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Lothar121

Teacher Gave Drug To Teen, Police Say
Maria Glod | The Washington Post | 3/21/06

A longtime Fairfax County teacher has been charged with giving marijuana to a Chantilly High School student Friday in a school hallway, county police said.

Thomas Newlun, 53, a special education teacher who has worked at five Fairfax schools since 1989, was arrested early yesterday at his home in Marshall, in Fauquier County, police said.

Newlun gave a small amount of marijuana to a 17-year-old student about 11 a.m. Friday during a break between classes, police said. Officer Richard Henry, a police spokesman, said the teenager and a friend took the drugs to a school security officer, who alerted police.

Henry said investigators don't think other students were involved. "There is no indication that this has happened before," Henry said. Police did not say why Newlun gave away the drug or how he got it.

Newlun did not return calls yesterday. He is on administrative leave without pay until the investigation is completed, a schools spokesman said.

Chantilly High Principal James Kacur referred calls to the school system's public information office. In a letter to parents, he said classes have not been disrupted.

"We know that you are concerned for the safety of your children," Kacur wrote. "Please remind your child that he or she should never take any kind of drug and should always report suspicious activity to a trusted adult.

"I want to commend our students and staff for handling this inconvenience calmly," Kacur wrote.

County schools spokesman Paul Regnier said that other than a break of about a year in the early 1990s, Newlun has worked in county schools. He had taught at Edison, South Lakes, Woodson and Westfield high schools and has been at Chantilly since 2002.

Newlun is charged with distribution of marijuana to a minor, drug distribution on school property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Fairfax police said that Fauquier sheriff's deputies arrested Newlun about 1 a.m. yesterday and that he has been released on bond.

"I am confident that our principal, Mr. Kacur, and the Fairfax County public schools system, will handle this situation with the best interest and safety of our children in mind," PTSA President Patty Huba said.

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Cassius

So, what's the rest of the story? Seems like there's a lot they're not telling here. Why would any teacher do that? He must have had some kind of motive, even if it wasn't a good one.

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Toking Jedi

This just doesn't seem likely. The kid had some role in making the teacher give him weed. Why would he give a bag to the kid if the kid didn't buy it? Or was the kid such a goody tooshoos that once he had it he had a desire to report the guy? There is so much that we aren't being told that if we were to try and make any sense of the situation we would utterly fail.

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Buzzby

Who's to say that the teacher actually did give this kid some weed?

Here's a much more likely scenario: two kids have a grudge against this teacher so they decided to set him up. It makes a lot more sense than a teacher risking his career and his freedom to give weed to a kid who hasn't been begging for it.

Unless there's forensic evidence or witnesses (neither of which are mentioned), it's a case of "I said, he said".

I think The Washington Post was remiss in telling the story as if it were a done deal. I hope the teacher is exonerated and he sues the reporter and the newspaper for millions of dollars. No one deserves to have their name dragged through the mud without a lot more evidence than they present.

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Stephanie S.

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Master's Degree

I can't fathom what would possess such a person. This guy has credentials out the ass, he's 53 years old. Why would he jeopardize his entire career by giving marijuana to a student?

Considering that this guy teaches special ed, sepcifically ED kids, along with his professional background and education, it just doesn't add up that he would be so stupid.


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Buzzby

This article was published in the same newspaper the day before the one that starts this thread. In this article from the Associated Press, they remembered to use the qualifying "allegedly".


Teacher Allegedly Gives Student Some Pot
The Associated Press | Washington Post | 03/20/2006

FAIRFAX, Va. -- A Chantilly High School teacher accused of giving marijuana to a student was arrested at his home on Monday. Thomas Newlun, 53, faced charges including marijuana distribution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to police, Newlun allegedly gave a small amount of marijuana to a 17-year-old student after class last Friday. The boy then gave the drugs to a school security officer.

Fairfax County Public Schools spokesman Paul Regnier said Newlun is on administrative leave without pay.

Newlun, a special education teacher, started working for the system in 1989, and except for being out one year, has been there since.

walstmonky

Especially in Fairfax County, Virginia. If he did give it to the kid, he should be charged with felony stupidity, not distribution of cannabis (that's 1-10 in the pen in VA not counting any school zone enhancements).

Cassius

Is it really the media who is guilty in this case?

After all, the article says:

And even the headline says:

The police have just as much, if not more, responsibility to use the word "allegedly" as the press does. In fact, our judicial system is based around the idea that arrest does not imply guilt, only conviction does, and it is part of the police's job to be familiar with the law.

I don't think it's surprising if the police in fact did explain it as if it were a done deal that the Washington Post would perpetuate what they were told. I can imagine them saying to themselves, "Yeah, it makes a better story this way, but the police ARE supposed to say allegedly too, and they know the facts better than we do so who are we to second-guess them if when asked they tell us that that's how it went down?"

That doesn't make the Washington Post innocent. But it doesn't make them the only ones who've done something wrong here, either. Couldn't they, in fact, get sued by the teacher for slander/libel if they printed this and that's not what the police said?

Just hypothesizing.

Buzzby

The police didn't write the article, the reporter did. I don't see how you can blame the police.


Anyone who has completed Journalism 101 knows that suspects are innocent until proven guilty and that stating allegations as facts is libelous, no matter what their contacts in the police tell them.


Whoever writes the story is responsible for the content of the story, period. If they had directly quoted police sources they'd have an "out", but they did not.

chronic2

They did it because he was black.