honor. When I was in the sixth grade, a long time ago, my favorite teacher was Mrs. Greenwood. She was funny, smart, pretty, and she was strict. She taught history and she gave really hard tests, so hard that I was having trouble in the class. One day we were taking a final exam, a really long, difficult test, and three of us figured out a way to cheat. It was multiple choice, and I was sitting right behind the smartest kid in class. He agreed to move his paper to the far side of his desk so I could peek over his shoulder. Once I stole the correct answers, I signaled them to my other two buddies. It worked brilliantly until we were caught. Mrs. Greenwood got suspicious, confiscated our exams, and marched us down to the principal’s office. Since all three of us had the same answers there wasn’t much we could say. My father had taught me the dangers of lying, so I admitted to cheating. I told the truth. It was a bad scene. My two buddies and I were suspended for a week and put on probation. I was embarrassed and never felt tempted to cheat again. Mrs. Greenwood was very disappointed, and I was crushed by this. What did we learn? Well, we learned a valuable lesson in what was right and what was wrong. We learned that cheating was wrong and led to bad results. And we were the kids, the students. I could never imagine Mrs. Greenwood cheating, or any of my other teachers for that matter. Students sometimes cheat, but not teachers! They make and enforce the rules. They teach right from wrong. They set a proper example. They are the adults in charge of our children, and when they cheat and cover up it’s far worse than when the students do it.

“Your Honor, we now know that these five people knowingly, and intentionally, and even with the expectation of one day getting caught, entered into a conspiracy to provide fraudulent test results. That’s a crime in my book! They scoff at the idea that it was for money, but money was a potential factor. This cannot be denied. They don’t make much money so maybe they wanted some more. I don’t know, but if we are allowed to go forward with these charges then we’ll learn everything. It’s premature at this point to say, oh well, let’s just let the school board deal with it. No, sir, that’s letting them off too easy. My office brought these charges, and we are prepared to fully prosecute them. Thank you.”

Jack Hogan sat down and everyone took a deep breath. Judge Gantry finally asked, “Anything else?”

The lawyers shook their heads. No.

“All right. I want to sleep on this, and I’ll issue a ruling by noon tomorrow. Court’s adjourned.”

A
s Theo and April were leaving the balcony, a bailiff stopped them at the door and said, “Say, Theo, Judge Gantry wants you to stop by his office.”

Theo was startled. “Okay, when?”

“Right now.”

“Sure.” He said good-bye to April and hurried away, dodging the spectators as they filed out of the main courtroom. Judge Gantry was waiting with his door opened. He closed it when Theo walked in. He removed his black robe, said, “Have a seat,” and pointed to a chair at the conference table. Theo did as he was instructed. Judge Gantry sat down and loosened his tie. He gave Theo a hard look and asked, “What do you think?”

Theo wasn’t sure what the judge wanted so he just shrugged, as if confused.

“You know, Theo, we often make the law too complicated. We take a set of facts and analyze them ten different ways and try to figure out what laws should apply and how and why, when, in reality, a lot of cases are pretty simple. Simple enough for a young person to see clearly, when we try so hard to make them confusing. Does this make sense?”

“I think so.”

“I’d like to know how you would rule in this case, Theo. You’re thirteen years old, a smart kid who knows more law than most lawyers, and also someone who’s sort of involved in this mess. What would you do, after hearing what we’ve just heard?”

Man up, Theo told himself. He’s talking to you like an adult, so act like one. “They’re not criminals, Judge. What they did was really bad. I mean the idea of a bunch of teachers hiding in a room erasing wrong answers and loading up with the correct ones is pretty outrageous. I understand why they did it, but it was still a rotten thing to do. Like Jack Hogan said, they’re supposed to teach us right from wrong.”

“Agreed. It’s disgusting.”

“But they will be punished enough. They’re good people who did something wrong, but what they did was not a crime. I would dismiss the charges, Judge.”

“You like secrets don’t you, Theo?”

“Love ’em.”

“Good. Here’s a secret you can’t talk about until noon tomorrow. I’m dismissing the charges. Right now it’s just between you and me.” He reached out a hand and Theo shook it.

“A secret, right?”

“You got it, Judge.”

The Boones enjoyed dinner with Omar in his café, and when he wasn’t around his parents talked nonstop about the hearing. Mrs. Boone was relieved and relaxed, and Theo congratulated her on a fine performance. Mr. Boone was happy to play second fiddle to his wife, and it was obvious he was very proud.

“You should do more trial work, Mom. You’re very much at home in the courtroom.”

“Thank you, Teddy, but I have enough work to keep me busy.”

“Things could not have gone better, dear,” Mr. Boone said. “You were superb.”

“I’ll feel superb when we win,” she said. Theo bit his tongue. He was often tempted to unload secrets on his parents, but not this time. He was determined to prove he could be trusted. Instead he said, “I watched Judge Gantry a lot, and I think he is with the teachers. Don’t you agree, Dad?”

“No doubt about it. He’ll dismiss the charges and we can move on.”

“Let’s not get too confident,” Mrs. Boone said. “When I’m sure I’ve won, something bad usually happens, and when I know I’ve lost, there is usually a pleasant surprise. It’s a tricky business trying to predict what a judge will do.”

Theo kept a mouth full of food and tried to say as little as possible.

Late that night he called April, and they chatted for almost an hour about the courtroom drama. She had been scared out of her mind when Dr. Stoop read her letter and almost fainted. But now that she was able to look back, she didn’t feel so bad about sending it. The letter had prompted the school officials to take the matter seriously and investigate immediately.

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t send that second letter?” Theo asked. “Otherwise you might have been on the witness stand today.”

“I sure am. Thank you, Theo. I had made up my mind to send it, but you talked me out of it.”

“Always trust your lawyer, April.”

T
he Friday morning newspaper had the story on the front page, complete with a great front-page photo of Mr. and Mrs. Boone walking into the courtroom, each holding a thick briefcase and looking like they were ready for business. It was a lawyer’s dream. A long story described the hearing. There were summaries of the testimony and arguments from the lawyers.

Theo read it quickly and hurried off to school. The morning passed slowly.

At three minutes before noon, Judge Gantry posted online a two-page ruling dismissing the criminal charges against the teachers. He said, in part, “While I am disturbed by the actions of the defendants, their behavior did not rise to the level of criminal activity.”

Theo texted congratulations to his parents and went to the cafeteria for lunch.

At two p.m., Dr. Carmen Stoop issued a statement to the press. She announced that the school board had no choice but to terminate the contracts of the five teachers. Two years from now they would be allowed to reapply for teaching positions in the school system.

This surprised no one; but what followed did. Dr. Stoop said that the results from the previous testing would be disregarded at all grade levels. And, furthermore, the Strattenburg School District would no longer participate in the standardized tests required by the state. The district could “opt out” of the testing, but doing so would mean the loss of significant state funding.

In her statement, she said, “This city has always placed a priority on good schools and providing the best education possible for our students. We will continue to do so. This will require a lot of community support and more money from our city council. Frankly, we believe we are in a better position to educate our children than the people at the state level. To do so will take a great effort from all of our citizens.”

Theo read the statement online and couldn’t suppress a smile. No more standardized testing. No more “teaching to the tests.” No more tracking. No more competition for the Honors track. No more special classes for gifted students and lesser classes for lesser students.

He went to find April.

Elsa put together the party with little effort. She called a deli and it delivered a tray of finger sandwiches, another of brownies and cookies, two gallons of punch, and three bottles of champagne. She called the defendants and invited them to stop by for a small celebration.

Theo knew that every schoolteacher was starving by late afternoon. They were on their feet all day with little time to eat. The offer of good food and something to drink was irresistible. By 4:30 Friday, all five of the former East Middle School teachers were in the conference room—four with their spouses. Geneva Hull brought her current boyfriend. Every member of the Boone law firm was there.

Though their futures were unknown, and certainly not promising, they were in the mood to celebrate, if only for a short time. They were no longer considered criminals and would not face the nightmare of being prosecuted. For hard-working educators who had little or no dealings with the criminal justice system, the prospect of going to jail had been terrifying. Now that had passed. They could pick up the pieces and try to get on with their lives. For a short time that Friday afternoon, they were happy and wanted to unwind. They also wanted to thank their lawyers.

Theo and April sat in a corner and sipped punch. They were relieved, too. The scandal was finally over, and they could talk about something else.

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