Local High School Students Learn About Consequences at Schools in the Court

Students from Chesapeake High School, North County High School, Severna Park High School and the Severn School learned about the consequences of their actions during a trip to Anne Arundel County District Court in Annapolis as part of the county's Schools in the Court program.

The event, headed by Judge Danielle Mosley and hosted by the Anne Arundel County District Court, takes place twice annually. Speakers from a variety of walks of life discuss the value of making positive decisions. Two cases are also tried during the event so that students can see the consequences of making negative decisions.

"I think it's a good experience for my students," said Holly Bivens, a criminal justice teacher at Chesapeake High School. Her class for the event consisted of 18 students, mostly juniors with several seniors.

Speakers at the event included former Washington Redskins and New York Giants player LaVar Arrington, Sgt. Tim Davis with the Anne Arundel County Police Department, Deputy Superintendent of Schools Arlen Liverman and former drug abuser Dwayne Miller.

Arrington encouraged the students to make plans for their lives.

"It's not too early to start planning," said Arrington. "If you take away one thing from what we have to say today, it's that you should always have a plan, because that's how you'll get where you want to be."

During Thursday's event the two court cases that were tried involved theft and trespassing. Both defendants were found guilty and sentenced to time served with probation. The defendants were aware that they would be part of the Schools in the Court program and Mosley said that she believed they chose to be involved to help students avoid making the same mistakes that they made.

"You don't just wake up one day and say that you're going to be a drug addict, nor do you just walk down the street and say that there's drugs you want to try," said Mosley. "It just comes up on you. The point of the program is to show students that with every decision you make, there's a reaction. You have to understand that."

Mosley said that she hoped that the students felt the impact of the program's message.

"Is everyone here going to have the impact?" said Mosley. "No. But if one or two say 'Wow, maybe I will think about it.'...if somebody is at a party and gets drunk, but instead of getting in a car calls a friend or calls home, our job is done."

"You only have to reach one person to make it work," added Mosley. "That's one person twice a year. In reality you want to be able to reach everybody, and really I want to reach them all. I want them all to be successful, but unfortunately that doesn't always happen."