Substantial Risk

How far will one student go to ensure the safety of his school? Alex Baxter, the student body president, tries to implement a plan to improve the safety of his high school. When his principal refuses to support his plan, Alex stages a phony shooting to show how vulnerable his school is. Several teachers think the squirt gun he is using is real, and he is charged with fourth-degree assault. Because the crime is a misdemeanor, he is tried by a youth court. The action begins as the judge raps her gavel, and Alex's story unwinds through the skillful and often dramatic questioning of witnesses by clever student attorneys. Some of the witnesses include the controlling school principal; the politically-correct vice principal; Alex's sympathetic girlfriend and others. In a climactic scene, Mike, an at-risk student with few friends, jumps up from his seat in the courtroom demanding to tell his story of what happened--and what could have happened--that day. A tense, topical drama.