Justice teaching: the initiative will send volunteer judges and lawyers into classrooms.

Early next year, Chief Justice Fred Lewis wants to have legal professionals trained and ready to begin dispensing information about the fundamental principles of our democracy to Florida students--one school at a time.

Judges and Bar leaders from across the state gathered in Tampa last month to begin planning the implementation of Lewis' Justice Teaching program, which he has described as the cornerstone of his two-year administration and has an ultimate goal of pairing a judge, lawyer, or other law-related professional with every elementary, middle, and high school in the state.

Lewis--who since joining the court in 1998 has regularly visited classrooms throughout Florida to talk with students of all ages about the courts and the Constitution--said the program aims to benefit the students by promoting an understanding of the justice system, develop critical thinking abilities and problem-solving skills, and demonstrate the effective interaction of the courts within the constitutional structure.

"Because you believe in our youth and you believe in our democracy, you are going to be the leaders in a program that is going to make a difference," Chief Justice Lewis told the assembled group of Bar leaders and judges representing each of Florida's 20 circuits and five appellate districts who make up the Select Committee on Justice Teaching. That group will be responsible for recruiting and coordinating the volunteers who will serve as resources available to the schools to help with classroom visits, teacher conferences, in-service training, and other law-related education needs. The committee also will work in partnership with court managers, superintendents, school districts, teachers, and administrators to promote the program.

"There are 78,000 lawyers in The Florida Bar and I don't think one will say no to you," Lewis told the judges.

He also pledged to travel across the state with Annette Pitts, executive director of the Florida Law Related Education Association, to provide structured training and materials to local volunteers to ensure they are fully prepared to provide a meaningful educational experience for the students.

"We don't want to tell them what to think; we want to help them to think," Lewis said. "This is not a group that is going to try to tell anybody anything other than our fundamental democratic principles. We make a mistake if we end up sending somebody into a classroom that has an agenda. We are not going to have people...