The Judiciary committee is Sego Lily School’s system of jurisprudence to assure fairness.  The Judiciary Committee is responsible for upholding the rules of the Sego Lily school.  The J.C. started in its infancy at the Sudbury School as the “gripe session.”  Which was held at the school meeting.  The gripe session got longer and longer until one lasted for three days.  A charge was reached, hence the J.C. Committee.
The elements are simple. There is a thorough impartial investigation of all charges, each of which is specific as to what rule was allegedly broken; there has to be a fair trial before a jury of peers, with full safeguards for the rights of the defendant and with respect for the rules of evidence and there has to be a fair system of sentencing.”
As per the Constitution of the United States, “the personal rights of every adult citizen in our nation have to be safeguarded.” At Sudbury based schools, this right extends to children.

My experience with the J.C. Committee at Sego Lily school is that it works.  There is something very powerful about being tried by one’s peers to safeguard our school.  The kids take it seriously (sometimes amidst great laughter) and justice prevails.  One of the cases we  tried  involved children being punched,  which violates our preamble:  “All School Meeting members are responsible for the general welfare of the school, through actions that contribute to fostering the atmosphere of freedom respect, fairness, trust, and order that is the essence of the school’s existence.”

Another complaint came in with a plastic Ziploc bag attached to it with a suspicious bit of pretzel inside.  The food itself had a guilty look.  The complaint stated that “exhibit a” was found in the computer room, which goes directly against rule 200.03.  Since no one was caught “red handed” this case was investigated by the J.C. After astute and exhaustive detective work the three culprits were found.  The sentence: Cleaning a room in the school daily for a week.  This was a pretty stiff sentence but we like our keyboards the way they are: pretzel-less.

There are currently six school rules that have been created by the staff and students of the school.  To date, the J.C. has tried and settled 28 cases and there are two pending.  Breaking a school rule may but does not always result in a J.C. complaint.
Along with the school meeting, informal meetings, and all of the spontaneous norms and mores that have evolved at the school, the J.C. committee definitely helps form our environment.  School rules get created as a result of the J.C. and other rules get followed under the bright light of truth emanating from the J.C.

My favorite case to date was a complaint by a staff member that a student was recidivistic (not a pretty word) in his failure to sign out.  The result of this complaint was a sentence that the student posts a sign on the front door reminding all to sign out.  A few days later, the student fastened a seven-foot high sign that covered the entire door with sign out written 47 times.  It is now a bit darker in the front room as less light gets through the front door windows but you can bet your gavel people are signing out!