HCPS FL Logo Performance Management and Community Support
Information Item
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 2013
TO: School Board Members
FROM: MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent
SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS
Recognition of Student Winners of the Law Week Art and Peer Mediation Contests
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Each year in May the Hillsborough County Bar Association celebrates Law Day.  Law Day is a national day set aside to celebrate the rule of law. Law Day underscores how law and the legal process contribute to the freedoms that all Americans share. Law Day also provides an opportunity to recognize the role of courts in this democracy and the importance of jury service to maintaining the integrity of the courts. 

In Hillsborough County, Law Week is acknowledged during the first week of May and is coordinated through SERVE with the Young Lawyers Division of the Hillsborough County Bar Association to coordinate the following activities and contests:

  • Mock Trials (for grades 3 and 4) based on the fairy tale – Jack and the Beanstalk, are used to introduce students to the courtroom process and procedures
  • Courthouse Tours (for Grade 5) – students toured the George Edgecomb Courthouse (and heard presentations from Mrs. Edgecomb, local Judges and a presentation by Teen Court)
  • Classroom Speakers (secondary students) – schools requested speakers on a variety of legal topics
  • Peer Mediation Essay Contest & Peer Mediator of the year (all grade levels)
  • Art Contest (all grade levels)

This year’s theme was in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, “Realizing the Dream: Equality for All.” 
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
• Challenge and support all students with an appropriate curriculum
FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted:  No)
EVALUATION
SUBMITTED BY:  Crystal Russell, SERVE
Linda Fernandez
    Jeffrey Eakins

  Assistant Superintendent, Performance Management & Community Support
(813) 272-4101
    A 10.05
Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20130611_565 (Board Meeting) * Section A Item# 10.05