Page 73 of In This Moment
Landsford was on his feet, too. But there was nothing any of them could do. The students kept filing in.
Wendell smiled at the group of them packed into every available space in the room. He couldn’t have been more proud of their diligence and effort. The way they had come here to support him.
Never mind that all eighty students couldn’t get a seat in the courtroom. They didn’t need one. Their presence had already been felt by the judge, the spectators and yes, the jury.
Judge Wells was still on her feet. “Keep them outside,” she yelled to a bailiff standing near the back door. “No more in the courtroom. They can stay in the hall.”
Finally the commotion settled down. The students in the room linked arms and only then did Wendell realize what they were wearing. Each of them had a blue shirt with white lettering that readHAMILTON HIGH—RAISE THE BAR.
They might not get a chance to testify, but their message was clear. The club was theirs. They didn’t want anyone to take it away. Wendell blinked back tears and he saw a few jurors do the same.
“Order!” Judge Wells sat down. She was clearly furious over the loss of control. “All right, then. Mr. Landsford, proceed.”
The prosecuting attorney looked cornered. He dusted off his suit jacket and shrugged in the direction of the jury. Then he turned to Wendell. “Did you brainwash all of these students to join your Christian faith, Mr. Quinn?”
“Objection.” Luke couldn’t stand fast enough. “Antagonistic.” Luke seemed hurt by Landsford’s harsh wording. Wendell assumed Luke’s reaction was one way to counter the severity of the question.
“Sustained.” Judge Wells looked at Landsford.
Luke sat down. He must’ve known that Landsford was showboating. A desperate move, for sure. Landsford’s question went against previous testimony by James Black. It was the attorney’s attempt to impact the jury. And it was wrong.
The judge leaned forward, definitely bothered. “Stick to direct questions, Counsel.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” He glared at Wendell. “Did you ask these students to come today?”
“No, sir.” Wendell smiled at the students. “It was a surprise.”
The attorney didn’t seem to like that answer. He checked his notes and changed the direction of his questioning. “Did you know it was unconstitutional to start a Bible study at Hamilton High?”
It was the first in a long list of questions meant to get at Wendell’s motive. For every question, Wendell answered truthfully. Starting the Raise the Bar club was the only way he knew to do his job.
“And violating the Constitution was the only way you could think to do your job?”
Wendell didn’t blink. “My research tells me I did not violate the Constitution. Again, I was just trying to do the job I agreed to do.”
“I see.” Landsford nodded, his tone sarcastic. “And your job was to teach students the Christian faith?” The lawyer’s tone mocked Wendell.
Luke stayed in his seat, so Wendell responded. This was his chance. The one he’d been waiting for. The attorney had asked, so Wendell took a quick breath. “No, sir. My job was to establish a schoolwide vision of commitment to high standards and ensure the success of all students.”
The definition seemed to take Landsford by surprise. “That sounds memorized. Is it memorized, Mr. Quinn?”
“Yes, sir. It’s the job duties I agreed to as spelled out in my contract with Hamilton High.” Wendell looked at Jordy and his classmates. “And the students are better for it. You can see for yourself. They’re here. They will tell you themselves their lives have improved. Their grades are better. They are in class more regularly. Their lives are changed.”
Wendell could feel the presence of God beside him, within him.
Landsford looked exasperated, like he couldn’t be bothered putting each kid on the witness stand. It would take too much time, time he’d promised the jurors he wouldn’t waste. Wendell could feel the tide turning.
Landsford stumbled through a few more questions. “Surely as an educator you can see the good that comes with separation of church and state, Mr. Quinn.” The attorney lost some of his sarcasm and found a modicum of the charm he’d had at the beginning of the trial. “You do see that, right?”
“Well, yes.” Wendell nodded. “If I forced religion on my students, it wouldn’t be their own. It wouldn’t be real.” He smiled, polite to the core. “The reason you see change in the students at Hamilton High is because no one forced them. They chose Christianity all on their own.”
Landsford looked like he was deflating. His shoulders sank and he stared at Wendell. Finally he shook his head and handed Wendell off to Luke Baxter. Luke was smiling before he stood up.
He had a copy of Wendell’s contract and once Wendell established that the document was indeed his employment contract, Luke read the definition of Wendell’s job duties once more. Straight from the document. Luke’s questions moved to Wendell’s discouragement when things were in a dire state at Hamilton High, and then to the research Wendell had done that summer.
“I needed to find a way to do my job,” Wendell said. “There was nothing in our district’s policy prohibiting me from starting a voluntary Bible study. So I decided to give it a try.”
The next set of questions dealt with the success of the program. Overall, Wendell was sure his testimony couldn’t have gone better if he’d put the students, themselves, on the stand. And the fact that eighty of them had arrived just before he took his testimony was more than Wendell could take in.
